Modern Slavery Assessment Glossary
This document provides details of the terminology used in the Modern Slavery Assessment.
| Term | Explanation |
| Agent | An agent is defined as any individual (including a director, an officer, an employee, or an independent contractor) authorised to act on behalf of your organisation. |
| Åpenhetsloven (Norwegian Transparency Act) | The Norwegian Transparency Act imposes an obligation on certain large and mid-size companies operating in Norway to exercise due diligence to ensure that there are no violations of human rights in their own business operations and in the supply chain. |
| Article 964 of the Swiss Code of Obligations (Obligationenrecht) | Article 964 of the Swiss Code of Obligations (Obligationenrecht) (Swiss Conflict Minerals and Child Labor Due Diligence Ordinance) imposes an obligation on certain companies operating in Switzerland to exercise due diligence and transparency in relation to minerals and metals from conflict-affected areas and child labour. |
| Australian Modern Slavery Act | The Australia Modern Slavery Act requires entities based, or operating, in Australia, which have an annual consolidated revenue of more than AUS $100 million, to report annually on the risks of modern slavery in their operations and supply chains, and actions to address those risks. Other entities based, or operating, in Australia may report voluntarily. Reports are kept by the Minister in a public repository known as the Modern Slavery Statements Register. Statements on the register may be accessed by the public, free or charge, on the internet. Please follow this link for more information. |
| Authorising Person | The authorising person is the person in your organisation who is authorised to declare the contents of this survey as true and accurate to the best of his/her knowledge. The authorising person may be different than the contact person. |
| California Transparency in Supply Chains Act |
The California Transparency in Supply Chain Act applies to businesses that do business in California, have annual worldwide gross receipts exceeding 100 million USD, and are identified as manufacturers or retail sellers on their California State tax returns. The Act requires those businesses to disclose their efforts to eradicate slavery and human trafficking from their direct supply chains for tangible goods offered for sale. It requires those businesses to post their disclosure on their website with a conspicuous and easily understood link on the homepage. If the business does not have a website, the Act requires it to provide within 30 days a copy of the disclosure when requested by a consumer. Please follow this link for more information. |
| Canadian Customs Tariff Act (No. 9897.00.00) | The Canadian Customs Tariff is a classification system that organizes goods into lists and groupings. Please follow this link for more information: https://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-54.011/FullText.html |
| Child Labour | Child is defined as a person below the age of 18. Child labour, in accordance with the definition used by the International Labour Organisation, is work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. It falls under three categories: (1) The unconditional worst form of child labour, which are internationally defined as slavery, trafficking, debt bondage and other forms of forced labour, forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict, prostitution and pornography, and illicit activities. (2) Labour performed by a child who is under the minimum age specified for that kind of work (as defined by national legislation, in accordance with accepted international standards), and that is thus likely to impede the child’s education and full development. (3) Labour that jeopardises the physical, mental or moral wellbeing of a child, either because of its nature or because of the conditions in which it is carried out, known as “hazardous work”. |
| Commercial Sex Act | Commercial sex act is defined as any sex act on account of which anything of value is given to or received by any person. |
| Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) |
Any business importing goods into the US is in scope of this Act. CAATSA Section 321(b) creates a rebuttal presumption that goods, wares, merchandise, and articles mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part by North Korean nationals or citizens anywhere in the world are forced labour goods, and are therefore prohibited from importation under the US Tariff Act of 1930. These goods can be subject to detention, seizure, and forfeiture by US enforcement authorities. Violations may result in civil penalties and criminal prosecution. Businesses importing goods into the United States should examine their entire supply chain for North Korean forced labour and adopt appropriate due diligence practices. Resource: US Department of State, Department of Treasury and Department of Homeland Security, North Korea Sanctions and Enforcement Actions Advisory, July 23, 2018. |
| Debt Bondage | Debt bondage, in accordance with the United Nations (UN) 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery Convention, is the status or condition arising from a pledge by a debtor of his or her personal services or of those of a person under his or her control as security for a debt, if the value of those services as reasonably assessed is not applied towards the liquidation of the debt or the length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined. |
