Last Updated: July 2024

As a purpose-driven company committed to ethical trade, we recognize our responsibility to uphold and promote human rights within our supply chains. This policy provides a framework for Typhoo’s approach to maintaining good business behaviour with sound ethical conduct.

It outlines our commitment to trading responsibly and ethically, which involves preventing hidden abuses to vulnerable groups within our supply chains, such as Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and Harassment (SGBVH). This is communicated to our suppliers through the Supplier Code of Conduct.

This policy ensures all employees understand their responsibilities regarding the Company’s ethics.

This policy applies to all employees, contractors, suppliers, and business partners of Typhoo. The scope of this policy is to be implemented across the full supply chain, end to end, bringing about positive change for all workers and smallholder farmers in the Typhoo supply chain.

At Typhoo, we are dedicated to trading responsibly and ethically, with a strong emphasis on gender equality, social justice, and environmental protection, including climate change prevention. We acknowledge our duty to conduct business in a manner that positively impacts all workers, communities, and the environment locally and globally.

We are committed to upholding human rights and fully support the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Labour Organization Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct.

Typhoo upholds international core labour standards in our operations and supply base. As members of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), we follow the ETI base code and expect our suppliers to be familiar with it and to work towards a successful implementation of all its clauses throughout their supply chain.

The ETI base code covers the following principles:

• Employment is freely chosen
• Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining are respected
• Working conditions are safe and hygienic
• Child labour shall not be used
• Living wages are paid
• Working hours are not excessive
• No discrimination is practised
• Regular employment is provided
• No harsh or inhumane treatment is allowed

Typhoo recognises there are challenges within the supply chains, particularly at the grower level, and we welcome open discussions to drive transparency and understanding of the conditions throughout the supply chain. Typhoo is committed to sourcing from suppliers who create accountability and full disclosure around issues such as human rights, health and safety, and environmental impacts throughout the supply chain. It is the responsibility of the first-tier supplier to ensure social and environmental minimum standards are upheld throughout the supply chain.

As a minimum Typhoo requires all suppliers and supply chain actors to comply with applicable laws and relevant standards for human rights, workers rights and conditions, health and safety and environmental protection. Any contracts, purchase orders and other written agreements in place must be adhered to in full. We strive to continuously improve our performance within our own business operations and throughout our supply chain.

Typhoo is also a member of Sedex (Supplier Ethical Data Exchange). This web-based system allows Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) data from our suppliers to be shared with Typhoo. This drives supply chain transparency, supports compliance, and helps avoid duplication of assessments.

We work closely with our suppliers to further develop our ethical program pragmatically and sustainably, in a way that positive change is led bottom-up. We work with the Fear Free Council and other ethical trade stakeholders, such as local and international NGOs, to ensure our approach matches sound ethical business practices.

We recognise many human rights risks in our supply chains are systemic issues which require collaboration and partnership to drive collective action. Typhoo is actively engaged in efforts to drive systemic change within the wider tea industry.

We require our suppliers to subscribe to different Environmental, Social, and Food Safety certification schemes to ensure robust, independently verified practices. However, we recognise that the journey for sustainable transformation may not align with such frameworks and are open to working closely with our suppliers to ensure continuous improvement at the social and environmental level is achieved in a different way.

Suppliers’ social welfare and environmental impact programmes, either in-house or in partnership, will be considered in prioritising business as a way for Typhoo to push for systemic change through choiceful sourcing. We welcome collaboration and actively encourage our suppliers’ involvement with non-profit and industry organisations throughout the supply chain.

Suppliers are actively encouraged to inform Typhoo of any human rights concerns, allegations, fatalities or serious injuries in or against their organisation or supply chain as soon as they are made aware, and on a regular basis. In the event of a human rights violation, Typhoo will work collaboratively with suppliers to ensure that these are addressed and those affected receive redress.

Fear Free Sourcing Principles

Typhoo has recently overhauled its whole business model to ensure it does not enable abuse within our tea supply chain. We aim to proactively work towards making women, and any other vulnerable groups among tea workers and tea communities, safe from violence and harassment. Our mission is to put women and farmers at the core of our business decisions, having started with our tea (camelia sinensis) growers, as this is where salient risks have been identified. This will be extended to the rest of our supply chains in due time.

Our 6 sourcing principles are:

1. Prioritise Women’s Safety
We work with suppliers who:

• Share our mission to end SGBVH.
• Implement robust grievance mechanisms sensitive to gender.
• Ensure such grievance mechanisms are independently monitored for effectiveness.
• Apply lessons learned from single cases to drive systemic change at the plantation level.
• Actively work on prevention and foster awareness about their zero tolerance to gender-based harassment and sexual violence among all their male and female workers.
• Ensure the safety and confidentiality of survivors and provide support to the survivors and their families.
• Promote gender equality at all levels throughout their operations, particularly management.

2. Select Long-Term Partners
We select a small number of partners with whom we have long-term agreements, to ensure sustainability and continuous improvement.  

3. Maintain Direct Relationships
We maintain direct relationships with suppliers for a deeper understanding and collaborative problem-solving.

4. Establish Fair Agreements
Setting up agreements with higher prices enables producers to ensure worker welfare.

5. Invest in Women’s Safety
Typhoo commits additional funding to initiatives on our partner plantations that prevent sexual violence and support survivors.

6. Ensure Quality Tea
We commit to higher standards in tea, which are as much about the tea leaves as they are about the people growing them.