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The Nippon Kayaku Group naturally views compliance as a matter of observing laws, internal regulations and industry rules, as is the social norm and as society demands. However, we broaden our interpretation of compliance to include viewing it as a means of continually repaying the trust of our various stakeholders.
Furthermore, by way of a Group code of behavior, we have fixed our Charter of Conduct and Code of Conduct to provide the spirit with which our business activities can help fulfil our social role of contributing to wider society.
We are also working on achieving thorough compliance across our business activities, and further promoting compliance activities under strong top management leadership.
After underlining compliance as our “top priority for business activities”, we fixed our Nippon Kayaku Group Charter of Conduct and Code of Conduct in the year 2000. We revised the contents in 2011 in line with ISO26000 (Guidance Regulations on the Social Responsibilities of Organizations), and again in 2020 when resolving to voluntarily implement measures towards achieving a sustainable society.
Pharmaceutical companies are demanded to constantly ensure high ethical standards and transparency; build relationships of mutual trust with external stakeholders such as medical, dental and pharmaceutical researchers, medical professionals, wholesalers and patient groups; and work towards optimal and ethical medical care from the patient’s standpoint.
As the standard by which to judge whether our actions align with the aims of the JPMA Code, we have fixed a Nippon Kayaku Code of Practice. Thus are we further clarifying the corporate ethics and compliance awareness campaigns which form the bedrock of our business activities, and promoting respect for those key areas in the conduct of business and from a high ethical standpoint.
In order to ensure thorough compliance across the entire Group, we have set up an Ethics Committee as an advisory body to our Sustainable Management Meeting under the guidance and supervision of our Board of Directors. This Committee meets twice a year, and on a further ad hoc basis when necessary.
Led by an Executive Director with an Official Post nominated by our President, the Ethics Committee is comprised of representatives from every business unit’s planning department, and from every section of our General Administration Department which is unattached to any business unit. Its remit is to decide on policies and specifics related to ensuring compliance with our Charter of Conduct, Code of Conduct and Basic Anti-Bribery Policy, thereby preventing conflicts of interest and corruption emanating from unreasonably approaching government employees.
It must also examine and decide upon responses to matters either arising in consultation or actually occurring, and the relevant recurrence prevention measures. The most important matters discussed by this Committee, including anti-corruption matters, are forwarded to the Sustainable Management Meeting and even the Board of Directors, who provide related feedback.
In line with our basic policy on internal system structure, the Nippon Kayaku Group has set up an Audit Division, under the direct supervision of the President, to contribute towards strengthened corporate governance in the form of anti-corruption stances, prevention of unfair or erroneous practices, business operational reform, and asset safeguarding. Based on the annual audit plan approved by the Sustainable Management Meeting does this Audit Division internally audit every division and section of both domestic and overseas Group companies once every three years. Such internal audits involve assessing the systems for business, operational, financial and legal management, as well as observation of ethical standards and anti-corruption measures. Audit results are not only promptly shared with the President, auditors, and the Audit & Supervisory Board, but periodically reported to the Board of Directors via our internal database.
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Key sustainability issues | Corresponding SDGs | Action plans | Indicators(KPI) | FY2025 Targets | Results | FY2024 Initiative-related Topics | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FY2023 | FY2024 | ||||||
Ensuring Compliance |
|
Number of serious compliance violations* | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
|
Compliance training take-up rate | 100% | 96% | 97.7% | ||||
Percentage of group companies with compliance / whistleblowing hotlines | 100% | 83% | 100% |
With the installation of its Internal Whistleblowing System and the setting up of its Compliance Hotline, Nippon Kayaku is working on prevention and early detection of unfair practices, and relevant corrective measures.
Our Compliance Hotline is available to all domestic Nippon Kayaku Group executives, employees (including contracted and part-time employees), temp staff and retired employees (up to a year after they have left). Overseas Group companies, meanwhile, have set up their own internal whistleblowing systems.
Whistleblowing reports may pertain to malpractice, such as law violations, unjust practices, violations of internal regulations such as the Group Charter of Conduct and Code of Conduct, and actions contravening corporate morals. They may also pertain to human rights violations, harassment, bribery, unfair trading, and more generic corrupt practices. When it comes to malpractice, or the risk of malpractice occurring in Nippon Kayaku Business, we are ready to accept a whistleblowing report or consultation at any time.
Our Compliance Hotline, meanwhile, runs to both our Ethics Committee Office (the Internal Control Management Division’s Compliance Manager) and an external law firm, and allows whistleblowers to choose anonymity or otherwise when reporting or consulting. Reports may be made via telephone, email, document or interview, with email and document submissions accepted 24/7.
Any report or consultation accepted by the Compliance Hotline reception desk will be examined by the Ethics Committee Office, which will then decide on whether to investigate the facts. If, during any investigation, evidence of malpractice becomes clear, the Ethics Committee Office will promptly devise measures for corrective response and recurrence prevention, and subsequently notify the whistleblower of the investigation results.
Our Internal Whistleblowing System guarantees both confidentiality and anonymity, and our Regulations on Handling Internal Whistleblowing Reports specifically state that the whistleblower shall not receive any kind of negative treatment as a consequence of reporting or consulting.
We are raising awareness of our whistleblowing system and Compliance Hotline through group sessions, E-learning, internal portal site announcements, workplace posters, and the distribution of portable cards.
