Q. Do you know all of the factories that make your products?
A. As a condition of doing business with Disney, we require licensees and vendors to identify the facilities where they intend to source Disney-branded products, including any subcontractors. We have a database of more than 60,000 facilities, of which approximately 17,000 currently have authorization to produce or manufacture Disney-branded items. However, the accuracy of this list relies sometimes upon a long relationship chain between Disney and the facilities in particular. While we know and keep records on the vast majority of the factories that produce Disney-branded product, our experience has shown some under-reporting of facilities. We continue to work on ways to improve reporting of factories to us and to strengthen the accuracy of the factory list.

Q. Why don't you publish a list of factories making your products?
A. Many Disney-branded products are not sourced, manufactured, imported or sold by us but rather by licensees and retailers. In our contracts with these parties, many of them have required us to agree to keep their factory sources confidential. And in cases where we do source or sell products directly, our vendors have similarly required that we keep their factory sources confidential. Read more about how we work with licensees, vendors and factories in our Corporate Responsibility report.

In addition, more than 17,000 factories may be authorized to produce our branded products at any one time. This list of factories changes constantly, making it extremely challenging to assure that any list is accurate and up to date at any given moment.

However, when organizations or individuals bring concerns to our attention, we do investigate and where possible try to work with the organization to identify a resolution to the situation.

Q. What was Project Kaleidoscope?
A. Project Kaleidoscope was a multi-year collaborative project with McDonald's Corporation and a group of faith-based, institutional and socially responsible investors designed to promote sustained compliance with labor standards mandated by corporate codes of conduct for manufacturers. Please click here to learn more about the project.

Q. Are Disney-branded products made in Burma (Myanmar)?
A. No. Disney has prohibited production of Disney-branded products in Burma since the start of our International Labor Standards program in 1996. The U.S. Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control also maintains restrictions on imports of Burmese products into the United States.

Q. Are Disney-branded products made in Haiti?
A. From 1999 to the Fall of 2009, Disney prohibited production of Disney-branded products in Haiti due to political instability. In Fall 2009, we lifted this suspension in coordination with the implementation of the International Labour Organization and International Finance Corporation's Better Work Haiti program.

Q. Are Disney-branded products made in Saipan?
A. No. Disney has prohibited production of Disney-branded products in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands since 1998 due to concerns about working conditions, including concerns raised in a class action lawsuit filed in 1999. (Disney was not named as a defendant in that action.)

Q. Are Disney-branded products made in Vietnam? What about the Keyhinge factory?
A. Yes. We allow Disney-branded products to be made in Vietnam. We are aware of concerns that have been periodically raised about the Keyhinge factory in Vietnam. This factory remains eligible for production of Disney-branded products, provided it continues to work toward achieving compliance with Disney's Code of Conduct.

Separately, we have supported the extension into Vietnam of the Better Work program, a joint project of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the International Labour Organization to provide monitoring and capacity-building of factories and transparent reporting on working conditions.

Q. Is forced overtime a violation of your Code of Conduct?
A. Yes. Our Code of Conduct for Manufacturers has a provision prohibiting involuntary labor, which states "Manufacturers will not use any forced or involuntary labor, whether prison, bonded, indentured or otherwise." This includes mandatory or involuntary overtime, including the imposition of fines or other penalties for refusing to work overtime, unless a collective bargaining agreement negotiated by workers allows for it.

Q. What is your policy on child labor?
A. Our Code of Conduct for Manufacturers prohibits child labor. Companies that make Disney-branded products must sign a contract stating that they do not and will not use child labor. Child is defined as "a person younger than 15 (or 14 where local law allows) or, if higher, the local legal minimum age for employment or the age for completing compulsory education." If child labor is discovered in a factory, we generally seek to work with the factory, as well as the licensee that uses the factory, to identify the most feasible solution to remedy the situation as quickly as possible. This may include collaboration with government, multilateral institutions, NGOs or other companies that use the factory.

