The ethic or social responsibility certification was edited in 1997 thanks to CEPAA (Council on Economic Priorities Accreditation Agency), today known as SAI (Social Accountability International), an American institute, whose mission is to provide consumers and investors with informative tools in order to evaluate social performance of the biggest organization.

SA 8000 standard deals with the following elements:

  . children and minors labour
  . labour with no consent
  . health and safety
  . labour environmental conditions
  . freedom in association
  . wages and working hours

SA 8000 is based on a concept which deals with client’s influence on supplier: every part of the production chain must commit itself directly for the protection of human rights and inform and incite the suppliers adjustment to the standard .