New Integrity Interactive Service Enables Companies to Drive Compliance & Ethics into Global Supply Chains

WALTHAM, Mass.--Integrity Interactive^® Corporation (www.i2c.com), a company that helps leading global corporations manage and reduce the risk of compliance failures, today announced the availability of Supplier Certify™, the first and only web-based service that lets a company drive its code of ethics into its global supply chain. Supplier Certify is a cost effective, time-saving, and simple solution that can help mitigate risk to the financial health and reputation of a company and its customers.

Over the past year, a number of leading corporations grabbed headlines with business scandals resulting from serious ethics and compliance breaches in their supply chains. Mattel (lead paint in toys) is just one of the most recent examples. Too often, supply chain scandals result in costly recalls and brand damage. But suppliers and vendors (including OEM manufacturers, parts and components suppliers, ingredient providers, re-sellers, distributors, service and support partners, and 1099 contractors) can’t meet standards and expectations that haven’t been set. An Integrity Interactive Q4 2007 survey of Global 2000 companies found that a stunning 78 percent of companies do not include suppliers in their company’s primary code of conduct. This same study revealed that nearly 58 percent of companies surveyed were not sure if their company regularly assessed ethics risks in the supply chain.

Integrity Interactive delivers a company’s code of ethics to suppliers in a password-protected website, collects certifications, and reports the results back to the initiating company. The service is free to the initiating company. Suppliers pay a nominal documentation fee, but pay nothing to view or download standards of ethical conduct.

“Integrity Interactive works with hundreds of the world’s leading companies. We understand that if actions are not taken to demand ethics and compliance within the supply chain, serious scandals and injury can result,” said Richard Cellini, vice president of Integrity Interactive. “Supplier Certify helps companies maintain safe, ethical supply chains that help ensure product integrity and legal compliance.”

Supplier Certify helps companies identify rogue suppliers before they get a chance to cause major problems or scandals. Three world-class companies, Ryder Systems Inc., H.J. Heinz, and bioMérieux Inc., have already begun the process of driving ethics into their supply chain in partnership with Integrity. Companies armed with Supplier Certify can dramatically improve their ability to communicate ethical expectations, hold suppliers accountable, and target scarce and expensive auditing and enforcement resources. Suppliers who fail to certify their acceptance of ethical standards can face a variety of consequences (including slow-pay, no-pay, termination and non-renewal).

How Supplier Certify Works

1. Upload your code of ethics – Companies give Integrity Interactive electronic access to their business conduct guidelines for suppliers. If a company does not have a supplier code, Integrity will work with the company (at no charge) to develop one that incorporates industry-specific best practices.

2. Communicate your code of ethics – Integrity loads the company’s code of ethics into a customized, password-protected website carrying the initiating company’s branding and messaging. Suppliers view and download ethics messaging at no cost. The code can be delivered in multiple languages, as necessary and appropriate.

3. Collect certifications – Once suppliers receive the code, the initiating company can ask them to take any or all of the following steps:

• acknowledge receipt
• affirm understanding
• certify compliance

4. Record responses – Integrity records supplier responses and reports aggregated results to the initiating company on a regular basis.

“It is hard to comprehend that the majority of companies have no code of ethics in place for suppliers,” said Cellini. “Integrity can’t stress enough the importance of setting and communicating ethical expectations to your company’s suppliers. Your own customers expect nothing less from you and your brand.”

About Integrity Interactive

Integrity Interactive helps leading companies and large organizations build ethical cultures that reduce risk. We design, develop, and deliver programs and services that mitigate risk in three areas: compliance, ethics, and corporate responsibility. Our comprehensive culture-building and risk reduction services include: Strategy and Assessment; Training and Communication; and Measurement and Reporting.

Integrity Interactive works with hundreds of the world’s greatest companies, and serves millions of employees on six continents. For more information about Integrity Interactive, please visit www.integrity-interactive.com.