ARTS releases compliance audit specification

Washington, D.C. - The Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS), the standards and technology division of the National Retail Federation (NRF), has released the Compliance Audit Interchange. The CAI is a specification that allows organizations to share compliance audit results securely with other companies who source from the same supplier location.



Included in the standard is a set of defined XML standard messages to enable brands and retailers to track and to communicate with their manufacturers and other supply chain intermediates about compliance with human rights, environmental and supply chain security issues. It also defines the means where brands, retailers and audit companies can confidentially and securely exchange audit information with other companies and external databases. Technical reports offering in-depth discussions of the compliance audit landscape and the need for standards, as well as a design specification for the registry itself, are also included.



ARTS and FFC were supported in this project by retailers, brands, suppliers and multi-stakeholder organizations, such as Nike, Adidas, El Corte Inglés, Cisco, Enablon, Intertek, SIM Supply Chain Information Management, the Fair Labor Association, SEDEX, BSCI, GS1, GSCP and SIF.