Office for Social Responsibility of China National Textile and Apparel Council

In order to ensure the high quality and efficient progress of the China Textile and Garment Enterprises Social and environmental due Management Guidelines (Draft for Comment) (tentatively named, hereinafter referred to as the Due Management Guidelines or Guidelines), the Social Responsibility Office of the China National Textile and Apparel Council held a second round of consultation conference on the Due Management Guidelines online on the afternoon of July 25, 2022. More than 20 representatives from 17 international and domestic apparel brands and supply chain enterprises were invited to attend the meeting ,which aimed to listen to the comments and suggestions of the Guides at the supply chain and enterprise level. Zheng Jian, the international project director in the Social Responsibility Office of China National Textile and Apparel Council, chaired the meeting.

At the meeting, Liang Xiaohui, chief researcher of the Social Responsibility Office of the China National Textile And Apparel Council, comprehensively described the policy background and purpose of developing the Due Diligence Management Guides.

Dr. Liang Xiaohui said that the textile industry, as a traditional pillar of China's national economy and an important livelihood industry, is at a key stage of transformation and upgrading. Facing with the complex and severe external environment, increasingly fragile global supply chain, and the huge challenges of other commercial and social risks, textile and garment enterprises should pay attention to changes in domestic and foreign policy situations in a timely manner, uphold the industry position of "fashion," "science and technology" and "green," fully identify social responsibility risks and opportunities from the relations of their own products, services, and business, and finally achieve the improvement of management ability and social responsibility performance, with the help of due diligence management that integrates the response to risks and opportunities into management systems and business processes.

At the same time, Dr. Liang Xiaohui attaches great importance to the needs and feedback at the enterprise level, pointing out in particular that the Guides is based on the objective reality of China's textile and garment industry, aiming to realize the localized application of due diligence management, and promote Chinese textile and garment enterprises to integrate into the international textile and garment industry value chain with a more responsible attitude and position.

Subsequently, Wang Jing, a researcher at the Social Responsibility Office of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, also gave a detailed and in-depth explanation of the preliminary industry research conclusions of the development of the Guides, the methodology of due diligence management, the framework of the Guides, and the management measures in important risk areas.
During the discussion session, enterprises representatives who attended the meeting fully exchanged views on the content and application of the Guides. It is agreed that the Guides is comprehensive and detailed, and is a practical management tool with foresight, guidance, and operability, which greatly fits the practical needs of sustainable development of enterprises. At the same time, it also puts forward further targeted opinions and suggestions on the Guides according to its own enterprises’ needs and problems encountered.

Social Responsibility Office of China National Textile and Apparel Council will conscientiously summarize and fully adopt the opinions and suggestions of the enterprise representatives attending the meeting and further improve the Guides from the aspects of application mode and implementation path. The Guides is scheduled to be released this autumn, and a series of relevant training for enterprises will be organized after the release to provide strong support for achieving high-quality, sustainable development of the textile and garment industry.