questionnaire asks how we ensure that child labour does not occur with our suppliers

Child labour: no guarantee, but policy and code of conduct as an answer

The request for a guarantee cannot be answered literally in practice: no company can rule out that something goes wrong somewhere deep in a supply chain. What most questionnaires therefore actually test is not a guarantee but a process: does the company have policy that excludes child labour, has that policy been communicated to suppliers, and is there a way to capture signals. This aligns with human rights policy in the supply chain, where child labour is typically one of the mentioned risks, alongside for example forced labour or underpayment.

If you have not set out that policy separately, the answer is usually "no" or "partly" — do not fill in what is not there. Many companies address this in practice via a code of conduct for own suppliers: it then states a minimum age or a reference to ILO conventions, and suppliers sign up to it. If you do not have that code of conduct, that is a realistic answer to this question, not a shortcoming you need to obscure. A third element that often counts is a reporting channel for misconduct: without a way to receive signals, "we rule it out" is difficult to substantiate.

Basis: VSME module on own personnel and supply chain

The VSME basic module of EFRAG asks SMEs to report on working conditions for own personnel and, where relevant, risks in the supply chain — child labour is typically mentioned as a point of attention alongside forced labour. The CSRD (Directive 2022/2464) is the EU directive that gives this reporting framework a legal basis for larger companies; for smaller suppliers, the question often carries through because their customer needs this information for their own supply chain reporting. Concrete evidence that a buyer looks for here: a documented code of conduct, a reference to age limits, and possibly an audit or control mechanism with suppliers in risk countries.