Q. Do you monitor the factories making your branded products?
A. Both Disney and our licensees and vendors monitor the factories manufacturing Disney-branded products. However, with more than 17,000 factories approved for production at any one time, we are unable to visit all of them collectively. Therefore, we prioritize our monitoring resources in those locations that have the highest likelihood of non-compliance. We conduct this analysis using data from past factory assessments by country as well as using external resources such as AccountAbility's Responsible Competitiveness Index, Freedom House's Political Freedom Index, Heritage Foundation's Economic Freedom Index, Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, and the United Nation's Human Development Index.

In addition, we accept factory assessments conducted by other brands, retailers, multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry initiatives that we consider equivalent to our own factory assessment program. In this way, we can benefit from current monitoring work by others, encourage collaboration in monitoring in the industry, and redeploy our resources to other facilities.

Q. For the factories that are monitored, why are problems still reported?
A. Factories making our branded products operate under a wide range of conditions. Some comply easily with our Code of Conduct, while others struggle to achieve our standards. We prefer to allow the factories time to correct any instances of non-compliance. However, if a particular factory is unwilling or ultimately unable to meet our expectations, we will require our licensees and vendors to remove our branded product from the facility and prohibit future manufacturing there.

The causes of non-compliance are varied but we suspect that some or all of the following may be contributors:

• Local governments are, in some cases, unable or unwilling to fully enforce their own labor laws. Consequently, there are limited penalties for factories of non-compliance, leading to a culture of non-compliance.
• In some locations, factory owners or managers may seek to frustrate monitoring efforts by creating false records, coaching workers to provide model answers to assessors' questions, attempting to bribe assessors to produce a favorable assessment report, subcontracting work to unauthorized factories or even hiding groups of workers. Such actions make it difficult to understand true conditions in a factory, and often reflect an unwillingness to take steps necessary to meet our standards.
• Some factories may not be required by all of their customers to meet minimum social compliance standards, leading to a culture of non-compliance. In some cases, buying companies, brands and retailers may have different expectations, leading to confusion and misunderstandings at the factory level.
• Purchasing and ordering practices of some buying companies, brands and retailers can lead to difficulties in achieving compliance; for example, making late order changes can lead to excessive overtime at the factory level.
• Buying companies, brands, retailers, industry associations and multi-stakeholder initiatives all conduct their own factory assessments, leading to duplication of efforts. It also means that factories may be spending more time on "hosting" audit teams rather than using that time to fix their compliance problems.

Read our Corporate Responsibility report to learn more about how we are attempting to handle some of these challenges.

Q. Concerns have repeatedly been raised about working conditions in factories in China making Disney-branded products. What have you done about these?
A. Whenever concerns have been brought to our attention - irrespective of the source - we investigate them immediately. We are aware of a number of reports over the years concerning factories making Disney-branded products in China.

