Dune Group Limited.
Terms & Conditions of Trading
January 2010
| Contents | Page |
|---|---|
| 1 Definitions | 1 - 3 |
| 2 Application | 3 |
| 3 Purchase Orders | 3 - 4 |
| 4 Inspecting the quality of goods | 4 - 5 |
| 5 Labelling, packaging and description of goods | 6 |
| 6 Ownership and risk | 6 - 7 |
| 7 Right to reject and return goods | 7 - 9 |
| 8 Deliveries | 9 - 11 |
| 9 Payment, accounting procedures and charges | 11 - 12 |
| 10 Indemnity | 12 |
| 11 Trade Marks and ‘Exclusivity’ | 13 - 14 |
| 12 Material and information | 14 |
| 13 Confidentiality | 14 - 15 |
| 14 Sub-contracting | 15 |
| 15 Settling debts | 15 |
| 16 Forces beyond our control | 15 |
| 17 Nominated carriers | 16 |
| 18 Electronic business | 16 |
| 19 Unlicensed computer software | 16 |
| 20 Governing Law | 16 |
| 21 Supplier ‘date compliance’ | 16 |
| 22 Ending the agreement | 17 |
| 23 Severance | 17 |
| 24 Limitation of liability | 17 |
| 25 Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 | 18 |
| 26 No Waiver | 18 |
| ANNEX | |
| Supplier Code of Conduct | 19 - 24 |
Dune Group Limited
Registered in England and Wales No. 02127866
Registered Office: 9 Hatton Street, London NW8 8PL
VAT No: [ GB 795935364 ]
Terms and Conditions of Trading
1 Definitions
These terms and conditions apply to orders supplied from both the UK and overseas. In these terms and conditions, the following words have the following meanings.
A) ‘We’ or ‘us’ means Dune Group Limited (“the company”) and includes any of the following as printed on our purchase order.
• Dune Group Limited
• Dune
• Dune International
• Bertie
• Pied a Terre
• Roland Cartier
• Roberto Vianni
• Linea
• Untold
• Howick
• Episode
• Head over Heels
• Shoe Studio
• Chelsea Cobbler
All of the above are Trading names or Brand names owned or used under licence by Dune Group Ltd.
B) ‘You’ means the person, firm, company or other organisation the purchase order is addressed to.
C) ‘The purchase order’ means our official purchase order, including any document relating to an order and any attachments.
D) ‘The goods’ means the goods described on the purchase order which you will
supply under these terms and conditions.
E) ‘The specification’ means any further description of the goods we may send you. The specification must be signed by our authorised signatory or Quality Control Manager.
F) ‘The supplier manual’ means our latest manuals, at the date of the purchase order, including any amendments, which set out instructions and procedures for the agreement, whether in written or electronic form.
G) ‘Authorised signatory’ means one or more of the following people.
• A Director
• A Head of Buying, Buying Manager, Buyer, Quality Control Manager
• A Head of Merchandising, Merchandise Manager, or Merchandiser
You must be sure that anyone claiming to be an authorised signatory is one.
H) ‘Authorised inspector’ means a quality controller or independent inspector working on our behalf. You should make sure that any person claiming to be an authorised inspector is one.
I) ‘Applicable laws’ means all applicable laws in the country where the goods are manufactured and in the UK or any other country where the goods are to be resold.
J) ‘Factory’ means the factory or other place of manufacture (if any) named on the purchase order.
K) ‘Delivery date’ means the date for delivery of the goods specified in the purchase order.
L) ‘Incoterms’ means the 2000 edition of the rules for interpreting international trade
terms published by the International Chamber of Commerce. They will apply to direct imports unless it says differently or on the purchase order.
M) ‘The agreement’ means the agreement for buying and selling the goods under the
terms in these terms and conditions of trading, the purchase order and the supplier manual.
N) ‘Direct import’ means an order for goods to be supplied direct from an overseas factory or warehouse.
O) ‘Working day’ means any day other than a Saturday or Sunday when banks in London are open for business.
2 Application
These terms and conditions apply to all contracts for the purchase of goods by us from you to the exclusion of all other terms and conditions including any terms or conditions which you may seek to apply under any sales offer or similar document or in correspondence. These terms and conditions together with the purchase order and the supplier manual constitute the entire understanding between us and you with respect to the subject matter covered by our purchase order and supersede all previous agreements and undertakings between us but nothing in these terms and conditions affects any liability for misrepresentation. We will not accept any changes to these terms and conditions unless they are confirmed in writing by an authorised signatory at Director level.
