How to determine the scope of facilities for completing a single Higg FEM?

The Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM) is the most widely used environmental performance assessment in the consumer goods supply chain. Due to the different factory operations of different manufacturers, the following definitions and exceptions shouldbe applied when determining the scope of facilities to complete a single FEM.

FEM should cover the entire facility, which is defined as all on-site business activities of a legal commercial entity (defined by the scope of the applicable business license/operating permit in the country/region where the facility operates). This includes all on-site processes, equipment, and areas owned and operated (e.g. facilities cannot exclude specific operations or facility areas from FEM).

Each legitimate business entity defined by the applicable business license/operating permit requires a Higg FEM. However, the following three exceptions need to be noted.

Exception 1

If multiple manufacturing units (facilities) are located in the same location and have different business licenses, but these facilities are fully owned and operated by a single legal commercial entity, a FEM can be completed.

Note: If individual facilities are not legally owned/operated by a single parent entity with a valid operating license (including ownership of all facilities), a separate FEM must befilled out for each facility.

Exception 2

If the material or component suppliers of facilities with separate business licenses are located at the same location and provide 100% of the materials/services to the facilities, their operations can be included in the facility's FEM.

Note: If material or component suppliers provide materials or services to other facilities, they must not be included in the FEM scope of the facility and a separate FEM is required.

Exception 3

Facilities located in two different locations (i.e. different legal addresses) must complete an FEM at each location, regardless of ownership.

For example, Facility A and Facility B are located in different locations, and although their operations are covered by a parent business license, A and B still need to complete their respective separate FEM.