Sustainable Natural Rubber policy

Chengshin Rubber Industry Co. Ltd.(MAXXIS) is a tire maker in Taiwan.

Chengshin persists in the concepts of Honesty and Integrity, which are the most basic and important one for Chengshin and the highest guiding principles in the pursuit of sustainable operation. MAXXIS has many manufacture factories in many Asia countries. There is no natural rubber resource in Taiwan. The natural rubber need is supplied from eastern south Asia area. As extending the global business，It is very important project for MAXXIS in the future to push the sustainable natural rubber development. Consumers、logistics、rubber farmers are a part of the natural rubber industrial chain and it is a long and wild industrial chain. Tire maker is the biggest consumers of the natural rubber. Tire maker have the obligation to be leader of natural rubber industrials toward to the sustainable way. MAXXIS is the member of GPSNR (Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber) since 2021. Cooperate and discuss about the guideline which enhances the natural rubber sustainability. 

The platform is committed to promoting the uptake of sustainable natural rubber inthe global marketplace by addressing forest and other ecosystem conversion, biodiversity loss, human and labour rights violations and inequity in the natural rubber supply chain. Chengshin establishes sustainable MAXXIS Family to ask natural rubber suppliers joining and committing the sustainable development of natural rubber. The family includes smallholder, producers, processors and traders is the sustainable. To develop the sustainable policy is the support for the responsibility of the natural rubber suppliers in the aspect of environment, community, human rights. MAXXIS will set the sustainable policy into the audit items through the regular audit activities. Regularly monitor progress toward company commitments in order to ascertain performance. Apply monitoring systems and practices to incorporate crowd-sourced information from local stakeholders and affect parties regarding non-conformance with commitments. Report publicly the progress and outcomes related to the implementation of policy-related commitments at least annually. The audit result will affect the purchasing policy. This policy is applied by MAXXIS and its suppliers.

Principles of Sustainable Natural Rubber from MAXXIS Family

1.The principles are upheld by MAXXIS and natural rubber supplier (including smallholders、producers、processor、trader)

1.1 Commitment to Legal Compliance and human rights

1.1.1 Complying with applicable local, national and international laws on human rights, labour, land use, and the environment.

1.1.2 Working against corruption in all of its forms including extortion and bribery.

1.1.3Respecting and protecting internationally recognized human rights (including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights [UNGP]）。

1.1.4 Establishing and maintaining a company grievance mechanism to receive complaints and remedy adverse impacts they have caused due to production andsourcing.（consistent with UNGP effectiveness criteria）。

1.1.5Recognizing and protecting the culture and communal land tenure rights of indigenous peoples and local communities (IP/LC). Carrying out operations in accordance with《The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)》

1.1.6 Ensuring that Free, Prior and Informed (FPIC)is secured before any activity that might affect IP/LCs. Mutually agreed compensation or accommodation for any present or past harm to the lands, territories, resources, or rights of IP/LC. The implementation is jointly monitored by the community and the GPSNR members and/or by mutually agreed third party(ies). Establish ongoing, effective, culturally appropriate channels of dialogue with IP/LC. FPIC process follows UN-REDD (2012), RSPO(2015) and FAO (2015)"

1.1.7Upholding applicable labour rights and labour laws in the jurisdictions whereoperating, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and theintent of the International Labour Organization’s eight core conventions

• Freedom of association and collective bargaining (ILO Convention No. 87 and No. 98)

• No forced labour (ILO Convention No. 29 and its 2014 Protocol)

• No child labour (ILO Convention No. 138 and No. 182)

• Decent living wages 

• No discrimination (ILO Convention No. 111 and No. 100)

• Legal working hours 

• Safe and healthy workplaces

• No abusive practices (ILO Convention No. 105)

• Gender equity
Safeguards apply to all workers, including contract, temporary and migrant workers.

1.1.8Support decent living conditions of local communities(eg.  the material standards of living, sociality, economic, culture, education, food security, economic, cultural, and food rights)

1.2  Commitment to Increased Production Efficiency

1.2.1 Support training for the natural rubber producers to improve the yield and quality.

1.2.2 Manage operation to minimize rate of energy usage and to maximize naturalrubber resource efficiency.

1.2.3 Minimize and mitigate carbon emissions.

1.3Commitment to Supply Chain Assessment, Traceability, and Management Conducting supply chain mapping and assessing suppliers for social and environmental risk to prioritize risk mitigation actions.

1.3.1Follow the supplier quality policy to manage the natural rubber supplier about the regular Audit, monthly supplier evaluation and encouraging the supplier to join or implement the policy that is compliance the request from GPSNR.Setting public, time bound and geographic-specific targets and milestones with their associated indicators/metrics for applying its commitments.Participating in/supporting multi-stakeholder planning and policy efforts that uphold the GPSNR principles at a landscape, jurisdictional or other spatial  level.

1.3.2 Establish the traceability system of natural rubber included, tree plantation,processor, trader, producer and end user. The rubber processor and trader must establish the traceability and transparency from plantation and smallholders.The trader must manage the traceable system from processor.

