Cambridge Audio is committed to the wellbeing of the workforces of our suppliers and
the environment in which they operate, in the same way, that we are to our own employees,
worldwide.
Like most companies of our kind, we focus on the design of our products and work with third
party factories and component suppliers to help us deliver each and every finished product that
carries our name. Outsourced components and manufacturing are key to our success and as we
expand our supplier base, we only work with business partners whose values are compatible
with our own.
Our products are designed, engineered, and tested from end to end by our teams in London and
Cambridge, UK. Our significant in-house team comprise product designers, mechanical
engineers, electronics hardware and software engineers, app designers, packaging designers,
user experience champions, quality assurance technicians and numerous other disciplines.
This team in the UK is proudly at the heart of every product that bears our name.
We then hand every detailed element of our designs over to our team in Asia who work with
specialist factories, with high ethical standards, to produce every product we deliver to our exact
specifications. Currently, we work with production partners in China, however as of January
2021 we have new projects underway that will be manufactured outside China, for various
commercial reasons, including reducing our reliance on any single location.
The Ethical Standards of our Factories
Our concerns include the practices of our individual business partners, the happiness of their
employees and the social and political issues that affect that workforce where we manufacture
our products or source components. We have defined business partners as vendors,
manufacturers, contractors, subcontractors and other suppliers who provide labour and/or
materials utilised in the manufacturing of all Cambridge Audio products.
Human Rights
We only work with business partners who share our commitment to the human rights of the
individuals employed across the production process. We undertake specific due diligence (and
regularly revisit it) to ensure that no business partner we work with deviates from our values.
We don’t manufacture or source any finished goods in Xinjiang, and we only work with
suppliers who are prepared to ensure they work only with component suppliers with no known
human rights abuses. We are never afraid to make changes if we can’t confirm that our values are being upheld.
Health & safety
Providing workers with a safe and healthy work environment is something Cambridge Audio
considers to be a basic human right. That's why we'll only work with business partners who
provide safe and healthy facilities as well as comfortable residential accommodation, where
applicable. Like other aspects that we audit, we spot check all our factory partners’ facilities on a
regular basis.
Legal requirements
Cambridge Audio expects its business partners to be law-abiding as individuals and as
businesses to comply with all legal requirements relevant to the conduct of their business.
Employment practices
Cambridge Audio will only do business with partners whose workers are treated fairly are
present voluntarily, fairly compensated, allowed the right of free association and not exploited
in any way.
In addition, every one of our business partners must adhere to the following:
Wages and benefits
Cambridge Audio's business partners must provide wages and benefits to their colleagues that
comply with all applicable laws and match prevailing local industry practices. We also favour
businesses that share our commitment to contribute to the betterment of the community. We
are proud that many of them do.
Child labour
Cambridge Audio's business partners undertake never to employ child labour (i.e. a person
under the age of 16 years). Furthermore, our business partners will not knowingly utilise
partners or raw materials suppliers themselves who use or permit the use of child labour in any
of their facilities. We actively support the development of legitimate workplace apprenticeship
and training programs for the educational benefit of younger people as long as the individual is
never exploited, employed against the law or put at risk with regard to health and safety.
Prison / forced labour
Cambridge Audio will never knowingly utilise business partners who use or permit the use of
prison labour in the manufacture of products ordered by or through us. Furthermore, our
business partners will not knowingly utilise partners or raw material suppliers themselves who
use or permit the use of forced labour in any of their facilities. "Forced Labour" is defined as
work or service that is extracted from any person under the threat of penalty for his/her noncompliance and for which the worker does not offer him/herself voluntarily. We don’t
manufacture, or source, any finished products in Xinjiang, an area that has concerned us
greatly, given media coverage.
Discrimination
Whilst we recognise and respect cultural differences, we strongly believe that workers must be
employed on the basis of their ability to do the job, rather than on a basis of gender, racial
characteristics or cultural or religious beliefs.
Documentation and inspection
Cambridge Audio retains the right to constantly monitor compliance of these terms and
conditions and conducts on-site inspection of facilities without notice. We will review and may
terminate our relationship with any partner ever found to be in violation.
Environmental requirements
Cambridge Audio has always taken a proactive approach to environmental and health issues
and all new products adhere to the significant number of new environmental standards that are being introduced by governments on a continual basis. In many cases we are among the first to
introduce new standards, before they become law.
Cambridge Audio only engages with partners who share our commitment to protect and
preserve the environment. This specifically includes compliance with local government laws
and international standards as well as U.S., E.U., U.K. and other regulations prohibiting the use
of ozone-depleting chemicals (hydrochlorofluorocarbons). Our systems and processes have
been designed accordingly and stringent systems put into effect to ensure all products fully
comply with new legislation.
RoHS
The EU RoHS directive stands for "the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in
electrical and electronic equipment." This means that in the EU market there is a ban on new
electrical components containing more than agreed levels of lead, cadmium, mercury,
hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether
(PBDE) flame retardants. Equivalent standards exist in many other parts of the World. We
welcome this directive and abide by its strict code.
WEEE
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive aims to minimise the effects of
electrical and electronic products on the environment by encouraging the recycling and re-use
of components and reducing the amount that is sent to landfill sites. Manufacturers are
responsible for funding the collection, treatment and recovery of waste electrical equipment.
Distributors are also encouraged to allow consumers to return their waste equipment free of
charge, which we do.
We Welcome your Feedback
Thank you for taking the time to read this to the end. You clearly care about this subject and the
The world that we live in.
We welcome your feedback. Should you think we can do better when it comes to ethical
manufacturing, please do reach out to us via our Support team (see “Support” at the bottom of
this page). All feedback is reviewed by our Production Director, Managing Director and CEO on a
regular basis and, where we feel an idea makes sense, we will put it into place. As a business, we
feel we are big enough to make a difference and also small and hands-on enough to care.
Yours,
The Cambridge Audio Team
January 2021