FY2024 saw a total of 25 reports(non-consolidated: 17; group companies: 8)and consultations made, with the facts of every one investigated and corrective measures deployed where necessary. Of those 25, none were of sufficiently critical nature to impact business operations. Through internal company training will we continue to promote awareness of our Internal Whistleblowing System, and encourage employees to use it as we strive towards prevention, early detection and containment of malpractice and misconduct.
Contents of Complaints and Consultations | Covering | Unit | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Harrassment (power harrassment, sexual harrassment, etc.) | non-consolidated | cases | 6 | 2 | 7 | 16 | 8 |
Group companies | cases | - | - | - | - | 5 | |
Violations of company rules or manners | non-consolidated | cases | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
Group companies | cases | - | - | - | - | 3 | |
Work or labor-related | non-consolidated | cases | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 3 |
Group companies | cases | - | - | - | - | 0 | |
Others | non-consolidated | cases | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
Group companies | cases | - | - | - | - | 0 | |
Total | non-consolidated | cases | 7 | 4 | 16 | 27 | 25 |
The Nippon Kayaku Group has set up a Compliance Hotline for Suppliers for matters related to law violations. We ask that suppliers confirm Points 1 to 5 below before reporting or consulting via Point Number 6.
Our Compliance Hotline for Suppliers has been in place since FY2021, during which it received no enquiries. FY2024 saw four reports and enquiries received. The case was not of sufficiently critical nature to impact business operations. We will continue to earnestly take on board the comments of our suppliers, and seek to improve the fairness and transparency of our trading activities.
Whistleblowing | Covering | Unit | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Whistleblowing complaints and consultations from suppliers | non-consolidated | cases | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
So that the entire Group is instilled with awareness of the need for thorough compliance and secure implementation, and that the contents of our Charter of Conduct and Code of Conduct can be checked at any time, we have produced some portable cards imprinted with both the aforementioned as well as our corporate vision. We have also produced a brochure in the six languages spoken by the countries in which we have set up base (Japanese, English, Chinese, Spanish, Malay and Czech). Both the cards and brochures have been distributed to every Group executive and employee.
It is also the case that every October is Nippon Kayaku’s “Compliance Month,” which sees our Ethics Committee Chairman pen a message aimed at every domestic Group company employee in our internal bulletin. It also sees us conduct a Compliance Consciousness Survey so we can continually monitor the degree of compliance instillation and link to subsequent improvements.
Compliance activities for our overseas group companies are implemented in accordance with the relevant country’s laws and business customs. In China, for example, all our group company chief executives and persons in-charge of ethics gather each year for an Ethics Managers Meeting. This meeting provides a chance to discuss compliance initiatives, reports of issues, the extraction of problems and issues, and relevant measures to be taken. In addition, legal representatives from our Internal Management Control Division and KSC* provide onsite compliance training to the employees of each group company. Going forward, based on each country’s situation, we will deepen the links between each group company and section as we aim for yet more effective and efficient global compliance activities.
The Nippon Kayaku Group conducts annual e-learning courses on its Charter of Conduct and Code of Conduct for all directors, employees (including contract and part-time employees) and temp staff. The program takes place every year as part of compliance training, and is based on the latest situations and case studies pertaining to the Charter of Conduct and Code of Conduct, and related themes, such as anti-bribery and anti-corruption, basic human rights, harassment, and how to use our internal whistleblowing system. We also use regular meetings at each workplace as opportunities to deliver case-study-based training and form study groups.
We also set up harassment prevention training for every executive and employee on an annual basis. The contents are the same for managers and non-managers alike, and involve sharing awareness of harassment definitions, case studies, preventative measures and responses to actual situations, as part of broader initiatives to increase awareness and prevent before the event.
In addition, to boost thorough compliance across the entire group, we provide compliance training for all group company directors to promote the acquisition of necessary knowledge from a managerial perspective.
So that training opportunities and programs can be provided to every employee, we mainly rely on E-learning methods and large group sessions at Group companies.
Training type | Main contents | Mainly aimed at | FY | Training format | No. of times |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Compliance Training (Yearly, Compulsory) | Communication in the workplace | Executives, employees, (including contracted and part-time employees), temp staff | 2024 | E-learning, group session | 1 |
Sustainability Training(Mandatory) | Basic Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption Policy; bans on provision and receipt of excess entertainment; actions banned under the ethical regulations for government employees | Executives, employees, (including contracted and part-time employees), temp staff | 2024 | E-learning | 1 |
Compliance Training | Training delivered on Nippon Kayaku Group Charter of Conduct and Code of Conduct, and related themes
|
Executives, employees, (including contracted and part-time employees), temp staff | 2024 | E-learning | 6 |
Risk Management Training | Biases which can affect judgment | Executives, employees, (including contracted and part-time employees), temp staff | 2024 | E-learning | 1 |
New Hire Training*1 | Nippon Kayaku Group Compliance | New hires | 2024 | Group session | 1 |
New Manager Training*1 | Nippon Kayaku Group Compliance | New managers | 2024 | Group session | 2 |
Overseas Transfer Training*2 | Charter of Conduct and Code of Conduct, Basic Anti-Bribery Policy etc. | Employees transferring overseas | 2024 | Interview, online | 11 |
Our Compliance Consciousness Survey has been conducted in conjunction with a contracted consultancy firm since FY2015. From the aggregated results and subsequent analysis do we extract the key compliance promotion issues for each company workplace and provide the relevant feedback, including improvement suggestions. That feedback is then referenced by each workplace when it draws up and fixes its Compliance Action Plan for the following financial year, thereby building PDCAs to improve compliance consciousness.