• Wang Niu Dun Yiu Wah Factory: In 2009, China Labor Watch produced a report citing an accident that caused a worker's death at a factory producing Disney-branded product, also known as Yiuwah factory. Please click here for an update on this situation.
• Dawei Chengji Toy Factory: In 2008, the National Labor Committee (NLC) raised concerns in a report entitled "Toys of Misery Made in Abusive Chinese Sweatshops" about a toy factory making Disney-branded products in China called Dawei Chengji Toy Factory, also known as Dong Guan Huang Jiang Tai Way (Shing Kee) Toys Factory. We had withdrawn our authorization for this factory to make our branded products in 2007 due to non-compliance with our ILS program. As a result of the NLC report, we learned that a licensee was still producing our branded product at the factory without our authorization. We are working with the licensee and factory to remedy the situation.
• Hung Hing and Other Factories: In the period 2005-2007, Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) issued five reports identifying concerns in a total of 10 factories in southern China.
  • Dongguan Lam Sun Plastic Products Co., Ltd. (originally cited by SACOM in 2005) - This factory would not allow our investigation into the allegations and, as a result, has not been eligible to produce Disney-branded product since 2005.
  • Ho Wai Metal Plastic Manufactory, aka Haowei Toys (originally cited by SACOM in 2007) - The factory relocated to a new building, implemented a confidential worker helpline assisted by a Chinese civil society organization, established a Labor Management Committee, settled a dispute regarding wages and is working on establishing a corporate social responsibility system to support sustained compliance.
  • Hung Hing Printing Press (Shenzhen) Limited Corporation (originally cited by SACOM in 2005) - The factory installed a confidential worker helpline assisted by a Chinese civil society organization, conducted factory training sessions with thousands of workers and established an environmental, health and safety committee with the support of a Chinese civil society organization.
  • Longgang Huang Xing Light Industry, aka B-Planet (originally cited by SACOM in 2006) - After auditing this factory, we made a number of recommendations to enable it to meet our standards. However, the licensee and factory informed us that they did not want to address the deficiencies. As a result, this factory has not been eligible to produce Disney-branded products since 2006.
  • Nord Race Paper International Limited (originally cited by SACOM in 2005) - The factory would not allow Disney and its third party monitor to enter the factory and investigate the claims and, as a result, has not been eligible to manufacture Disney-branded products since 2005.
  • Qi Sheng Shenzhen, aka Tradeson Candle, aka Bestree (originally cited by SACOM in 2006) - We conducted an audit and identified some compliance violations but were unable to fully evaluate compliance with all areas of our Code of Conduct. As a result, this factory has not been eligible to produce Disney-branded products since 2006.
  • Tianyu Toys (originally cited by SACOM in 2007) - The factory installed a confidential worker helpline assisted by a Chinese civil society organization and we have been coordinating with the ICTI CARE Process to evaluate the factory's progress in improving conditions.
  • Yonglida Toys (originally cited by SACOM in 2007) - The factory was not authorized to produce Disney branded product. Factory management denied access to Disney monitors. It continues to be ineligible to produce Disney-branded product.
  • Zhongshan Hung Hing Printing & Packaging Company Limited (originally cited by SACOM in 2005) - The factory installed a confidential worker helpline assisted by a Chinese civil society organization, has undergone several audits and has made many improvements. It will continue to be monitored.
  • Zhuhai Kam Long Industry (originally cited by SACOM in 2006) - The factory installed a confidential worker helpline assisted by a Chinese civil society organization; engaged with a civil society organization to conduct a worker survey, which led to the renovation of the canteen; engaged with another civil society organization to establish an environment, health and safety committee with workers as elected committee members, and continues to work on reducing working hours.
• He Yi Electronics and Plastics Products Factory: In 2004, the National Labor Committee raised concerns in a report entitled "Toys of Misery 2004" about a factory making Disney-branded products in China called He Yi Electronics and Plastics Products Factory, also known as Foreway. Our subsequent audit of the factory validated some but not all of the issues, and found violations of our standards that were not as severe as those suggested by NLC. We required the licensees and vendors to work with the factory to implement a corrective action plan. The licensees and vendors stopped using this factory later in 2004.
• Various Factories: In 2001, the National Labor Committee raised concerns about a number of factories in China. The factories were not identified and we were unable to investigate the claims.

Q. Concerns have repeatedly been raised about working conditions in factories in Bangladesh making Disney-branded products. What have you done about these?
A.

• Niagra factory: In 2004, the National Labor Committee raised concerns regarding the Niagra factory in Bangladesh. The factory was not authorized to produce Disney-branded products. However, we asked the licensee to work with the factory to improve conditions. Currently there are no Disney licensees and vendors sourcing Disney-branded product from this factory, although this factory is eligible to manufacture Disney-branded products upon completion of a re-application process.
• Shah Makhdum Garment Factory: In 2001, the National Labor Committee raised concerns regarding Shah Makhdum Garment Factory in Bangladesh. We validated some of the concerns raised and required the licensees and vendors to work with the factory to improve conditions. We have had no licensees or vendors producing Disney-branded products in this factory since 2002, although this factory is eligible to manufacture Disney-branded products upon completion of a re-application process.
• Separately, we work with the MFA Forum to identify ways in which we can support and promote social compliance in Bangladesh apparel factories. Read more about the MFA Forum's Bangladesh work here.

Q. Concerns have been raised about leaving factories when problems arise instead of working to remediate working conditions.
A. We prefer to encourage factories to remediate instances of non-compliance and allow factories time to correct any instances of non-compliance. However, if a particular factory is unwilling or ultimately unable to meet our expectations, we will require our licensees and vendors to remove Disney-branded product from the facility and prohibit future manufacturing there.