Introducing the Sustainability Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ)

The globally recognized sustainability standard for the automotive industry

Utilized by global OEMs along with many tier 1 and sub-tier automotive companies, the SAQ is globally applicable for all suppliers in the automotive supply chain including sourcing, manufacturing, logistics, assembly or retail.

The SAQ is aligned with the Global Automotive Sustainability Guiding Principles and focuses on enhancing sustainability performance in the supply chain by assessing policy and practice in the areas of human rights and environmental sustainability, health and safety, business ethics and compliance, responsible sourcing of raw materials and responsible supplier management.

SAQ 5.0 is created and maintained by Drive Sustainability, the SAQ is made available under the Creative Commons License. Drive Sustainability Partners include: BMW Group, Daimler Truck, Ford, Geely, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Scania, Toyota, Volkswagen Group, Volvo Group and Volvo Cars.

What's changed in SAQ 5.0?

New questions added to reflect emerging legislation

The SAQ is reviewed and updated biennially and the most recent release of SAQ 5.0 reflects evolving supply chain requirements and emerging due diligence legislation.

SAQ 5.0 incorporates new content to reflect the growing focus on environmental and human rights practices in the supply chain and the need for companies to demonstrate effective due diligence in this area.

The easiest way to learn about the changes between SAQ 4.0 and SAQ 5.0 is to access the SAQ 5.0 Change Record. The Change Record compares all SAQ 4.0 questions with the corresponding SAQ 5.0 questions and provides an overview of the changes.

Enhanced SUPPLIERASSURANCE platform features

Additional features have been added to the platform to support users as they either complete an SAQ for the first time or update their SAQ to the latest SAQ 5.0 version.

Headquarters (HQ) template

Platform users with the relevant permissions can set a corporate headquarters (HQ) SAQ template for their corporate policies to ensure they are used across all SAQs completed on their organization account. This feature extends the existing ability to re-use answers or documents uploaded across multiple SAQs to now include the option to lock certain answers or uploads to stop them being edited by other users on an organization account.

Declaration gaps

SAQ 5.0 also introduces the concept of declaration gaps. When an SAQ is validated, our team of compliance analysts will also check if a supplier left any answer options unchecked which are actually present in their evidence. If our analysts find that the uploaded evidence covers an answer option that wasn’t self-declared by the supplier, the supplier will receive a ‘declaration gap’. This change has been introduced to highlight to suppliers where they have underrepresented their evidence and missed an opportunity to secure additional points to contribute to their total SAQ score.

Learn more about SAQ 5.0 at our dedicated supplier briefings

For a comprehensive overview of the SAQ 5.0 update, you can watch recordings of briefing sessions delivered by SUPPLIERASSURANCE.

By watching a briefing recording you will:

Understand the specific questionnaire changes between SAQ 4.0 and SAQ 5.0
Understand the new SAQ structure and platform functionalities
Receive advice on updating to SAQ 5.0
See SAQ 5.0 in action

Access recordings of our SAQ 5.0 briefings

To support the introduction of SAQ 5.0, SUPPLIERASSURANCE hosted a series of online briefings to outline the changes between SAQ 4.0 and SAQ 5.0 in more detail and explain how suppliers can best prepare for the SAQ 5.0 update. The briefings were held in multiple languages to accommodate as many users of the platform as possible.

You can access recordings of the briefings in the respective languages by following the links below. Please note the recording length is approximately 1 hour.

You can also access the Presentation used during the briefings to get an overview of the changes between SAQ 4.0 and SAQ 5.0, as well as our FAQ page, where we have answered the most common questions we have received regarding the SAQ 5.0 update.

Download a copy of SAQ 5.0

You can download the SAQ 5.0 questionnaire which contains all questions, answer options, the required acceptable evidence and the associated SAQ Rating methodology.

Updating your SAQ 4.0 answers to SAQ 5.0

To support you in the transition to SAQ 5.0, you can download a Presentation explaining how to update your SAQ 4.0 answers to an SAQ 5.0. This overview presentation includes detailed step-by-step guidance of how to complete the update process on SUPPLIERASSURANCE along with the associated screenshots for each step.

SAQ 5.0 - Assurance through Due Diligence

SUPPLIERASSURANCE and SAQ 5.0 provides a scalable cost-effective supply chain due diligence solution.

Using our cloud-based SUPPLIERASSURANCE platform, our advanced workflow technology involves all sustainability stakeholders at the right time in the process – buyers, suppliers, and our compliance analysts – to ensure a smooth journey from supplier onboarding to performance improvement. This approach provides significant savings on in-house resource and enables ongoing cost effective risk assessment of thousands of suppliers.

INTERROGATE

Buyers invite suppliers to complete a questionnaire and upload evidence to support their questionnaire responses. Supplier completion progress can be tracked in real time and existing questionnaire results can be viewed by buyers as suppliers share their data.
VERIFY

Our team of compliance analysts verify that the evidence submitted by a supplier matches their questionnaire declaration. The platform highlights to both the supplier and buyer where the supplied evidence is insufficient.
RECOMMEND

Once a questionnaire is verified, the supplier receives their questionnaire score and customized best practice corrective actions based on their verified responses. Buyers can quickly identify potential areas of sustainability risk and exposure in their supply base and compare supplier results to identify common trends.
CORRECT

Buyers can issue specific due dates to suppliers to confirm when they expect the corrective actions to be completed and demonstrable. The supplier can update their questionnaire at any time to demonstrate their progress.

Introducing the Sustainability Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ)

What's changed in SAQ 5.0?

New questions added to reflect emerging legislation

Enhanced SUPPLIERASSURANCE platform features

Learn more about SAQ 5.0 at our dedicated supplier briefings

Access recordings of our SAQ 5.0 briefings

Download a copy of SAQ 5.0

Updating your SAQ 4.0 answers to SAQ 5.0

SAQ 5.0 - Assurance through Due Diligence

Get in touch

Terms of Use

Introducing the Sustainability Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ)

What's changed in SAQ 5.0?

New questions added to reflect emerging legislation

Enhanced SUPPLIERASSURANCE platform features

Learn more about SAQ 5.0 at our dedicated supplier briefings

Access recordings of our SAQ 5.0 briefings

Download a copy of SAQ 5.0

Updating your SAQ 4.0 answers to SAQ 5.0

SAQ 5.0 - Assurance through Due Diligence

Get in touch

Terms of Use

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