California Transparency
in Supply Chains Act

On January 1, 2012, the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act (also referred to as SB 657) became law. The Act requires that companies disclose their efforts to eradicate slavery and human trafficking from their direct supply chains.

West Marine does not condone the use of slavery or human trafficking and does not knowingly do business with any supplier who engages in such practice. Long before the passage of this law, West Marine’s Supplier Agreements contained contractual provisions prohibiting the use of involuntary labor and child labor, and requiring compliance with applicable labor laws, safe working conditions and employment laws.

West Marine Associates who work as merchant buyers and in our resourcing and quality teams receive training on how to recognize and mitigate the risks of slavery and human trafficking. To assist in verifying our Supplier’s operations, West Marine Associates --our merchant buyers and our resourcing and quality teams-- periodically visit third party Supplier facilities. West Marine has also previously engaged third party auditors to monitor certain of its supply chains in order to evaluate and to address the risks of slavery and human trafficking inherent in those activities. West Marine will again look to engaging a third party independent firm to make unannounced visits to Supplier facilities in the future.

We are currently taking additional steps to prevent slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains. Those measures include requiring each Supplier to acknowledge an understanding of their obligations with regard to these laws and to certify that materials incorporated into the merchandise they supply West Marine is compliant with applicable laws regarding slavery and human trafficking.

West Marine expects its suppliers to conduct themselves in a lawful and ethical manner. West Marine is free to take its business elsewhere should a supplier fall short of these expectations. If a Supplier is found to not be compliant with its obligations, West Marine would have the option to terminate its business relationship with that Supplier or take other actions to remediate any problems that had been identified.