New publication: “Buy IT fair – Guideline for Sustainable Procurement of Computers”
Procure IT fair campaign publishes “Buy IT fair”, a guideline that show how public institutions can avoid buying IT-products that were produced under violation of working rights.
The IT sector has a hidden dark side that contradicts its modern image: in the supply chain of brand name companies such as Apple, Fujitsu and Dell basic working rights are regularly violated. With the guideline “Buy IT fair” the European campaign “Procure IT fair” releases the first tool that assists conscious public buyers in how to include labour and environmental issues into public tenders. “Public buyers have a responsibility to reflect on the origin of their procucts”,says author Florian Butollo, “our recommendations are concrete and ready for implementation in forthcoming IT tenders”.,
Public buyers can potentially have a significant positive influence on the working conditions, environmental impacts and human rights throughout the supply chain of computers. By using their market power, they can not only show their commitment to fairly produced products, but also set a number of criteria for the production of their products. While a number of governments and other public institutions have already taken important steps in the right direction, Procure IT Fair that it is time to apply sustainability criteria in actual tenders. The guide provides a starting point for public buyers who share this view. All the recommendations in this guide have undergone a legal check to ensure that they are not contradicting the European Procurement Directives. The guide also refers to a number of examples of municipalities and other institutions, who have already applied social or environmental criteria.
With the publication of “Buy IT fair” the Procure IT fair network will intensify their efforts to open a dialogue with decision makers in public institutions. The involved organisations offer support and advice in the preparation of tenders for sustainably produced IT.
Contact: WEED, http://www.weed-online.org/