Despatch or delivery of goods by you shall be deemed conclusive evidence of your acceptance of these terms and conditions.
3 Purchase Orders
A) The price of the goods (including any agreed discount) shall be as stated in the purchase order. For some suppliers there will be an additional 2% discount for small claims, in which case debit notes will only be raised for returns above 2% either in total or for each individual style or colour.
B) The purchase order, or any agreement which it refers to, will not be binding upon us unless the purchase order is signed by an authorised signatory or stated to be signed by an authorised signatory, if sent electronically.
C) Purchase orders may be sent to you electronically.
D) The goods must be made in the country named in the purchase order, if one is named.
E) When we place a purchase order with you, you will act as principal (not on behalf of someone else) and not as agent when supplying the goods.
F) Unless otherwise stated in the purchase order (or otherwise implied by any relevant Incoterm) the price of the goods is inclusive of all charges for packaging, packing, shipping, carriage, insurance, delivery and unloading, and any duties, imports or levies other than value added tax.
G) No increase in the price may be made on account of increased material, labour or transport costs fluctuation in exchange rates or otherwise.
4 Inspecting the quality of goods
A) Quality
The goods must:
• conform as to quantity, quality and description with the purchase order and any specification or standards referred to in the purchase order or the supplier manual, and shall otherwise be of satisfactory quality;
• be the same as the sealed sample or approved production sample if requested;
• comply all relevant Codes of Practice and applicable laws.
Production of orders must not proceed until a confirmation sample is approved in writing.
B) Inspection
• Factory
The goods must be made at the factory named in the purchase order, if one is named. You must allow our authorised inspector into the factory at all reasonable times to inspect the goods, along with the materials and processes used to make them, and take samples if necessary.
You must give us information we ask for about the factory and the process of manufacture.
• Sub-contractors
If the goods are being made by a sub-contractor (see paragraph 14) you must make sure that the sub-contractor allows our authorised inspector to inspect the goods, along with the materials and processes used to make them, and take samples if necessary.
Whether or not you have an inspection, you must keep to the terms of the agreement. You must not rely on anything an authorised inspector says or does, or does not say or do, during any inspection, unless this is written on an In-line or Final Inspection Report. If you do, it is at your own risk.
If we arrange for an authorised inspector to provide you with an In-line or Final
Inspection Report you must take any action noted on the report.
C) Testing
If we require the goods or any part of them to be tested at any time you must arrange and pay for the testing to be carried out at a laboratory of our choice. You must provide us with any test certificates or results issued by the laboratory.
Neither inspection or testing, or any action taken at our request, will reduce our rights or remedies relation to the goods.
5 Labelling, packaging and description of goods
The material content of the upper, lining, sock and sole is to appear on a pictogram label on the sole of the shoe.
Any labelling, packaging and description of the goods must keep to the instructions in the purchase order and our supplier manual and all relevant Codes of Practice and applicable laws. You must supply all the packaging materials. These materials must fully protect and preserve the goods. All measures to ensure the goods arrive at our DC as the confirmation sample should be followed at your cost.
6 Ownership and risk
A) Ownership of the goods will pass to us when we have paid for them or (if earlier) when we or our agent(s) take delivery.
B) Risk of loss of or damage to the goods will not pass to us until delivery has been completed in full. Usually, we will sign either a Consolidated Delivery Advice Note (CDAN) or other approved proof of delivery at our Distribution Centre or other premises designated by us. However:
• if the goods are delivered to our transport or our Nominated Carrier within the UK, they will sign a Consolidated Delivery Advice Note (CDAN) or other approved proof of delivery (this does not include where goods are collected outside the UK by a forwarder for delivery directly into our Distribution Centre, even where the forwarder is approved by us); or
• if the goods are direct imports, the risk will pass to us as described in Incoterms.
C) You must make sure that:
• you insure the goods for their full price against all risks when they are transported (unless they are transported by us or by our nominated carrier within the UK/Europe);
• you declare our interest in the goods on any insurance policy and you give us proof that you have insurance when we ask for proof; and
• if we give notice, you allow us, our agents or employees, to enter any premises where our goods are being stored in order to inspect them or to recover them.
