CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP SUPPLIER STANDARDS –
PARTNERING WITH SUPPLIERS


Corporate Social Responsibility (or Corporate Citizenship) is fast becoming a hot topic in the world of Business, with interest coming from a number of Stakeholder Groups, such as the media, the investor Community, Government Bodies and Non-Governmental Organizations such as Oxfam and Christian Aid.

BBL Leadership position within our Industry demands that we have the highest levels of corporate citizenship to protect and enhance our reputation. This involves the ways we interact with Society and the Natural world, and balances acting responsible with the right to trade freely. We also believe that this extends beyond BBL to the way in which we work with our Suppliers and the impact that we can have through the supply chain.

BBL is firmly committed to being a good Corporate Citizen. Not only do we recognize our responsibilities, but we want each of our audience to be proud of what we do. That means acting sensitively and with the highest standards of integrity and social responsibility.

To support our commitment to corporate citizenship, BBL has formulated a Supplier Standards.
These supplier standards include our expectations in the following areas:

? Ethical Business Practice
? Human Rights and Core Labour Standards
? Environmental Impact

This program includes the communication of our standards and the evaluation of suppliers who either represent key relationships or where we believe, there generally to be potential issues associated with either the product or service provided or the region in which a supplier operates.

The first step on this journey for BBL is to ensure that all of our key suppliers fully understand our intentions and the supplier standards with regards to Corporate Citizenship. We would ask that, you familiarize yourself and colleagues with these standards and begin to consider if there are any areas where action would need to be taken to meet our Supplier Standards.

If you have any questions or concerns with relation to these standards please contact:

 

CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP SUPPLIER STANDARDS

Working with our Suppliers

BBL aims to achieve unrivalled performance in our supply chains through developing mutually rewarding relationships with suppliers who deliver excellent service, consistently achieve our quality standards, manage business risks, drive out cost and innovate to increase value. We also encourage and will actively work with our suppliers to meet our standards of corporate citizenship.

BBL’s Standards of Corporate Citizenship are set out below. As a Company we recognize that achieving these standards presents unique challenges in different parts of the country. Going forward together with our supplier, our intention is to drive towards the adoption of these or comparable standards by our suppliers for their own operations, and those of their suppliers in turn.

ETHICAL BUSINESS PRACTICE

BBL is committed to conducting its Business responsibly and in accordance with all relevant laws and regulations. Beyond this, our own code of Business conduct sets out the standards expected of all Employees and Agents acting on behalf of the Company.

In managing our third party supply chains we always try to behave professionally, responsibly and transparently, measuring our performance, encouraging Stakeholder feedback, and making appropriate improvements. We absolutely expect our suppliers to do the same.

Basically behaving professionally, responsibly and transparently means that we:

? Meet all applicable legislation.

? Have accessible and documented processes for supplier selection.

? Avoid conflicts of interest in our sourcing and supplier selection processes.

? Conduct our Business without the payment or receipt of unlawful incentives.

? Avoid applying pressure to engage in reciprocal trading.

? Recognize the risks for suppliers who are dependent on their business with BBL, and not abuse our corporate position.

? Ensure that smaller suppliers are given fair consideration in our award of contracts, and when they are awarded business, they are supported to meet our exacting performance standards.

? Ensure all staff involved in establishing and managing supplier relationships are fully aware of BBL’s expectations for high standards of ethical behaviour and corporate citizenship.

We expect to work with suppliers who set similarly high standards themselves, & are proud of both what they achieve and how they achieve it.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND CORE LABOUR STANDARDS

BBL recognizes its responsibility under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to promote and protect Human Rights throughout our business operations. We do this by having our own Human Rights Policy, which is owned at the very highest levels in the Company. We also recognize international Labour Standards as set out by the seven Core International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions and recommendations, see appendix. We encourage all our suppliers to adopt a similar approach. In particular we expect suppliers to:

? Meet all applicable legislation and ratified ILO conventions and recommendations.

? Maintain a safe working Environment and provide access to protective equipment and safety training to mitigate known hazards or potential risks.

? Pay fair wages in line with norms for the Industry and market and not require anyone to work excessive hours, particularly where this might impact on personal health or safety.

? Treat Employees fairly and not discriminate on the grounds of Gender, Sexual Orientation, Race, Age, Caste, Union Membership, Political Affiliation, Marital Status or National Origin.

? Allow Employees the freedom to join a Union (or collective bargaining group acting for them) or allow them to decline if they choose to.

? Not ever use forced or bonded labour.

? Not ever harass abuse or threaten any Employee through physical abuse, Sexual or any other form of intimidation.

? Not Employ anyone full-time under the age of 15, (under 14 according to exceptions for developing countries specified by the ILO) or higher if stipulated by local labour law.

? Protect and promote the special interests of Employees under 18 by allowing access to Education, limiting Employment during typical resting hours and ensuring, no exposure to hazardous working conditions.


ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

BBL’S Environmental Policy sets out our commitment to conduct our business in a way that supports Environmental sustainability. In this Policy we set ourselves challenging standards in areas such as Energy Consumption, Waste Treatment, effluent, Packaging Recyclability and Transport. The Policy also states our intention to manage our Environmental Impact to promote eco-efficiency and to achieve continuous improvement in our performance. To deliver this commitment we have an Environmental Working Group to oversee and support this effort and have installed Environmental Management Systems – in particular suppliers who:


? Meet all relevant Legislation.

? Maintain and be committed to appropriate Environmental Policies.

? Recognize the key Environmental Impacts of their Business.

? Monitor performance against improvement targets, and regularly report on this.

? Put in place the necessary Environmental Management Systems and have assigned responsibilities for this.

 
 
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