Traceability, Site Approval, and Supply Chain Visibility
Traceability
The ability to identify where products, materials, sites, and suppliers are in the supply chain well enough to make real decisions about risk and control.
Definition
Traceability means more than knowing the supplier name. In practice, it can include the approved factory list, the subcontractor list, where key materials come from, which tier is visible, and whether changes are reported when production moves.
A program does not need perfect visibility on day one, but it does need enough traceability to answer concrete questions such as where this order was made, whether subcontracting occurred, or which mill supplied a high-risk material.
How this source informs this section
OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct
OECD guidance is the core reference for reading traceability as a practical visibility tool that supports risk-based decisions.
Why it matters
Without traceability, teams struggle to investigate allegations, map high-risk tiers, or explain what the program actually covers. The company may have policies and audits but still not know where the real exposure sits.
This is why traceability is often a prerequisite for stronger due diligence, facility approval, and unauthorized-subcontracting control.
How this source informs this section
Disney International Labor Standards Program Manual · p. 8
Disney's ILS manual is a useful brand example because it ties production disclosure and facility control directly to sourcing decisions.
Nuance
Traceability is not the same as full transparency. A company may have strong visibility to tier 1 factories and still have major gaps in mills, farms, or labor intermediaries.
The useful question is not 'is it fully traceable?' but 'traceable enough for which decision?' For example, supplier approval, cotton-origin review, or allegation response may each require a different depth.
How this source informs this section
OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct
The guidance supports risk-based traceability depth rather than assuming every decision needs full end-to-end mapping first.
Sources
OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct
OECD · guidance
OECD's core guidance on how companies identify risk, prioritize, respond, track follow-up, and communicate what changed.
Disney International Labor Standards Program Manual
Disney · program manual PDF
Disney's main labor-standards manual for facility authorization, audit expectations, remediation, and unauthorized production controls.