D) The following applies to any goods or items that are returned to you:
• you will own them and be responsible for any risk of loss of or damage to them; and
• you must repay to us the purchase price for the returned goods. We will have a ‘lien over’ the goods if you owe us any money. If this is the case, we can use, sell or dispose of any of them at your expense. We will keep any money we make from selling the goods. We will use that money to pay any amount you owe us and the costs of selling the goods. We will then pay the balance, if any, to you.
7 Right to reject and return goods
A) We reserve the right to hold goods without acceptance for a reasonable time after delivery if we have reason to question either the quality or the conformity to the confirmation sample.
If any of the goods or import documents does not keep to the agreement, however small the problem is, then we can do the following.
i) We can reject the goods or any part of them. We can also cancel any outstanding quantity you have not yet delivered. Our only legal responsibility will be to pay you the price of any goods we accept. We can also take off from any amount owed to you a sum to cover our losses (including any losses suffered by our agents) arising from you not keeping to the agreement.
ii) We can return the goods to you. You will have to pay for the costs of this and we will not be responsible for any loss or damage. Alternatively we will write to you to tell you to remove the goods within 7 working days of receiving our letter. We will give you 10 working days if it is a direct import. If you do not remove them by this time we may sell or dispose of the goods. If this happens you will have to pay:
• the costs of selling the goods; and
• reasonable storage and handling charges.
If we sell the goods, we will take the amounts shown above, and anything else you owe us (including losses arising from you breaking any term of the agreement), from the money we get from the sale.
If there is any dispute over the quantity of goods delivered to us, the amount of any shortfall which we, our freight forwarders, Distribution Centre or people we nominate specify to you will be final. You must produce a credit note or re-invoice against our defined quantity delivered that we notify you of before a payment will be made.
B) Upon your receiving notice of any loss or damage to the goods in transit to us, you shall repair or replace free of charge goods damaged or lost in transit and due delivery of the goods shall not be deemed to have taken place until replacement or repaired goods have been delivered by you to us. We reserve the right to hold such damaged goods at your risk and expense.
C) Without prejudice to our other rights, where any goods supplied do not keep to the agreement, however small the problem is, and you shall, at our option, and forthwith upon notice being given, either repair or replace such goods. If it is necessary to open up or dismantle any goods to permit such repair or replacement, or if we reasonably believe such step is necessary then you shall bear the cost of such opening up or dismantling and of re-assembly and making good after repairs, replacement and testing of such goods to our reasonable satisfaction.
D) We will not be responsible for more goods than we ordered unless we have agreed otherwise in writing. We can send them back to you or you will have to collect them. Paragraph 7(A)(ii) sets out your responsibilities.
E) If any of our customers, stores, Distribution Centres, or agents return any of the goods because they do not keep to the terms of the agreement, however small the problem is, then you will have to refund the price we paid for the goods and our charges, costs and loss of profit.
F) Without prejudice to our other rights you must, as a result of any action we take under these paragraphs, pay for our:
• warehouse costs
• administration costs
• storage costs
• duty costs
• carriage costs
• other relevant costs
8 Deliveries
A) UK orders must be delivered on or within the week before the delivery date. If we give you at least 7 days’ written notice, we can ask you to deliver the goods on any date or dates within a reasonable time after the contracted delivery date.
B) Direct imports must be presented to our nominated carrier on or by the date specified by them to meet the contracted delivery date on our purchase order.
C) You must make sure, before the goods are delivered or sent out, that we have received and approved all the test results and production samples requested. We will write and tell you if we do not need these tests or samples.
D) The goods must be delivered or sent out according to our instructions as set out in the agreement. We can reject any goods that are not delivered or sent out according to our agreement. You must notify us immediately in writing of any expected delay or other problem in relation to the delivery date of the agreement. Time is of the essence. If we accept a late delivery of goods, or a delivery which is not made in accordance with the agreement, you must pay for any losses or charges resulting from that late or incorrect delivery. Our accepting the delivery does not affect our right to reject all or any of the goods if they are not in accordance with the agreement.
E) If you fail to deliver all of the goods in accordance with the contract on the delivery date then without prejudice to our rights for the breach of contract:
i) we may terminate the agreement. In this event without prejudice to our other rights or remedies you shall promptly collect any goods which have been delivered;
ii) where delivery of a quantity of the goods which correspond to the contract which is less than the agreed quantity has been tendered and we have not exercised our rights of termination under clause (i) above we may accept the goods which correspond to the contract and recover for your breach in respect of the failure to deliver the remainder of the goods; and
iii) we may require you promptly to deliver sufficient goods which correspond to the contract to comply with the quantity required.
