Samsung Electronics’ Chinese suppliers have continued to commit legal and safety violations that the South Korean technology company had vowed to eliminate by the end of 2012, it revealed yesterday.
三星电子(Samsung Electronics)昨天披露，其中国供应商仍存在违法和安全违规行为，这家韩国科技公司曾誓言在2012年底前结束这种状况。
In its annual “sustainability report”, Samsung divulged the results of an independent audit that it commissioned after admitting violations by its suppliers in September 2012.
在年度“可持续发展报告”中，三星透露了一项独立审查的结果。三星在2012年9月承认供应商违规后委托进行此项审查。
Working conditions have become a vulnerable point for the group, the world’s largest technology company by sales, as it has been hit by a series of damaging allegations about its Chinese supply chain from the non-profit group China Labor Watch.
三星是全球销售额最高的科技公司。工作条件近年成为三星的薄弱环节，非营利机构中国劳工观察(China Labor Watch)对它的中国供应链提出一系列颇具杀伤力的指责。
Separately, South Korean courts have determined there is a link between some Samsung employees’ working conditions and subsequent terminal illness, sparking concern in the company’s home market.
另外，韩国法院认定一些三星员工的工作条件和他们随后罹患的绝症之间存在联系，这在韩国市场引发了担忧。
The new audit, conducted last year, showed that 59 of 100 suppliers inspected failed to provide sufficient safety equipment or supervision to their workers, while 33 used fines or penalties to discipline workers.
去年开展的最新审查显示，在100家受检查的供应商中，59家未能向工人提供足够的安全防护器材或监督，33家使用罚金或惩戒措施来管教工人。
This clashed with Samsung’s promise in November 2012 to eliminate these practices by the end of that year. It also vowed to eliminate by the same deadline all discrimination in hiring, irregularities in contracts and companies not providing copies of contracts to workers, but each of these was seen at a minority of suppliers during last year’s audit.
这与三星2012年11月誓言在当年年底前根除这些行为的承诺不符。三星还承诺在当年年底前根除一切雇佣歧视、合同不规范和公司不向工人提供合同副本的行为，但去年的审查发现少数供应商仍存在这些行为。
Samsung, one of the largest foreign investors in China, said in yesterday’s report that it had responded to each of these problematic findings by ordering that the suppliers in question eliminate the practices.
作为中国最大的外来投资者之一，三星在昨天报告中表示，它已经对发现的各个问题做出回应，要求相关供应商根除这些行为。
“Samsung takes concerns about working conditions at its suppliers very seriously,” the company said in a separate statement, adding that it had made “significant progress” in stemming the violations, and would “constantly call for corrective actions [from suppliers] to ensure the issue is resolved in the shortest time possible”.
“三星非常重视对供应商工作环境的担忧，”公司在一份单独的声明中表示。它还表示，已在制止违规行为方面取得“显著进展”，并将“不断要求供应商进行整改，确保问题在最短时间内得到解决”。
Park Yoo-kyung, an investment adviser on governance at APG Asset Management Asia, which invests in Samsung, said that despite the continuing violations by suppliers, Samsung had offered a higher degree of disclosure than many other leading Asian companies. The company had done well in meeting environmental standards, she added, but “on the social side, there are some missing parts”.
三星投资者APG Asset Management Asia的企业治理投资顾问Park Yoo-kyung表示，虽然供应商仍存在违规，但三星的信息披露程度高于亚洲其他领先企业。她补充道，公司在环境达标方面表现出色，但“在社会方面还存在欠缺”。
Samsung’s inability to eliminate unlawful practices among its suppliers reflects broader problems in the Chinese manufacturing sector, which have caused embarrassment to other companies, including its rival Apple.
三星未能杜绝供应商违法行为，反映出中国制造业的普遍问题，这些问题也造成了其他公司的难堪，包括三星的竞争对手苹果(Apple)。