Questions & Answers

IMPA ACT Supplier Members commit to respecting the IMPA ACT SCoC internally. IMPA ACT Purchasing Members commit to respecting the IMPA ACT SCoC both internally within their company and externally with by promoting the IMPA ACT SCoC to their suppliers.

Most company have some experience with putting in place systems to manage risks. This could include Occupational Health & Safety procedures, Business Ethics Commitments, or Environmental Efficiency standards.

To meet the requirements of the IMPA ACT SCoC, IMPA ACT Members work towards building a preventative management system in order to reduce their adverse impacts on human rights, the environment and anti-corruption. This will usually involve:

Publicly Committing to respect the IMPA ACT SCoC, usually via the member’s company website

Undertaking Due Diligence to identify actual and potential impacts on the social, environmental, and economic principles within the IMPA ACT SCoC

Reducing any adverse/negative impacts that are identified and remedying any adverse impacts that cannot be mitigated.

IMPA ACT understands that like all organisational change, it will not happen overnight. Therefore, IMPA ACT allows membership to implement changes at their own pace and leverage off their existing responsibility and compliance work.

When an IMPA ACT Member first joins the IMPA ACT initiative, they are asked to commit to the IMPA ACT Supplier Code of Conduct (IMPA ACT SCoC) and start to make the same policy, due diligence, and remediation assessments that they will ask of suppliers.

Most shipowners and management companies are also suppliers of goods and services. Therefore, we have used the same title of ‘Supplier Code of Conduct' for code that applies to shipowners, ship management companies, and ship suppliers.

Ship suppliers are encouraged to ask their IMPA ACT member about their policy commitments to the IMPA ACT SCoC and exchange ideas about how to move towards alignment.

Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR, is how companies manage their environmental, social and economic impacts internally. In the IMPA ACT Programme, this includes an internal commitment to the IMPA ACT Supplier Code of Conduct (IMPA ACT SCoC).

Responsible Supply Chain Management is a way to manage risk and make positive changes to a company’s supply chain. It integrates environmental, social and economic considerations in supply chains in a way that promotes the responsibility of all parties involved. In the IMPA ACT Programme, this includes informing suppliers about the expectation to meeting the principles within the IMPA ACT SCoC.

A core component of IMPA ACT is the promotion of the IMPA ACT Supplier Code of Conduct (IMPA ACT SCoC). It contains the internationally endorsed minimum expectations on all businesses, regardless of size or location. As such, the IMPA ACT Supplier Code of Conduct represents a baseline that all businesses should be working towards.

Up until very recently there was little in the form of authoritative guidance on how businesses should address their impacts on human rights. This changed with the introduction of the UN Guiding Principles (UNGPs) in 2011 which have been widely endorsed and adopted by the UN, EU and OECD. The UNGPs provide businesses with a single authoritative reference point and levels the playing field for RSCM and CSR as the UNGPs apply to all businesses the world over.

IMPA ACT has drawn upon the work of the Danish Shipowner's Association (Danmarks Rederiforening) in relation to CSR. The project ‘On Course for a Better World’ and its inspirational material on Responsible Supply Chain Management and supplier engagement signalled a need for the international Shipping and Marine Industry to develop a pragmatic response to social, economic, and environmental challenges in line with international principles.

The International Marine Purchasing Association, or IMPA, represents the interests of the purchasing profession within shipping, promoting close co-operation and understanding between purchasers and suppliers in the industry. IMPA ACT is an independent initiative launched by IMPA in late 2013.

IMPA ACT is an initiative that seeks to improve the social, economic, and environmental sustainability of the international Shipping and Marine Industry. All businesses linked to the Shipping and Marine Industry, including ship owners, ship suppliers, IMPA members, and other interested groups, are encouraged to join and support IMPA ACT.