F) If our nominated carrier is collecting the goods you must provide enough help so we can load the goods safely.
G) If the goods are being delivered by you or your agent, you must make sure the carrier is reliable. You are responsible for delivering the goods safely and on time.
H) We will not accept delivery by instalments unless we have asked for this. If we do, and any one instalment is faulty or late, we may treat the whole agreement as repudiated by you.
I) If you do not manage to send out or deliver the goods on time, and special transport is needed, you must pay for any extra charges and costs. This will not affect our rights under paragraph 8d.
J) You acknowledge that if you fail to deliver, or if it is clear that you will not be able to deliver, the goods in accordance with the terms of the agreement, we may order the same or similar goods from another supplier. This does not affect our right to make a claim against you for failure to deliver the goods or failure to keep to the agreement.
K) If you fail to meet the delivery date then without prejudice to our other rights or remedies we will be entitled by way of liquidated damages to a discount on the price of 5% per week unless otherwise agreed by an authorised signatory.
9 Invoicing, payment, accounting procedures and charges
A) You may invoice us for the price of the goods on or after delivery (but not before).
B) Invoices for all goods will fall due 60 days from date of invoice and will normally be paid on the last working day of the month in which they fall due. However, if we fail to receive the invoice by the 15th of the month in which it would otherwise be payable, the payment date will automatically become the last working day of the following month.
C) You must follow the payment and accounting procedures set out in the supplier manual. You authorise us to send the payment or remittance advice (advice of payment):
• by post to the address on the purchase order;
• by post to an address you give us in writing;
• by e-mail to an e-mail address you give us in writing; or
• through an automated payment system, to a payment address you give us in writing.
Our responsibility to make a payment will end when we post a payment to you or when we transfer funds into the automated payment system.
D) Unless the purchase order states otherwise the purchase price we pay for the goods covers all your costs (including delivery costs) under the agreement. We will not pay any extra charges.
E) Under the terms of the agreement we are entitled to a discount where negotiated. The discount will be shown on our purchase order.
F) You must provide a statement of our account with you on a monthly basis.
G) If your invoice price does not match our purchase order price we will require either a credit note or a re-issued invoice before payment will be made.
10 Indemnity
A) Unless paragraph 12b applies, you must make sure that the goods do not infringe any trade mark, patent, design right, copyright or other right of anyone else either in the country of production or in the UK or other country of sale. If a claim is made or threatened against us or any of our customers or agents for infringement of any such rights, you must pay our losses (including loss of profit), costs (including legal expenses which we suffer in connection with any action, claim or threat) and any damages, however they arise, resulting from the claim (or threat). This will include costs, damages or other sums paid to any other person or organisation in settlement of the claim (or threat), and the costs of any product withdrawal.
B) The above paragraph will not apply if the infringement arises from any design, label or other mark of identification which we have sent to you.
C) You must pay our losses (including loss of profit), costs (including legal expenses which we suffer in connection with any action, claim or threat) and any damages, however they arise, if:
• you break the agreement. (Breaking the agreement includes if you deliver the goods late or not at all); and/or
• any (claim or threatened claim) is made relating to death, personal injury or damage resulting from any fault in the goods supplied by you. .
This will include costs, damages or other sums paid to any other person or organisation in settlement of any action, claim or threat, and the costs of any product withdrawal.
D) You must take out insurance to cover your liabilities arising from you supplying goods to us, including any claims arising from us selling your goods outside the UK.
11 Trade Marks and “Exclusivity”
A) You must not sell, give away or transfer any goods which have our name or mark on their label, ticket, tag, hanger or other part. You must ensure that your agents or contractors also comply with this.
Before you sell, give away or transfer any extra, cancelled or returned goods, you must take off all our labels, tickets, tags, hangers and other identification marks at your own cost.
If you cannot remove our name or mark from the goods, you must destroy them.
B) If the goods are made from any design, drawing or other instruction provided by us, or the purchase order is stated to be ‘exclusive’, or the goods covered by the purchase order are intended to be exclusive, you must supply the goods to us alone and not to anyone else in any other part of the world. You and your agents or contractors must not supply any excess goods, copies or imitations to any other person or organisation without our permission beforehand.
C) You and your agents or contractors must not sell, give away or transfer any goods made under the agreement before you have offered them to us first. You should offer the goods to us for the price at which you would have sold them to some other person or organisation.
