What the law says in the UK is spelt out together with an explanation of what this means to you. For those of you outside the UK you will need to provide evidence that you are aware of the relevant laws in your country and that you are complying with them. There are links on each law screen to lead you to the ILO database which will allow you to:

1. Check which laws are relevant to you, go to the ILO database of national laws (NATLEX) dealing with labour standards.

We recommend that the best way to find the relevant laws in your country, is to "browse by subject" - in left hand nav. eg. for Co-op Criteria two "Freedom of Association", you can find the second heading is "Freedom of Association, Collective Bargainaing and Industrial Relations". Click this button to find 3100 references around the world...then choose your own country (eg United Kingdom) to find (102) laws and regulations...Copy and Paste into a file of your own for future reference.

In each of the law files of the e-Toolkit, we will direct you to most appropriate ILO headings for each Co-op criteria.

2. You may also like to see which ILO Conventions your country has ratified(ILOLEX) . This gives you an idea of the laws your country should have enacted. If there are no laws, you still have to try and conform with these ILO Conventions, in order to demonstrate conformance with the Co-op Code.

When setting out your Action Plan, you will determine priorities, and compliance with the law is the minimum standard, and thus should be highest priority. However, the Co-op wants suppliers to go beyond the law. In the first instance this is conforming to ILO conventions. Finally good suppliers should be able to go better ILO conventions by providing sound sourcing systems that are comparable to quality management systems.