Board Report

• Membership Dues: Reviewed a status report of dues payments.
• Membership Meeting: Reviewed draft agenda for the April 26-29 membership meeting in Guadalajara, Mexico. A subgroup of the Board has been established to help with planning.
• Use of EICC Code and Logo: Established as a policy that non-member companies may only use the EICC logo as it appears on the PDF version of the EICC Code of Conduct. Non-members may not otherwise use the logo.

Mineral Tracking Pilot Project: Help Meet the Funding Goal

EICC-GeSI companies have raised 80% of the $300,000 needed to fund the ITRI pilot project to track ore from the Democratic Republic of Congo. We need to close the funding gap before March 1.

ITRI will be able to obtain funding from the World Bank for a comprehensive tracking program if funds for the pilot project can be raised. The program will help all electronics companies eliminate "conflict" minerals from their supply chains.

Contact Bob Leet to contribute to the pilot or for more information.

EICC-GeSI Announce Launch of the EICC-GeSI Labor & Ethics Lead Auditor Course

Verité will conduct the first EICC-GeSI Labor & Ethics Lead Auditor Course in Bangkok, Thailand, March 8-12, 2010. Registration begins now for EICC and GeSI members.

The Lead Auditor course teaches competencies necessary to perform EICC-GeSI Labor & Ethics VAP audits. The highly interactive five-day workshop covers social systems auditing, investigative skills, management systems, validation and reporting, and the EICC-GeSI Audit Process. The course also includes an on-line self-study module that covers the background and context of the EICC-GeSI program, common labor issues, compliance and legal standards, and other content. The online module must be completed before the classroom session (allow 10 hours to complete the online course). Successful completion of this course fulfills the training requirement of IRCA (International Register of Certificated Auditors) for certification as EICC-GeSI VAP Labor & Ethics auditors.

It is anticipated that up to 10 EICC-GeSI company personnel can be accommodated in each of the first two sessions (Bangkok and Manila). Due to the requirement that third-party auditors contracted to perform EICC-GeSI VAP audits must become IRCA-certified, third-party auditors will be given registration priority.

Learning objectives: The course will teach auditing competencies to:

• Successfully conduct the Labor & Ethics and related management systems components of an EICC-GeSI VAP Audit.
• Gather information from management and workers to establish accurate assessments of working conditions in an ICT supplier factory.
• Collect and analyze information from factory documents on compensation, work hours, and other employment practices.
• Verify, triangulate, and report critical findings and areas of concern using the EICC-GeSI audit tools.
• Identify concealment and falsification of records, and coaching of workers and staff.
• Understand the root cause of common problems and the management systems that support durable solutions.
• Discuss gaps in performance and corrective action with management.

The sessions will be participatory and experiential, involving case analysis, exercises, role plays, peer sharing, and other activities. The workshops will be facilitated by expert trainers, and by former and current EICC auditors.

Visit http://www.verite.org/events/list to register auditors from your company for any of the sessions listed below. The cost is $1800 per student, payable online by credit card.

Training Schedule:

• Bangkok, Thailand - March 8-12
• Manila, Philippines - April 5-9 (English)
• Shenzhen, China - April 26-30 (Mandarin)