D) You must not offer to sell or supply, to anyone else, any goods which are the same as or similar to the goods you sell us. You must also make sure that your agents or contractors do not do so also.
This applies for 6 months after the delivery date, unless:
• we send you our written permission beforehand;
• we have agreed a different period in writing; or
• the goods are branded or labelled with a name or trade mark of a third party and we have an agreement with the third party to sell their goods.
This means that even if you have removed all of our identification marks from the goods which we have ordered, you still cannot sell or supply these goods to anyone else within 6 months from the delivery date without our agreement.
E) If you or your agents or contractors sell, give away or transfer any goods you are not allowed to sell (as we have described in paragraphs 11a, 11b, 11c and 11d), we can buy the goods back and charge you for our services plus the price we paid and any damages and other expenses.
12 Material and information
A) All the details we supply under the agreement will remain our property. You must only use them for the purpose set out in the agreement. You must return them to us immediately when we ask. ‘Details’ include all information, specifications, patterns, designs, materials, documents and any copies or documents made from them.
B) You acknowledge that if we provide designs to you, we own the copyright, design right, right to apply for registered design protection and any rights of a similar nature in any part of the world.
C) We can use or copy, or authorise the use or copying of, your patterns and designs for the goods (without charge) if:
• these are based upon or developed from our drawings, patterns or designs; or
• you do not keep to the agreement.
13 Confidentiality
A) The agreement is confidential. You must make sure that you do not give out any information about the agreement. You must also make sure that your employees, contractors or agents do not give out this information unless they have our written permission beforehand.
B) You must not advertise or publish the fact that you have entered into the agreement with us, unless you have our written permission beforehand.
C) You must not try to encourage any of our employees to leave their job and work for you or anyone else. This applies during the agreement and for one year afterwards.
14 Sub-contracting
A) You must not transfer or sub-contract your responsibilities under the agreement without the written permission of an authorised signatory.
B) If we agree to you transferring or sub-contracting your responsibilities, you will be responsible for making sure that the person or organisation you transfer or subcontract to keeps to the agreement. We may make a claim against you if that person or organisation fails to do so.
15 Settling debts
A) We can raise a debit note against your account for:
• any money you owe us or our associated companies; and / or
• any money which any of your associated companies owe to us or any of our associated companies.
B) If we do take off any money under paragraph 15a it will not affect our right to claim any discount we have agreed.
16 Forces beyond our control
We can ask you to suspend or cancel any delivery or order if we cannot use, or are hindered or prevented from using, the goods because of any cause beyond our control. This includes industrial action. If we suspend or cancel an order we will not be legally responsible for any direct or indirect damage or loss this may cause you. If we cancel an order you will own the goods. Paragraph 11a will apply to such goods.
17 Nominated carriers
It is a condition of the agreement that you use our nominated carriers for delivering and returning the goods, unless we agree otherwise.
18 Electronic business
It is a condition of the agreement that we and you can communicate with each other using e-mail.
19 Unlicensed computer software
If you are using, or allowing any of your employees or agents to use, any unlicensed computer software, we can end this agreement immediately by giving you written notice. Unlicensed computer software includes, but is not limited to, that which has been rented, leased, decompiled, disassembled, reverse engineered, copied, or derived without written permission from the copyright holder. You must have an End User Licence Agreement (EULA) covering all the computer software you use.
20 Governing Law
The agreements are subject to the law of England and Wales. All disputes arising out of this contract (including non-contractual claims) shall be subject to and the parties submit to the non-executive jurisdiction of the Courts of England and irrevocably agree that proceedings issued out of those Courts (may without prejudice to the rules of service of those Courts) be served on them, addressed to the party to be served, at the address for such party set out in the agreement .
21 Supplier “date compliance”
You must make sure that all systems, products, machinery, equipment (and any other item you need in order to accept and properly complete any future order) will work normally and efficiently from one date to another.
22 Ending the agreement
A) We can end the agreement if:
• you are declared bankrupt;
• a receiver is appointed over any of your property or business;
• you go into liquidation or administration;
• you make a voluntary order with your creditors or you stop or threaten to stop trading;
• you become insolvent; or
• you suffer any similar action to any of the above.
This condition also applies if you break the agreement or any other agreement between us, or you stop trading or threaten to do so.
B) We can also end the agreement if your business is sold to another party.
