• a clear focal point for grievances raised by BCI members;
• a transparent and impartial process and mediation to address grievances, with respect for sensitive information;
• a credible, efficient and solution-oriented arbitration

Potential complainants

The grievance management process is open only to:

• members of the Association; and
• those stakeholders formally involved  with the Association.

Areas of grievance

The grievance management process shall apply only to grievances between:

• Members of the Association; or
• Members of the Association and formally involved stakeholders; or
• Formally involved stakeholders;
• Member(s) of the Association or formally involved stakeholders and organ(s) of the Association; or
• Organ(s) of the Association.

For this grievance management process to apply, a grievance must be directly relevant to one or more of the following BCI documents:

• Statutes;
• By-Laws;
• Principles of Participation for Membership and related policies;
• Global Production Principles and Criteria 2.0;
• Farm Assessment.

Any grievance outside of the scope of the above documents, or not involving the parties listed above, shall not be considered by this grievance management process.

BCI members are expected to have their own grievance mechanisms to resolve grievances that do not fall in the areas of grievance addressed by the BCI grievance management process.

Committee

Role

The Grievance Management Committee (GMC) serves as:
1) the appellate organ of last resort for decisions arising from the grievance management process;
2) the reviewing organ when the Council is one of the parties involved in a grievance process.

Composition

The GMC is composed of 1 member from each of the 5 membership categories, appointed by the Council, from amongst a list of voluntary members, for one year renewable twice consecutively.

The Grievance Management Committee is currently compsed of:

• Civil Society: Cotton Inc., represented by Janet Reed
• Producers: AProCA, represented by Mr Moussa Sabaly
• Retailers & Brands: KappAhl, represented by Eva Kindgren
• Suppliers & Manufacturers: Amin Textile Mills, represented by Amin Tariq
• Associate Members: Uster, represented by David Mac Alister

last update: 22 December 2010