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Since 2020, adidas has had in place a highly effective industrial hygiene and infectious disease control program, built around WHO guidance, with very strict monitoring and testing protocols. We put this program in place early in the pandemic, to safeguard the health and safety of workers in our supply chain. Like all other adidas suppliers, Tsang Yih Co. Ltd (reported as Chang Yi Footwear in your correspondence) was required to develop, and strictly implement, a comprehensive set of Covid-19 safety measures, which includes screening, enforcing social distancing, strict hygiene standards and proper case handling for any workers who reported in sick or tested positive for Covid-19. We continue to monitor the implementation of the Covid-19 safety measures at Tsang Yih, including through on-the-ground inspections, and we have required the factory to promptly close any gaps or deficiencies that have been found. At present, Tsang Yih has very high vaccination rate among its workforce (93% of employees) and very few positive cases of Covid-19.

We have followed closely the reported arrest of a former employee of Pou Chen Myanmar (‘PMA’), who was held in detention, but then subsequently released. The individual concerned was linked to a reported case of theft, that was resolved through an Arbitration Council ruling in June 2020. It therefore came as a surprise to PMA that 15 months later the police proceeded to bring criminal charges against the ex-employee. On learning of the arrest, PMA immediately appealed to the police to drop the charges. However, this was unsuccessful, and the case went to Court. In the end PMA twice petitioned the Court to dismiss the case and in early May 2022 the former employee was finally released from prison.

adidas continues to monitor closely the situation in Myanmar and is fully engaged with our suppliers, to ensure that the rights of workers in our supply chain are upheld.

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