23 Severance
If any term of this agreement is unlawful or cannot be enforced, that will not affect any other terms of the agreement.
24 Limitation of liability
You acknowledge that our liability to you (including liability for misrepresentation or negligence but not liability for fraud, death or personal injury arising from our negligence) is limited to the price of the goods. We are not liable for your loss of profit or any other consequential losses you suffer as a result of our breaking any duties we have by law.
25 Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999
A person who is not a third party to this agreement has no right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of it. However, this does not affect any right or remedy a third party has other than under that Act.
26 No Waiver
If we grant you more time for performing any of your duties or do not exercise any of our rights or remedies we do not wait or restrict our rights or remedies on that or any later occasion.
ANNEX
Dune Group Ltd supplier code of conduct
When customers buy our goods we want them to be confident that they have been produced under acceptable conditions. That means the goods must have been produced:
• lawfully, through fair and honest dealing;
• without exploiting the people who made them;
• in decent working conditions;
• using animal by-products from the food chain that have been treated at all times in a humane way until slaughter;
• without damaging the environment; and
• using sustainable processes and materials where possible.
The goods must be made at the factory named on the purchase order.
Legal requirements
At all times you must meet the legal requirements of the countries you are working in. The employer must only employ workers who are legally entitled to enter into employment under national immigration law.
Manufacturing processes
All manufacturing premises must meet this code of conduct. Sub-contracted processes – processes being carried out by another factory unit or from domestic premises (home working) must be declared to us when the order is placed, and have our written permission.
EU Reach SVHC Regulations – 45 Day Procedure
REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (EC1907/2006) is the European Union’s (EU) chemical regulation that came into force in June 2007.
Part of this legislation involves “Substances of Very High Concern” (SVHC) as defined on the candidate list.
Article 33 of the REACH legislation (“Duty of communicate information on substances in articles”) includes the requirement of “suppliers of an article containing a substance on the Candidate List in a concentration above 0.1% weight by weight (w/w) to provide the recipient of the article with sufficient information, available to the supplier, to allow safe use of the article including, as a minimum, the name of the substance.”
Article 33 also states that “On request by a consumer any supplier of an article containing a SVHC in a concentration above 0.1% weight by weight (w/w) shall provide the consumer with sufficient information to allow safe use of the article including, as a minimum, the name of that substance. The relevant information shall be provided, free of charge, within 45 days of receipt of the request.”
As a result of this obligation to our consumers under the REACH regulations, we both need to be aware of your REACH procedures with regard to SVHC within your products and packaging. We therefore require:
This information will enable the Dune Group Limited to ensure a timely response to any requests for information from a consumer with the 45-day period. Failure to comply with the requirements of this letter may affect future business as this is a legal requirement.
The official version of the Candidate List can be found here at http://echa.europa.eu/chem_data/candidate_list_table_en.asp.
It is your responsibility to keep up to date with the ECHA website to check for additional substances as the Candidate List may be amended in the future, and to inform the Dune Group Limited of any SVHC used in new products and packaging.
Animal Products Programme
We are committed to making sure our products are from fair and ethical sources.
All suppliers must be socially responsible when using animal products.
For this reason we have introduced a ‘Declaration of Ethical Compliance for Animal Products’. This means that you must meet the following Conditions.
• You must only use leathers, skins and feathers that are by-products of the slaughter of an animal.
• You must not use products from endangered species on the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) or IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) list.
• You must not use real fur (except sheepskin, goatskin and cowhide) or pelts on any goods supplied to us unless we agree and then only fur should be used that has been farmed in a humane manner.
• You must not use karakul (also known as broadtail and astrakhan), or any skin products from aborted animals in goods supplied to us.
• You must not use any leather that was taken while the animal was alive.
You must keep to these conditions for the programme to work. This is a long-term programme that aims to make sure:
• animals are treated in a humane and ethical way; and
• you and we keep to any relevant laws, such as those on hygiene and waste disposal.
Dune Group Ltd Code of Conduct applies to the manufacturer or any other person involved in supplying goods to our companies. The code is backed up by a process of self-evaluation and independent inspections to make sure you keep to it.
The code is designed to be fair, achievable, and easy to check, and to promote the ongoing development of our suppliers. It is based on International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions and recommendations.
Dune Group Ltd Code of Conduct (March 2009)
A) Employment is freely chosen.
i) There is no forced, bonded or involuntary prison labour.
ii) Workers are not required to lodge "deposits" or their identity papers with their employer and are free to leave their employer after reasonable notice.
B) Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining are respected.
i) Workers, without distinction, have the right to join or form trade unions of their own choosing and to bargain collectively.
ii) The employer adopts an open attitude towards the activities of trade unions and their organisational activities.
iii) Workers representatives are not discriminated against and have access to carry out their representative functions in the workplace.
iv) Where the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining is restricted under law, the employer facilitates, and does not hinder, the development of parallel means for independent and free association and bargaining.
C) Working conditions are safe and hygienic.
i) A safe and hygienic working environment shall be provided, bearing in mind the prevailing knowledge of the industry and of any specific hazards. Adequate
steps shall be taken to prevent accidents and injury to health arising out of, associated with, or occurring in the course of work, by minimising, so far as is reasonably practicable, the causes of hazards inherent in the working environment.
ii) Workers shall receive regular and recorded health and safety training, and such training shall be repeated for new or reassigned workers.
iii) Access to clean toilet facilities and to potable water, and, if appropriate, sanitary facilities for food storage shall be provided.
iv) Accommodation, where provided, shall be clean, safe, and meet the basic needs of the workers.
v) The company observing the code shall assign responsibility for health and safety to a senior management representative.
D) Child labour shall not be used.
i) There shall be no new recruitment of child labour.
ii) Companies shall develop or participate in and contribute to policies and programmes which provide for the transition of any child found to be performing child labour to enable her or him to attend and remain in quality education until no longer a child; "child" and "child labour" being defined at the end of this code.
iii) Children and young persons under 18 shall not be employed at night or in hazardous conditions.
iv) These policies and procedures shall conform to the provisions of the relevant ILO (International Labour Organisation) standards.
E) Living wages are paid.
i) Wages and benefits paid for a standard working week meet, at a minimum, national legal standards or industry benchmark standards, whichever is higher.
In any event wages should always be enough to meet basic needs and to provide some discretionary income.
ii) All workers shall be provided with written and understandable information about their employment conditions in respect to wages before they enter employment and about the particulars of their wages for the pay period concerned each time that they are paid.
iii) Deductions from wages as a disciplinary measure shall not be permitted nor shall any deductions from wages not provided for by national law be permitted without the expressed permission of the worker concerned. All disciplinary measures should be recorded.
F) Working hours are not excessive.
i) Working hours complies with national laws and benchmark industry standards,
whichever affords greater protection.
ii) In any event, workers shall not on a regular basis be required to work in excess
of 48 hours per week and shall be provided with at least one day off for every 7
day period on average. Overtime shall be voluntary, shall not exceed 12 hours per week, shall not be demanded on a regular basis and shall always be compensated at a premium rate.
G) No discrimination is practiced.
i) There is no discrimination in hiring, compensation, access to training, promotion, termination or retirement based on race, caste, national origin, religion, age, disability, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, union membership or political affiliation.
H) Regular employment is provided.
i) To every extent possible work performed must be on the basis of recognised employment relationship established through national law and practice.
ii) Obligations to employees under labour or social security laws and regulations arising from the regular employment relationship shall not be avoided through the use of labour-only contracting, sub-contracting, or home-working arrangements, or through apprenticeship schemes where there is no real intent to impart skills or provide regular employment, nor shall any such obligations be avoided through the excessive use of fixed-term contracts of employment.
I) No harsh or inhumane treatment is allowed.
i) Physical abuse or discipline, the threat of physical abuse, sexual or other harassment and verbal abuse or other forms of intimidation shall be prohibited.
The provisions of this code constitute minimum and not maximum standards, and this code should not be used to prevent companies from exceeding these standards. Companies applying this code are expected to comply with national and other applicable law and, where the provisions of law and this Base Code address the same subject, to apply that provision which affords the greater protection.
Definitions
Child
Any person less than 15 years of age unless local minimum age law stipulates a higher age for work or mandatory schooling, in which case the higher age shall apply. If however, local minimum age law is set at 14 years of age in accordance with developing country exceptions under ILO Convention No. 138, the lower will apply.
Young person
Any worker over the age of a child as defined above and under the age of 18.
Child labour
Any work by a child or young person younger than the age(s) specified in the above definitions, which does not comply with the provisions of the relevant ILO standards, and any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's or young person's education, or to be harmful to the child's or young person's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.
Daniel Rubin
Executive Chairman