Responsible Supply Chain Initiative

What it is

The association's own home page describes itself in one line: "An association to gain sustainability along global supply chains in the automotive industry." Its brochure adds: "RSCI offers companies a standardized audit program to assess social and environmental risks in the automotive supply chain."

The requirements are published as the RSCI Assessment Requirements, Version February 2026. Sections A to K run from general management through child labor and young employees, freely chosen labor, employee rights and participation, working hours and payment, fire safety and emergency evacuation, occupational health and safety, chemicals and hazardous substances, environment, and supply chain management. The requirements are specific — section F.2 reads: "The regular work week shall not exceed 48 hours."

The brochure sets out the sequence: "The RSCI member invites auditee to register on RSCI Online." "The RSCI member or auditee initiates an RSCI assessment." "A bidding process runs to determine the audit body that will conduct the assessment." "Within 7-17 working days, the RSCI Assessment Report is released."

What follows the report is a corrective action plan and a label: "The CAP needs to be approved by the auditor. The auditee can revise the plan twice." "Within 9 months after the initial assessment, a follow-up must be initiated."

The owner's word for the outcome is a Label, and the label period depends on the findings — a full label for 36 or 30 months, an interim label for 9 months, and no label where critical deviations are found. The RSCI Information Brochure EN 2026 reports 367 awarded RSCI Labels, over 700 assessments and 31 countries.

The assessed company decides who sees the result: "The auditee decides who has visibility on the assessment report." Assessments are managed on the RSCI Online platform, which the benefits page presents as a way to manage the global assessment roll-out centrally in one place.

The Request an Assessment link on the owner's site leads to a sign-on page hosted on rba-online.org. What that arrangement means is not explained on the pages opened for this record (3 September 2026).

Who owns it

The imprint names the association as Responsible Supply Chain Initiative e.V., Behrenstr. 35, 10117 Berlin, entered in the Vereinsregister Berlin-Charlottenburg under number 39506 B, with Andreas Rade for the management and Nina Freund as the person responsible under § 18 (2) MStV.

The brochure dates the founding and places it: "2021 — RSCI was founded under the umbrella of the VDA in Berlin" and "RSCI is a sustainability initiative of the automotive industry."

"27 Members — including companies and associations, are organized within the RSCI" — the brochure's member and partner slide shows companies including Audi, BMW Group, Bosch, Brose, CATL, Daimler Truck, Ford, JLR, Magna, MAN, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Schaeffler, Stellantis, thyssenkrupp, Volkswagen, Webasto, Yanfeng and ZF, alongside the associations VDA, CLEPA and Drive Sustainability and the partners ACMA, Catena-X, INA, Sector Dialogue Automotive Industry and TAA.

Membership comes in three roles the brochure names itself: Full Member as designer, Basic Member as user, and Association Member as multiplier.

Who assesses it

Assessments are conducted on site by an audit body picked through a bidding process, not by RSCI itself: "The auditor goes on-site and conducts the RSCI assessment according to the RSCI requirements." The brochure names site observation, document review and interviews as the methods.

Which audit bodies RSCI has approved is not set out in the brochure or on the web pages opened for this record (3 September 2026).

RSCI Label outcomes (RSCI Information Brochure EN 2026)

• No label — ZT/Critical deviations = No label
• Interim label — Major deviations = Interim label valid for 9 months
• Full Label — 30 months — Minor deviations = Full Label valid for 30 months
• Full Label — 36 months — No deviations = Full Label valid for 36 months

Validity

The RSCI Information Brochure EN 2026 ties the label period to the findings: an assessment with no deviations gives a Full Label valid for 36 months, minor deviations a Full Label valid for 30 months, and major deviations an Interim label valid for 9 months; critical deviations give no label. The same brochure states: "Within 9 months after the initial assessment, a follow-up must be initiated."