| Direct Supply Chain | Supply chain providing goods or services that end up in the product or service delivered to a customer. Includes goods for resale. |
| Due Diligence | The process organisations take to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address their impacts on slavery and human trafficking. |
| Dutch Child Labour Due Diligence | The Dutch Child Labour Due Diligence law imposes an obligation on companies supplying goods and services to end users in the Netherlands to exercise due diligence to ensure that these goods or services were not created using child labour. |
| Extractives/mining | Extractives/mining and basic metal production refer to the extraction of minerals and other geological materials from the earth, as well as the processing of these materials. The minerals and mineral products produced through mining are critical to a variety of sectors including technology, electronics, jewellery, construction, and manufacturing. |
| Flow-down clause | Flow-down clauses bind a subcontractor to the terms and conditions of the prime contract entered into between a contractor and client. The principal purpose of a flow-down clause is to maintain consistency between the obligations that the contractor owes to the client, and the obligations the subcontractor owes to the contractor for sub-trade work. |
| Forced Labour | Forced labour, in accordance with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), is all work and service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered herself or himself voluntarily. As defined by the ILO, forced labour is an umbrella term that includes slavery, slave-like practices, various forms of debt bondage, human trafficking – also called modern slavery – and other practices. |
| French Loi Relative au devoir de Vigilance |
The French Loi relative au devoir de vigilance, also known as the French Duty of Care or French Corporate Duty of Vigilance, applies to organisations headquartered in France with 5,000 workers in France or 10,000 workers worldwide. The law requires those businesses to establish a vigilance plan, implement the plan, publish the plan, and publish annual vigilance plan implementation reports. The vigilance plan must contain risk mapping for identification, analysis and prioritisation; procedures of regular evaluations of suppliers and sub-suppliers; actions to mitigate risk or prevent serious harm; an alert mechanism and database of alerts; a system for monitoring implemented measures and evaluating their effectiveness. Please follow this link for more information. |
| Housing Provided or Arranged |
Includes housing that has been provided or arranged for workers indirectly by recruiters or directly by the organisation completing and submitting the Modern Slavery Assessment. |
| Human Trafficking | Human trafficking, in accordance with the United Nations (UN) Palermo Protocol of 2000, is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of persons by improper means (such as force, abduction, fraud, or coercion) for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation can include sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. As defined by the UN, human trafficking is an umbrella term covering different forms. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) also calls human trafficking “modern slavery” when done for the purposes of forced labour. |
| Indirect Supply Chain |
Supply chain providing goods or services that do not end up in the product or service delivered to a customer. Includes goods not for resale. |
| Inherent Risk | The level of risk within an organisation, given an existing set of controls (which may be insufficient) or prior to the application of risk controls being applied. Examples of modern slavery inherent risk include the geographical location of an organisation’s operations, the industry in which the organisation operates and the organisation’s workforce and how employees are recruited. It is often difficult to effect change on inherent risk (i.e. change locations or industries) however it is possible to mitigate the inherent risk through the application of control mechanisms. |
| Internal Accountability Standards |
Internal accountability standards can include procedures for corrective and preventative actions and confidentiality and whistle-blower protections. |
| Labour Supply Chain | The labour supply chain consists of the sequence of employment relationships that a worker goes through in order to be deployed in a productive capacity. |
| Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz (German Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains) | The German Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains imposes an obligation on certain large companies operating in Germany to exercise due diligence to ensure that there are no violations of human rights in their own business operations and in the supply chain. |
| Low-skilled Work | Low-skilled work is associated with a limited skill set or minimal economic value for the work performed. Low-skilled workers are generally not required to have more than a high school diploma, and typically earn small wages. |
| Mexico’s Forced Labour Regulation | The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (“USMCA”) entered into force on February 17, 2023 and prohibits the importation of goods produced in whole or in part by forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory child labour. |
| Migrant workers | Migrant workers are people who leave home to find work outside of their hometown or home country. Migrant workers include both foreign and domestic (internal) migrant workers. |
