Responsible and Resilient Supply

CSL has an active program of supplier selection and management. In many cases, the selection of suppliers is primarily driven by stringent quality, regulatory or reliability constraints.

Economics are also a very important driver in supplier selection as we continually strive to improve our operational efficiency. This helps us optimise the supply of our life-saving therapies to patients and to meet our fiscal responsibilities to shareholders. While geography is not part of our selection criteria, a significant portion of our inputs come from local suppliers. This helps avoid higher costs associated with using distant suppliers and enables CSL to contribute to local economic development.

It is CSL Policy to encourage competition and fair access to our business. In most cases, major sourcing decisions follow a formal competitive bidding process. Vendor-agnostic technical specifications are produced and issued as part of a Request for Proposal. Three bidders are typically invited to submit proposals which are evaluated thoroughly against our criteria by a sourcing panel.

For key and critical suppliers, our management process includes ongoing dialogue, formal performance reviews and quality audits. Audits can take the form of either an onsite visit or a desk-based quality system review. An audit report is prepared and used to communicate the outcome to the supplier. Where deficiencies are detected, the supplier is asked to undertake corrective actions and the completion of these is followed up by CSL during subsequent inspections. Any deficiencies are risk rated and may lead to a supplier being suspended from supplying to CSL.

New suppliers are also required to demonstrate ability to comply with CSL’s Code of Responsible Business Practice (Code) and / or evidence of similar codes of conduct within their businesses. Existing suppliers are also required to sign up to our Code when existing supply agreements are updated or renewed.

CSL is a member of the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Initiative (PSCI), an industry-based organisation committed to working collaboratively towards building responsible supply chains. As an associate member, CSL is committed to adopting and integrating PSCI’s Principles through our Third Party Code of Conduct.

CSL’s Board of Directors approves CSL’s Statement on Modern Slavery annually. The Statement details steps taken across the organisation to identify and address modern slavery. CSL published its first statement in 2016.

Modern slavery is used to describe serious forms of exploitation where coercion, threats or deception are used to exploit victims and undermine or deprive them of their freedom. Types of serious exploitation include trafficking in persons, slavery, servitude, forced marriage, forced labour, debt bondage, deceptive recruiting for labour or services and child labour.

The International Labour Organization further defines forced labour as work that is performed involuntarily and under the menace of any penalty. It refers to situations in which persons are coerced to work through the use of violence or intimidation, or by more subtle means such as manipulated debt, retention of identity papers or threats of denunciation to immigration authorities.

CSL recognises that we have a responsibility to respect the rights of all individuals with whom we interact, including our patients, clinical trial participants, plasma donors, healthcare professionals and employees.

Where we are working with other third parties and manufacturers of products and services that form part of our total supply chain, we expect their policies and practices to similarly respect these rights.

Where practical and of mutual benefit, CSL will partner with stakeholders including industry associations, and government and non-government organisations (NGOs) to continually improve the human rights practices (including environmental aspects) of its suppliers and partners. Regardless of which country we are operating in, all of our operations are governed by the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the rights that they set out.

CSL’s Speak Up Policy encourages all of CSL’s past and current employees, directors, contractors, customers, both direct and indirect suppliers, and associates to report potential misconduct, which includes any suspected or actual misconduct or improper state of affairs or circumstances in relation to CSL, or an employee, officer, consultant or contractor of CSL. All reports made under Speak Up Policy are received and treated sensitively and seriously and will be dealt with promptly, fairly and objectively. Employees of CSL are required to undertake training on the CSL Speak Up Policy to encourage a safe-to-speak-up workplace.

Access to CSL’s Speak Up hotline and webform is available from our website.

You can read more on our approach and due-diligence framework in our Human Rights Statement.