1.3.3Supporting traceability of natural rubber, at a minimum to an appropriatejurisdictional level, to know or control the conformance of purchased materials with GPSNR Policy Framework

1.3.4 Communicating to all suppliers of natural rubber that material produced and processed in accordance and conformance with the GPSNR Policy Framework will be preferred. Providing time bound requirements for meeting the policy requirements

1.3.5 Regularly engaging the supply chain (both direct and indirect suppliers) to support their conformance with company commitments through effective  incentives, support mechanisms, and purchase monitoring systems

1.3.6 In instances of supplier non-conformance with GPSNR Policy Framework, developing time-bound implementation plans to move towards conformance and/or remediation or ongoing mitigation harm in the past

2. The principles are upheld by natural rubber supplier(including smallholders、producers、processor、trader)

2.1 Commitment to Healthy, Functioning Ecosystems

2.1.1Natural rubber from areas that have been deforested after April 2019 is non-conforming with this policy.

2.1.2 Produce and source natural rubber in a way that does not contribute to deforestation or degrade High Conservation Values (HCVs) and is consistent with HCSA.

2.1.3 Protecting the natural forest and other ecosystem and support to recover the deforested natural forest due to natural rubber tree plantation.

2.1.4Not using open burning/fire in new or ongoing operations for land preparation, land management. Beside the waste management, phytosanitary and other emergencies.

2.1.5 Protecting wildlife, including rare, threatened, endangered and critically endangered species and supporting wildlife protection activities in areas of influence.

2.1.6Protecting water quantity and quality, including from chemical pollution and erosion.

2.1.7 Protecting soil quality from erosion, nutrient degradation, subsidence and contamination.

2.1.8Preventing the development of or sourcing from natural rubber plantations on peat.

2.1.9FSC Certificate.

2.1.10 Set the sustainable target by natural rubber suppliers. Embedding commitments into decision-making processes, systems, and performance metrics.

2.1.11Push the sustainable target to other branch by horizontal expansion and into the business plan. Maintaining an active, regular stakeholder dialogue to provide relevant information, and to afford Opportunities for feedback and suggestions

If encountering any relevant problem, the complaint channels are described as follows:

Complaint channel:

Taiwan region:

Complaint line: +886(04)8525151#321

Special e-mail address for complaint: cster@mail.cst.com.tw

Physical complaint mailbox

Mainland region (Kunshan Plant):

Complaint Tel:+86(0512)-57673888#8294(Purchasing dep.)

Physical complaint mailbox:ccwang2@mail.cst.com.cn

Definition

Child labour: Work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development. Not all work done by children should be classified as child labour that is to be targeted for elimination. Children’s or adolescents’ participation in work that does not affect theirhealth and personal development or interfere with their schooling, is generally regarded as being something positive (according to International labour Organization).

HCVs: An HCV is a biological, ecological, social or cultural value of outstanding significance or critical importance, as defined by Common Guidance for identification of HCVs. 

The six categories of HCVs are:

HCV 1：Species diversityHCV 2：Landscape-level ecosystems, ecosystem mosaics and IFL

HCV 3：Ecosystems and habitats

HCV 4：Ecosystem services

HCV 5：Community needs

HCV 6：Cultural values

HCSA:HCSA is a methodology that distinguishes forest areas for protection from degraded lands with low carbon and biodiversity values that may be developed. The methodology was developed with the aim to ensure a practical, transparent, robust, and scientifically credible approach, that is widely accepted to implement commitment to halt deforestation in the tropics, while ensuring the rights and livelihoods of local peoples are respected.

Small SNR grower/Smallholder: Holder of natural rubber plantation that is relatively small in size and that has been verified to be in compliance with the SNR Criteria and Indicators. Each country has different definition on small growers, the threshold area of not more than 50 ha is set to define a small SNR grower for GPSNR.

Large SNR grower/industrial SNR plantation: Individual holder of natural rubber plantation that is above the maximum area limit defined as a smallholding (50 ha)

Peat: A soil with cumulative organic layer(s) comprising more than half of the upper 80 cm or 100 cm of the soil surface containing 35% or more of organic matter (35% or more Loss on Ignition) or 18% or more organic carbon. Note for management of existing plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia, a narrower definition has been used, based on national regulations: namely soil with an organic layer of more than 50% in the top 100 cm containing more than 65% organic matter.

FPIC: Free, Prior and Informed Consent

UN-REDD: The flagship UN knowledge and advisory partnership on forests and climate to reduce forest emissions and enhance forest carbon stocks

FAO: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 

SNR processor: Organization that processes raw natural rubber.

SNR trader: Trading organization (either individual or corporation) that is involvedin the national or international trade of natural rubber.

Supply chain transparency: Transparency refers to the capture and transference of ‘high-level’ information along the supply chain. Supply chain transparency requires companies to know what is happening upstream in the supply chain and to communicate this knowledge both internally and externally.

Traceability: The ability to follow a product or its components through stages of the supply chain(e.g., production, processing, manufacturing, and distribution).

2022/05/10