Once a business has registered with SIZA, the first step is to complete the self-assessment questionnaire (SAQ). The SAQ must be completed by the SIZA primary subscriber (farm, packhouse, processing facility, TES, etc.) online on the MySIZA platform. The SAQ enables a business to provide information about the employment site, how it manages social and environmental compliance, and its performance against local and international labour standards. Once completed and updated, the producer submits the SAQ on MySIZA, which the SIZA compliance team evaluates for approval.
Key points that are important regarding the completion of the social and environmental SAQ:
- SAQs must be completed/updated every year within 90 days of the profile’s annual renewal because they serve as a between-audit monitoring tool to ensure audit periods.
- If subscribers fail to update their SAQs, their Audit Completion Letters will no longer be valid because no monitoring occurred as agreed with the global buyers.
- The status of the SAQ is visible to buyers on their risk reports; therefore, your risk rating will be influenced if the SAQ is not up to date each year.
- Although producers and TES who undergo an audit are allocated a Platinum, Gold, Silver, or Bronze status after an audit (which is valid for one, two, or three years, depending on the status), they must renew their subscription and update their self-assessment questionnaires (SAQs) annually.
- One condition of the two- to three-year audit period is that SIZA must monitor whether subscribers maintain ethical practices and standards between audits.
- If subscription is not renewed and the SAQ is not updated annually, visibility on MySIZA, Sedex, and GLOBALG.A.P. databases will also be compromised, and the Audit Completion Letter cannot be validated.
- The SAQ is the door to an audit. Once registration and the SAQs are completed and approved, the producer or TES can request to be audited via MySIZA. Unfortunately, the door cannot be opened if the SAQ is not up to date or complete.
- The auditor must use information from the SAQ to prepare for the audit and focus on the on-site investigation of possible high-risk areas.
- The SAQ contains information relevant to EU due diligence and other evaluation and monitoring requirements. Therefore, it must be visible and up to date at all times.
There are five steps in the completion of the social SAQ:
There are eight steps in the completion of the environmental SAQ:
