Nine years later, the Apparel and Footwear International RSL Management Group (AFIRM) is 18 members strong and continuing its mission by creating and distributing new and innovative tools for supply chains around the globe and by hosting seminars to educate its global supplier base on ever-evolving best practices in chemical safety management.

Since its founding, AFIRM has met semi-annually, hosted hundreds of calls and assembled multiple task forces to identify and solve various RSL issues, including hazardous substance identification, appropriate analytical test methods and limits, laboratory performance evaluation, new regulatory requirements and best practice in education and engagement of supply chains.

AFIRM released the first version of its RSL Supplier Implementation Toolkit in 2008, a collection of resources to help suppliers understand restricted substances and implement their own factory management plan to gain control over the substances used in their raw materials. To date, AFIRM has hosted five RSL seminars across Asia to directly engage and present RSL management techniques to over 2,400 suppliers.

The AFIRM Supplier Toolkit has been well received by industry, member and non-member supply chains alike. It can serve as a reference tool for those organizations experienced in chemicals management or those new to a more hands-on chemical management approach. The toolkit was designed for a broad range of users, having both technical reference information and general guidance around best practice.

The toolkit is divided into searchable sections by topic and is translated into English, Chinese and Vietnamese, with a Spanish translation planned for publication in 2013.

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