BAMA requires honesty and integrity in all matters that concern our business operations. Our objective is to have a proper and orderly relationship with our employees, business partners, the environment and society in general. A healthy business philosophy requires corporate social responsibility.
In certain countries BAMA buys products from, workers feel that they are employed under reprehensible wage and working conditions. In these countries the social conditions and respect for workplace rights are completely different from our part of the world. BAMA shall be a promoter in Norway and abroad to make a contribution to improve the working conditions for these groups.
As a result of this, over the past years we have intensified our efforts to follow up our suppliers and business contacts in and outside Norway. For this reason BAMA became a member of the Ethical Trading Initiative in 2002, (http://www.etiskhandel.no). This means that we have undertaken to make an effort to ensure a continuous improvement of the working and environmental conditions in accordance with the fundamental ILO standards and EurepGAP.
Our experience shows that in some countries it may take some time before these minimum standards can be met. This may be due to political, cultural or historical conditions, or the fact that it may take some time before the supplier can establish a system that satisfies our requirements. BAMA's influence on such processes is also limited to the fact that we do not have our own production.
BAMA has therefore decided to go one step further than just demanding that international standards are met. We understand that we cannot always assign this responsibility solely to the supplier. We believe that permanent changes are best accomplished by clearly stating our requirements and principles at the same time as expressing our willingness and ability to cooperate on the achievement of these changes.