Supplier Accountability Approach and Standards

Dell is committed to responsible business practices and we hold our suppliers to a high standard of excellence. We operate in a world with many different cultures, countries and levels of economic development. Even in this diverse world, we believe there are some standards that cross borders, cultures and our differences — and meeting these standards is a condition of doing business with Dell.  Dell and Dell's suppliers are required to comply with all applicable laws and regulations where business is conducted. Dell suppliers are also expected to embrace high standards of ethical behavior and treat their employees fairly with dignity and respect, consistent with local law and the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition Code of Conduct. Learn more about this aspect of our standards on our Supplier Global Citizenship Commitment page. The following cover the priorities and standards at the core of our supply chain management system, the engine powering Dell's global supplier management program.

• The United Nations (UN) Declaration of Human Rights
• The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
• Fundamental conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO)
• Electronic Industry Code of Conduct (EICC)
• International Organization for Standardization (ISO 14001)
• Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS 18001)
• The Dell Code of Conduct
• The benchmark of other corporations and industries across the globe
• Global Reporting Initiative: We use the GRI for our reporting standard

Capability Building and Assessment

Training — Dell focuses on capability building and hosts multiple supplier workshops each year that address relevant areas affecting our suppliers. Our Social and Environmental Responsibility (SER) workshops offer those in our supply chain the opportunity to learn and share best practices. Key topics include the Carbon Disclosure Project, management of working hours and corporate responsibility performance evaluation tools.

Continuous Improvement — Dell’s Worldwide Procurement organization is committed to responsible sourcing. We invest our company’s resources and time toward driving improvements throughout our supply base. We encourage partners to view social and environmental responsibility as a journey of continuous improvement. We recognize improvements do not happen overnight. With a focus on self-assessment, internal ownership and self-accountability, Dell partners can make changes that will bring long-lasting, sustainable impact not only to their own facilities and operations, but also to those of their supply partners.

Quarterly Business Reviews — To embed socially responsible behavior into business activities, Dell includes a review of requirements and principles in quarterly business reviews that are held with key suppliers. Dell partners know they are evaluated quarterly and that our purchasing decisions include consideration of their scores. The reviews include working with suppliers to establish implementation plans for their own social and environmental responsibility, process and execution for compliance and environmental stewardship.

Monitoring — Through our audits, our team identifies suppliers that are higher risk and partners with them to address gaps in their adherence to the EICC code. This partnership includes on-site monitoring to establish whether the supplier has systems in place to facilitate continued conformance as well as the development of sustainable corrective action plans. Our capability-building programs also train suppliers in areas of concern revealed in our audits.

Supplier Diversity

Dell believes an ethical, diverse supply chain is a vital part of our business. We want to partner with companies that share our vision of doing business the right way. Also, just as we promote a diverse workforce, we believe that suppliers from various backgrounds help us to best serve our global customer base. Learn more about this aspect of our standards on our Supplier Diversity Standards Overview page.

Top Issues in Information and Communication Technology Supply Chain

Our supply chain in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry is complex. We are committed to addressing the top issues defined by the Electronic Industry Code of Conduct (EICC) while recognizing our efforts are challenged by regional differences, varying laws by country and changing suppliers. Regardless, full implementation of these important standards is a long-term effort Dell is committed to.

Over 15 Million Employees Work in the Electronics Sector With China As a Major Production Hub. The Electronics industry is one of the fastest growing industries worldwide. This rapid growth has resulted in sustainability issues including sources of conflict materials, poor factory conditions, and insufficient recycling and waste practices. Dell is working with frontrunner electronics companies and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) as part of the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative, a program designed to improve working conditions at the supplier level by finding innovative ways to address nonconformance issues and focused initially on the half a million workers at more than 100 suppliers in China.
	Transparency and Reporting Transparency is important to our relationship with stakeholders. We continue to publicly disclose our list of top suppliers. In addition, we provide our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on the Carbon Disclosure Project Web site and request that all suppliers do as well.
	Addressing Minerals and Extractives We’re focused on multiindustry processes that allow for the minerals tungsten, tantalum, tin and gold that we use in our products are obtained from responsible global sources. The Democratic Republic of Congo has been a global mineral provider for years, but human rights violations have been reported in its mining industry. It’s Dell policy to refrain from purchasing minerals from the suppliers that support these violations and we advocate that our suppliers adhere to the same standards. Learn more about this aspect of our standards on our Addressing Conflict Minerals page. For more information on our standards, contact: SC_SER@dell.com.