A. Pre-assessment

Thanks to the pre-assessment process it is possible to assess suppliers wishing to form part of Inditex's supply chain before they actually begin, thus ensuring that only those suppliers and factories that meet the requirements for social, labour and environmental standards and product health and safety receive orders.

The pre-assessment process was extensively reviewed in June 2012, and the results were:

  • Greater ease-of-use thanks to the new, more intuitive self-assessment process for suppliers.
  • Improved consistency, as the system was integrated to a greater extent with the rest of the company's tools.
  • Faster turnaround, the average supplier was processed in less than three days.

More training, with 24 pre-assessment training sessions given to Inditex's commercial and CSR teams as well as to external auditors, with a total of 135 people attending.

From the time this new system was first set up until January 31, 2013, a total of 305 suppliers applied to carry out the pre-assessment process. These applications lead to audits only when the suppliers propose to use factories that the Group has not worked with beforehand. Should a prior relationship exist, these will have already undergone a pre-assessment audit which will remain valid for 12 months from the time it is carried out. In 2012, 113 pre-assessment audits were carried out on new factories with the following result:

Pre-assessment audits carried out in 2012*
Region Nº of Audits % Approved
Africa 7 57%
America 2 100%
Asia 57 56%
European Union 30 57%
Non-EU Europe 17 35%
Total 113 54%
* Data since when the new Pre-assessment System was first commissioned (June 2012).

The average time taken to process a pre-assessment evaluation is less than 3 days

Once the suppliers have successfully passed through the pre-assessment process, they are required to sign the Inditex Minimum Requirements document, a necessary step before they can receive their first order. This document means that the supplier agrees to adhere to the Group`s standards, including the product health and safety standards (Clear to Wear and Safe to Wear) and the Code of Conduct for Manufacturers and Suppliers.

The Pre-Assessment Process