ICS Certification
Initiative Clause Sociale — French and European retail social compliance programme
What is ICS?
The Initiative Clause Sociale (ICS) is a social compliance audit programme created by a group of French and European retail groups to assess and improve working conditions in their supplier factories. ICS was founded by leading French retailers including Carrefour, Casino, Intermarché, and Monoprix, and has since expanded to include additional European retail members.
ICS uses a unified audit methodology and questionnaire, allowing participating retailers to share audit results and avoid duplicating assessments on the same factory. This shared platform approach reduces audit burden on suppliers while providing consistent social compliance data to retail buyers.
What the ICS Audit Covers
The ICS audit framework covers eight social responsibility areas: prohibition of child labour, prohibition of forced labour, health and safety, freedom of association and right to collective bargaining, working hours, wages and benefits, non-discrimination, and regular employment.
Independent auditors conduct on-site factory inspections, confidential worker interviews, and document reviews. Audit scores and corrective action plans are recorded on the ICS platform and accessible to all ICS member retailers.
Relevance for French and European Retail Buyers
For suppliers targeting French hypermarket and supermarket channels, ICS certification is typically a mandatory listing requirement. Carrefour, Casino, and Intermarché routinely require ICS audit results as part of their supplier qualification process before placing initial orders.
Our ICS certification means your procurement team can proceed directly to product assessment and commercial negotiation without first commissioning a new social audit — saving both time and cost in the supplier qualification process.
Audit Details
- Programme
- ICS — Initiative Clause Sociale
- Audit Areas
- 8 social responsibility areas
- Audit Result
- 92% — Grade B
- Last Audit Date
- June 10, 2025
- Audit Duration
- 1 manday
- Audit Body
- Eurofins
- Platform
- ICS shared platform (accessible to ICS member retailers)
- Relevant Retailers
- Carrefour, Casino, Intermarché, Monoprix and ICS members
- Coverage
- Full factory — all production and packaging areas
Access Our ICS Audit Results
ICS member retailers can access our audit results directly on the ICS shared platform. Non-member buyers can request a summary of our audit documentation by contacting our sales team.
Qualify Us for Your Supply Chain
ICS audit documentation available to all ICS member retail buyers.