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§ 1Our commitment
Modern slavery and forced labour have no place in our business or in the supply chains we are part of. Baixian Trade is committed to conducting its trade in a way that respects the people whose work it depends on — at sea, in processing, and across the chain that brings seafood to market.
This is a voluntary statement. It is not made under any particular statute; rather, it sets out our approach in the spirit of the modern-slavery and forced-labour frameworks that increasingly shape responsible trade, and it is written for the counterparties, regulators, and others who want to understand how we think about these risks.
§ 2Our business and supply chain
Baixian Trade is the trading arm of Baixian Group, a group of affiliated companies operating from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, with processing and logistics operations on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. We source wild-caught seafood from several of the world's major fishing grounds, process it through our own and partner facilities, and supply it to customers across Asia, Europe, the Americas, and beyond.
Our supply chain therefore reaches from fishing vessels and the crews who work them, through harbours, processing plants, and cold-storage and logistics providers, to the customers we serve. The people involved at each of these stages are the focus of this statement.
§ 3Where the risks lie
We do not approach this subject as though our sector were low-risk. The global seafood industry carries a recognised, elevated exposure to forced-labour and labour-exploitation risk relative to many other sectors — particularly in distant-water fishing, where crews may spend long periods at sea, and in the labour-intensive stages of processing. Risk factors documented across the industry include the isolation of vessels at sea, the use of recruitment intermediaries and recruitment fees, the retention of identity or travel documents, debt bondage, and the vulnerability of migrant workers.
We think it is more honest, and more useful, to name these risks plainly than to imply they do not apply to us. Recognising where exposure is greatest is the starting point for managing it.
§ 4Our policies and principles
Our expectation, of ourselves and of those we work with, is that work is freely chosen, fairly paid, and free of coercion. In practice this means that:
- employment and engagement should be voluntary, with no forced, bonded, or involuntary labour;
- workers should be free to leave their employment, and should retain control of their own identity and travel documents;
- recruitment should not place the cost of obtaining work onto the worker through fees or deductions; and
- no child labour should be used at any stage.
These principles inform how we engage with suppliers and how we expect our own operations to be run. We keep the way we express and apply them under review as the expectations of the sector develop.
§ 5Due diligence and supplier expectations
Our approach to the people-related risks in our supply chain is, like our approach to legal sourcing, risk-aware: we give the closest attention to the parts of the chain where exposure is highest. We expect the vessels, processors, and other suppliers we work with to share the principles set out above, to operate within the labour laws that apply to them, and to be willing to discuss their labour practices with us.
Where we have reason for concern about the labour practices of a counterparty, we would expect to raise it, to seek to understand it, and — if it could not be resolved consistently with the principles above — not to proceed. We also work to build awareness of these risks among the people in our own organisation who manage sourcing and supplier relationships.
§ 6Standards we look to
In shaping our approach, we look to the internationally recognised instruments in this area:
- the International Labour Organization's core conventions on forced labour and child labour, and its Work in Fishing Convention (No. 188), which addresses conditions of work aboard fishing vessels; and
- the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the framework for how businesses should identify and address their human-rights impacts.
We treat these as reference points for our own practice rather than as schemes we hold ourselves out as certified against.
§ 7Looking ahead
The legal and commercial landscape around forced labour in supply chains is developing quickly — including, for the markets we serve, the European Union's forthcoming regulation prohibiting products made with forced labour from its market. We follow these developments, and we expect our own practice, and the way we describe it in statements such as this one, to continue to develop alongside them.
§ 8Oversight and questions
Responsibility for our approach to these issues sits within Baixian Trade's trade and operations functions, and we keep this statement and the practice behind it under review as our operations and the wider framework evolve.
Counterparties and others with a question about this statement, or who wish to discuss our approach in more detail, can reach us through our contact page.