The German associations of the furniture trade and the furniture industry have agreed on close cooperation in implementing the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG). During a working meeting in Cologne, the Furniture and Kitchen Trade Association (BVDM) and the associations of the German furniture industry recently agreed to jointly initiate concrete steps towards a unified approach.
Photo © Prasit Rodphan | Dreamstime.com
The basis of the industry-wide solution being sought is the concept completed by the associations of the German furniture industry together with the German Furniture Quality Association and the German Institute for Furniture Technology at the end of 2023, which is intended to support the furniture industry in the adequate application of the national supply chain law. The associations' plans envisage that after the implementation of the industry concept, furniture manufacturers will confirm the results of their own analysis to the furniture trade. To do this, the necessary measures contained in the industry concept must be implemented, thus fulfilling the legal requirements.
'The German furniture industry takes its responsibility for its supply chains very seriously and will, within the framework of the industry concept, among other things, carry out a risk analysis corresponding to the requirements of the LkSG in order to provide the furniture trade with the necessary security for compliance with the legal requirements. It is important to us to have a practice-oriented and SME-compatible implementation,' says Jan Kurth, Managing Director of the associations of the German furniture industry.
Christian Haeser, Managing Director of BVDM, comments: 'The German Supply Chain Act has been in force since the beginning of January 2023. The Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control as the supervisory authority has since published extensive guidelines on reporting obligations and risk analysis. Thanks to the pioneering work of our retailers, many problem areas have already been addressed and solutions initiated. It is important to continue working on integrating the processing of information into the process. I am very confident that we are on the right path to implementation.'
More information:
Die Verbändegemeinschaft der Holz-, Kunststoff- und Möbelindustrie
www.vhk-herford.de