| Modern Slavery | Modern slavery refers to various forms of severe exploitation and coercion that exist in contemporary society, all around the world. It is a term used to describe situations where individuals are exploited and controlled for the purpose of forced labour, servitude, human trafficking, or other forms of exploitation. Modern slavery can take many forms, including but not limited to:
Modern slavery is a violation of human rights and a serious criminal offence in most countries. It is a global issue that affects millions of people, with cases found in both developed and developing countries. Efforts to combat modern slavery involve legal frameworks, awareness campaigns, supply chain risk assessments and reporting, and international cooperation to identify and support victims and prosecute perpetrators. |
| Operation | A location where people are employed or hired under your organisation’s direction for any activity undertaken by the organisation to pursue its business objectives and strategy. |
| Organisation | Organisation is a person or group of people that has its own functions with responsibilities, authorities and relationships to achieve its objectives. The concept of organisation includes, but is not limited to, sole-trader, company, corporation, firm, enterprise, authority, partnership, association, charity or institution, or part or combination thereof, whether incorporated or not, public or private. |
| Organisation Address | The mailing address of the head office of the organisation completing and submitting the Modern Slavery Assessment. |
| Organisation Name | The name of the organisation completing and submitting the Modern Slavery. Do not use abbreviations. |
| Personal Services | This sector includes types of services such as washing and (dry-)cleaning of textiles and fur products, hairdressing and other beauty treatment, funeral and related activities. Please follow this link for more information. |
| Policy | A policy refers to documented guidelines or rules of conduct within an organisation. Human rights-related policies generally fall into two categories: stand-alone statements and policies that are integrated within a organisation’s wider standards literature (e.g. worker codes of conduct and ethical sourcing standards). |
| Recruiter | A recruiter refers to both private and public entities that offer labour recruitment services. Recruiters – variously referred to as labour intermediaries, middlemen, labour brokers, and recruitment agents, among other terms – recruit, hire, and/or manage workers. |
| Recruitment Fees | Any fees or costs incurred in the recruitment process in order for workers to secure employment or placement, regardless of the manner, timing or location of their imposition or collection. |
| Return Transportation | Transportation from the place of work back to the sending country (the country where the migrant worker was recruited). Exceptions to this requirement include: (i) workers who are legally permitted to remain in the country of work and choose to do so, and (ii) workers exempted by an authorised official of the US contracting agency. |
| Sectors | Please refer to the Modern Slavery Assessment Tool - Sectors article for definitions of each sector. |
| Servitude | Servitude, in accordance with Guidance issued by the UK Home Office, is the obligation to provide services that is imposed by the use of a coercion and includes the obligation for a ‘serf’ to live on another person’s property and the impossibility of changing his or her condition. |
| Slavery | Slavery, in accordance with the United Nations (UN) 1926 Slavery Convention, is the status or condition of a person over whom all or any of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised. |
| Slavery & Trafficking Risk Template (STRT) | The Slavery & Trafficking Risk Template (STRT) was developed by the STRT Development Committee, which operates under the Social Responsibility Alliance (SRA). The STRT is an industry standard self-assessment questionnaire used to assist companies in their efforts to comply with human trafficking and modern slavery legislation and improve their supply chain-related public disclosures. The STRT is updated annually to ensure that it is reflective of the latest research and evolving industry requirements. |
| Supplier | A supplier is defined as an organisation or person that provides a product or service used in your supply chain. The supplier can have a direct or indirect relationship with your organisation. Examples of suppliers are: brokers, consultants, contractors, distributors, franchisees or licensees, home workers, independent contractors, manufacturers, primary producers, subcontractors and wholesalers. |
| Supply chain | A supply chain is defined as a sequence of activities or parties that provides products or services to the organisation completing and submitting the Modern Slavery Assessment. |
| Textile manufacturing | Textile manufacturing refers to the conversion of basic fibre into usable items. Garment or apparel making refers to the processing of fabric into clothing and involves multiple steps including cutting, sewing, pressing and finishing. |
| Training | Training can be focused on helping agents better understand organisation policies, how to effectively implement them and ways to avoid trafficking and forced labour risks associated with inaction. |
| Trafficking in Persons Report |
The Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report is published by the United States Government each year, assessing the efforts of countries and territories in the previous calendar year to combat human trafficking and comply with minimum standards for a government’s responsibility to address trafficking which were established in the TVPA. The TIP Report is the most comprehensive worldwide report on governments’ efforts to combat trafficking in persons. Based on data and information provided by government agencies, NGOs, and other key stakeholders, the TIP Report represents an annually updated, global assessment of the nature and scope of trafficking in persons and the broad range of government actions to confront and eliminate it. The report evaluates governments’ concrete actions to meet the minimum standards to combat trafficking during that year and assigns each country with a Tier Ranking – effectively a grade. Tier 1: Countries whose governments fully meet the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA) minimum standards. Tier 2: Countries whose governments do not fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards. Tier 2 Watchlist: Countries whose governments do not fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards, and for which: a) the estimated number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or is significantly increasing and the country is not taking proportional concrete actions; or b) there is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year, including increased investigations, prosecutions, and convictions of trafficking crimes, increased assistance to victims, and decreasing evidence of complicity in severe forms of trafficking by government officials. Tier 3: Countries whose governments do not fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so. |
| Transportation | This sector includes the provision of passenger or freight transport, whether scheduled or not, by rail, pipeline, road, water or air and associated activities such as terminal and parking facilities, cargo handling, storage etc. Included in this section is the renting of transport equipment with driver or operator. Also included are postal and courier activities. Please follow this link for more information. |
| Transportation and warehousing | Transportation and warehousing includes land, air, and sea passenger and freight cargo services, warehousing of goods, as well as auto vehicle, train, ship, and aircraft manufacturing. The transportation sector also encompasses personnel employed in train and bus stations, ports and airports. |
| UK Modern Slavery Act | The UK Modern Slavery Act applies to commercial organisations that supply goods or services in any part of the United Kingdom with a global annual turnover of 36 million GBP or more. Section 54 of the Act requires those organisations to prepare a statement setting out the steps they have taken during that financial year to ensure slavery and human trafficking are not taking place anywhere in their supply chains and in any part of their own business. The Act requires those organisations to have the statement signed and approved by the relevant authority. It also requires those organisations to publish their statement on their website with a link to the statement in a prominent place on the homepage. If the organisation does not have a website, the Act requires it to provide a copy of the statement to anyone who makes a written request for it within 30 days. Please follow this link for more information. |
| Unmitigated Risk | The level of risk controls that have been put into place to minimise the inherent risk. |
| US Tariff Act | Section 307 of the US Tariff Act prohibits all products made by forced labour from entering the United States. Importers can proactively seek to avoid US imports being the subject of a Withhold Release Order by exercising due diligence over their supply chains and understanding where and how their products are manufactured or produced. Please follow this link for more information. |
| Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (United States) | This Act aims to ensure that goods made with forced labour in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China do not enter the United States market, and for other purposes. Please follow this link for more information. |
| Vulnerability Assessment | A formal or documented assessment process that applies to a set of criteria to determine the vulnerability of workers to slavery and human trafficking. |
| Withholding Worker Identity of Immigration Documents |
This includes destroying, concealing, confiscating or otherwise denying access to a worker’s immigration or identity documents (e.g. passports, visas, drivers’ licence). |
| Work Agreements | A work agreement should include key terms and conditions of work such as work descriptions, wages, work location(s), living accommodations and associated costs, time off, roundtrip transportation arrangements if relevant, and grievance process. For organisations in scope of the US Federal Acquisition Regulation final rule on Combating Trafficking in Persons, these agreements must be provided at least five days before a worker relocated and must include the key terms and conditions listed above plus a prohibition on charging recruitment fees as well as the content of applicable laws and regulations that prohibit trafficking in persons. A work agreement is an individual contract of work which sets forth the general conditions of engagement and of work. |
| Worker | A person who performs work, including seasonal, contract and other temporary labour. Apprentices, employees and independent contractors are considered workers. |