{"id":6324,"date":"2025-03-21T15:48:46","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T13:48:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/?p=6324"},"modified":"2025-05-29T13:16:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T10:16:14","slug":"vsme-voluntary-standard-for-imm-uri-use-of-the-severe-negative-human-rights-incidents-indicator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/vsme-standardul-voluntar-pentru-imm-uri-utilizarea-indicatorului-severe-negative-human-rights-incidents\/","title":{"rendered":"VSME - the voluntary standard for SMEs. Using the Severe Negative Human Rights Incidents indicator"},"content":{"rendered":"

Indicator C7 - Severe Negative Human Rights<\/em> Incidents is part of the Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard for Small and Medium Enterprises (VSME), EFRAG's sustainability reporting guide for SMEs, developed to simplify, standardise and facilitate transparent reporting of environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. This indicator is important in assessing how small and medium-sized enterprises manage serious risks and incidents involving human rights.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Key definitions<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Within the VSME standard, the concepts of incident, severity and human rights are clearly defined to facilitate consistent reporting:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Incident: is any identifiable event that has had or is likely to have a negative impact on individuals, communities or groups vulnerable to fundamental human rights.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Severe: an incident is considered severe when the human rights impact is significant, long-lasting, irreversible, or affects a large number of people, or is linked to systematic violations (e.g. forced labour, child exploitation, serious discrimination, violence, etc.).<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Negative human rights incidents: refer to concrete violations or risks of human rights violations, either caused directly by the SME or indirectly through activities of suppliers, subcontractors or business partners.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    The VSME standard encourages SMEs to analyse not only internal incidents, but also those in the supply chain and to assess how their policies influence respect for human rights.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Link with international standards and policies<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

    Indicator C7 is aligned with multiple international frameworks in particular:<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises: although this document is mainly aimed at large companies, its principles also apply to SMEs. The OECD Guidelines promote respect for human rights, prevention of violations and redress for harm caused, in line with due diligence principles.<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs): these emphasise the responsibility of companies, regardless of size, to respect human rights. Principle 17 of the UNGPs states that companies should conduct an ongoing due diligence process to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for their human rights impacts.<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. ILO Conventions (International Labour Organisation): SMEs must comply with ILO core conventions on decent work, non-discrimination, freedom of association and the abolition of forced and child labour.<\/span><\/li>\n
    4. EU Corporate Sustainability Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD): although many SMEs are not directly concerned by the CSRD, those that are suppliers to large companies may need to align with reporting requirements, including on human rights impacts.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Thus, indicator C7 is not an isolated indicator, but part of a global ecosystem of best practices, standards and legal requirements on social responsibility.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Implementing C7 in SMEs<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

      In order for SMEs to use the C7 indicator effectively in their reporting, they need to adopt a structured approach, including the following components:<\/span><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Clear human rights policies<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        SMEs should have a Human Rights Policy, which defines the company's commitment to human rights, describes the guiding principles followed (e.g. UNGPs, ILO Conventions) and sets out expectations from employees, suppliers and other stakeholders.<\/span><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Due diligence procedures<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          A human rights due diligence procedure should include:<\/span><\/p>\n

            \n
          • assessing potential human rights risks;<\/span><\/li>\n
          • Mechanisms to identify incidents (e.g. reporting channels, audits);<\/span><\/li>\n
          • preventive and remedial measures;<\/span><\/li>\n
          • continuous monitoring of the situation and regular reporting.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

            This can be a simplified procedure, adapted to the specificities of the SME, but it must be functional and documented.<\/span><\/p>\n

              \n
            1. Incident register<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              Companies should keep a register of human rights-related incidents to record:<\/span><\/p>\n

                \n
              • the date and nature of the incident;<\/span><\/li>\n
              • impairment of rights (which rights have been infringed);<\/span><\/li>\n
              • corrective measures taken;<\/span><\/li>\n
              • the final outcome and lessons learnt.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
                  \n
                1. Training employees and empowering the team<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                  It is essential that staff are informed about human rights and how incidents can be prevented. SMEs should organise regular training sessions and designate a person responsible for coordinating efforts in this area.<\/span><\/p>\n

                    \n
                  1. Complaints mechanism and whistleblowers<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                    To encourage incident reporting, SMEs should put in place an accessible complaints mechanism (internal and external) as well as a whistleblower system, protecting confidentiality and avoiding retaliation.<\/span><\/p>\n

                    C7 reporting in practice<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

                    Within the sustainability report under the VSME standard, the SME should include:<\/span><\/p>\n

                      \n
                    • the number of serious incidents recorded during the reporting period;<\/span><\/li>\n
                    • type and nature of incidents (without disclosing personal information);<\/span><\/li>\n
                    • remedial action taken;<\/span><\/li>\n
                    • changes to policies or procedures following incidents;<\/span><\/li>\n
                    • preventive measures taken for the future.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                      If no incidents have been identified, this should be explicitly reported, together with a brief description of the preventive measures in place.<\/span><\/p>\n

                      Indicator C7 - Severe Negative Human Rights Incidents is essential for the transparency and accountability of SMEs in the field of human rights. It is recognised that SMEs have limited resources compared to large companies, but they can implement effective policies and procedures, adapted to their size and context, to identify and manage risks and severe incidents.<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                      Indicatorul C7 \u2013 Severe Negative Human Rights Incidents face parte din cadrul standardului VSME (Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard for Small and Medium Enterprises), ghidul dedicat raport\u0103rii sustenabile pentru IMM-uri, elaborat de EFRAG pentru a simplifica, standardiza \u0219i facilita comunicarea transparent\u0103 a performan\u021belor de mediu, sociale \u0219i de guvernan\u021b\u0103 (ESG). Acest indicator este important \u00een evaluarea […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-standarde"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6324"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6458,"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6324\/revisions\/6458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}