The Philips General Business Principles (GBP) govern Philips’ business decisions and actions throughout the world, applying equally to corporate actions and the behavior of individual employees. They incorporate the fundamental principles within Philips for doing business. The intention of the GBP is to ensure compliance with laws and regulations, as well as with Philips’ norms and values.
The GBP are available in most of the local languages and are an integral part of the labor contracts in virtually all countries where Philips has business activities.
Responsibility for compliance with the principles rests principally with the management of each business. Every country organization and each main production site has a compliance officer. Confirmation of compliance with the GBP is an integral part of the annual Statement on Business Controls that has to be issued by the management of each business unit. The GBP incorporate a whistleblower policy, a standardized reporting tool for complaints and gifts and a formal escalation procedure.
The global implementation of the One Philips Ethics Line ensures that alleged violations are registered and dealt with consistently within one company-wide system. In 2007 the French privacy authorities granted approval for the roll-out of the hotline in that country (completed in November). In Germany the workers’ representation bodies also approved the introduction of a hotline. These approvals now ensure comprehensive company-wide implementation.
To drive the practical deployment of the GBP, a set of directives has been published, including a Supply Management Code of Ethics and a Financial Code of Ethics (www.philips.com/about/investor). In 2007, the updated version of the GBP Directives was approved and adopted, reflecting ongoing developments in codes of conduct and business integrity legislation. The main updates related to Philips’ endorsement of the UN Global Compact, policy on HIV/AIDS, health and safety policy, integrity and ethics in advertising, and in particular directives on the giving of gifts. To ensure compliance with the highest standards of transparency and accountability by all employees performing important financial functions, the Financial Code of Ethics contains, amongst other things, standards to promote honest and ethical conduct, and full, accurate and timely disclosure procedures to avoid conflicts of interest. The Company did not grant any waivers of the Financial Code of Ethics in 2007.
In order to publicize the updated GBP Directives, a global internal communications program was rolled out in the first half of 2007, with participation of the Board of Management and Group Management Committee and the respective Area and Country Management.
A company-wide toolkit has been developed and rolled out in 2007 for the compulsory registration of gifts to third parties to ensure full transparency in monitoring compliance with company standards.
To reinforce awareness of the need for compliance with the GBP, a web-based GBP training tool has been rolled out throughout the company in 22 different languages, covering more than 95% of the employees with on-line access.
The e-training program for (new) compliance officers (including complaint-handling procedures and dilemma training) was updated in 2007. Furthermore, 2007 saw the development and worldwide roll-out of a train-the-trainer program for compliance awareness. Two-day training sessions were held in Latin America, Asia Pacific and Europe, with the remaining sessions scheduled for the first quarter of 2008. This program provides for an annual refresher course.
[Extract from Philips Annual Report 2007]
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