Samsung Electronics has completed a review of suppliers based in China after a report from China Labor Watch criticised working conditions at one of Samsung’s Chinese suppliers. CLW said that child labour appeared to be a common practice in one factory, also noting that it had additional concerns about working hours, employment contracts and working conditions.

The new Samsung report didn’t find any evidence of child labour. However, it did identify “several instances of inadequate practices at the facilities” that affected working conditions for staff.

Full details of the Samsung statement issued today are below.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, holds itself and its supplier companies to the highest standards. In response to China Labor Watch’s reports on our suppliers, we conducted an audit over a four-week period in September of 105 suppliers that manufacture Samsung products in China, covering more than 65,000 employees.

The Samsung audit team, comprising 121 trained and certified employees, undertook this urgent and broad-scale action to ensure our suppliers in China are compliant with applicable labor laws and Samsung’s Supplier Code of Conduct.

Samsung did not identify any instance of child labor during the audits after reviewing HR records of all workers aged below 18 and conducting face-to-face ID checks. However, the audit identified several instances of inadequate practices at the facilities, including overtime hours in excess of local regulations, management of supplier companies holding copies of labor contracts, and the imposition of a system of fines for lateness or absences.

Samsung is currently reviewing 144 more supplier companies in China, which will be completed by the end of this year. From 2013, Samsung will ensure the independence of the audits and continue to monitor working conditions at 249 Samsung suppliers in China through the Validated Audit Process of the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition, a third party audit program.

We are now designing, researching, and/or implementing corrective actions to address every violation that was identified. Corrective actions include new hiring policies and work hours and overtime practices, among other steps, to protect the health and welfare of employees.