Apical’s Grievance Secretariat (GSR) that consists of personnel from the Group’s Sustainability team is tasked to assess, monitor and identify potential grievance issues within our supply chain through grievance alerts and different monitoring systems.
Should we receive a grievance allegation against any of our suppliers, the GSC will acknowledge receipt of the allegations to the whistle blowers or grievance raisers within five working days. This triggers a series of investigations and preliminary fact-finding activities to establish relevance and evidence of compliance in accordance to Apical Group policies.
In case of absence of clearly documented and verified evidence, the Supplier Engagement Team (SET) shall demand for clarification and evidence of compliance from the supplier, which shall be provided within three weeks from the date of the Request for Clarification letter (RFC).
If the clarification and evidence of compliance is not satisfied, the SET will demand for a physical meeting with the supplier’s management and conduct further grievance verifications as necessary.
In cases of serious violations – with documented and verified evidence of clearing forest, legally protected areas and peatland – GSR will require the supplier to immediately stop land clearing on all affected concessions as a prerequisite for continued engagement and support for a grievance resolution. This will be in effect pending further assessments or remedial actions. Learn more about our Grievance Process and Supplier Engagement Protocol here.