Conduct Fair Business Activities
Take actions with fairness, transparency, and integrity and work fairly, thus making people working for Kurita Group prouder of their work and continuously increasing social confidence.
The Kurita Group Approach
The Kurita Group is involved with solving many customers’ challengesin areas around the world. This is proof of the trust that customers in various countries have placed in the Group, and it entails a heavy responsibility. We take actions with fairness, transparency, and integrity and work fairly, thus making people working for the Kurita Group prouder of their work and continuing to be highly rated as a company by customers, business partners, employees, shareholders and investors, and local communities around the world.
In April 2024, we established the Kurita Group Behavioral Guidelines, which outlines the direction of behavior to embody the Values, and revised the Kurita Group Code of Conduct, which all Kurita Group officers and employees should observe regardless of differences in language, customs, and culture.
The Kurita Group has also established the following related policies as groupwide policies.
Based on these policies, we will continuously promote activities as well as raise awareness about these policies.
Approach to Anti-Bribery
The Kurita Group has established Kurita Group Anti-Bribery Policy as a groupwide policy to prevent bribery and to promote fair business activities. Based on this policy that defines basic anti-bribery principles, the Kurita Group has established rules that must be complied and has committed to reduce the risk of bribery.
We also established the Group Guideline on Anti-Bribery in fiscal 2021, which is compliance rules for the Kurita Group and clarifies the specific details of the policy.
Additionally, the Policy and the Guideline clearly state that bribery through intermediaries, agents, or other representatives is prohibited.
Approach to Compliance of Antitrust Laws
The Kurita Group has established the Kurita Group Antitrust Policy as a groupwide policy to conduct fair trade and prevent executives and employees of Kurita Group from violating antitrust laws globally.
The policy defines basic principles concerning compliance with antitrust laws and other similar regulations in each country or region.
We also established the Group Guideline on Antitrust Laws in fiscal 2021 on the rules that clarifies the specific details of the policy based on the business characteristics of Kurita Group.
Contribution to Achieving the SDGs
Promotion and Governance System
The Kurita Group has defined “Conduct fair business activities” as one of its materialities, and the Sustainability Committee chaired by the Executive General Manager of the Sustainability Division, a Corporate Officer of the company, oversees and promotes the Group’s initiatives. The Sustainability Committee discusses or reports on the status of the initiatives to the Executive Committee twice, and the Executive Committee deliberates and decides on necessary measures. Additionally, the Executive Committee reports on the status of initiatives to the Board of Directors, which oversees initiatives related to materialities.
Whistleblowing and Consultation Desk
The Kurita Group seeks to enable employees to work in the Group with peace of mind. To this end, we have established Whistleblowing and Consultation Desk within and outside the Group where people can report or consult if they observe behavior that breaks or possibly breaks, the Kurita Group Code of Conduct and other internal company rules related to compliance. These desks are available 24/7 for officers, employees, dispatched workers, and employees of business partners (hereafter referred to as "whistleblowers"). The desk for employees in overseas is available in 18 languages, and we post information about this desk and how to use them on our internal intranet for Group employees and distribute pamphlets to business partners to inform them on a regular basis and provide regular training.
In Japan, whistleblowers can use the hotline anonymously, and the Kurita Group operates a system to protect whistleblowers from disadvantageous treatment such as retaliation.
The Executive General Manager of the Sustainability Division, a Corporate Officer of the Company, reports on the status of the whistleblowing system to the Board of Directors once a year in principle.
Through these systems and mechanisms, the Kurita Group strives to protect whistleblowers and detect misconduct at an early stage.
For the status of consultation desk usage, please click here.
Hotline Reporting and Consultation Process
Targets and Results
The Kurita Group is committed to conducting fair business activities by setting targets related to rate of participation in whistle-blowing system related training, rate of participation in training related to laws and internal rules for anti-bribery and antitrust, etc., and number of violations of anti-bribery and antitrust laws. Targets and results for this materiality are shown as below.
| Metrics | Targets（Upper row） and Results（Lower row） | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024 | FY2025 * | FY2026 | FY2028 | |
| Rate of participation in whistle-blowing system related training | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Achieved （100%） |
||||
| Rate of participation in training related to laws and internal rules for anti-bribery and antitrust, etc. |
100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Achieved （100%） |
||||
| Number of violations of anti-bribery and antitrust laws | (0 cases) | (0 cases) | (0 cases) | (0 cases) |
| Achieved (0 cases) |
||||
- The targets for fiscal 2025 were reviewed by the Sustainability Committee, and decided by the Executive Committee.
Evaluation of Results and Outline of Activities
Rate of participation in whistle-blowing system related training
The Kurita Group provides training to new employees through their workplaces each time they join the company in order to promote understanding of and intention to use whistle-blowing system available for employees to seek advice or report compliance violations.
We achieved our target of 100% participation rate for fiscal 2024.
Rate of participation in training related to laws and internal rules for the compliance of anti-bribery and antitrust laws, etc.
The Kurita Group continuously provide training related to laws and internal rules for anti-bribery and antitrust, etc. with the aim of raising awareness of laws and regulations and reducing risks. In fiscal 2024, we provided an e-learning program on antitrust laws for Group companies in Japan and achieved the target participation rate of 100%.
Number of violations of anti-bribery and antitrust laws
The Kurita Group has set a target for the number of violations of anti-bribery and antitrust laws related to bribery prevention and the compliance of antitrust laws.
We have confirmed that there was no violation of anti-bribery laws and antitrust laws in fiscal 2024.
Other Related Initiatives
Preventing Problems from Occurring
The Kurita Group has established targets and measures to be taken for improvement of the risk of legal or regulatory infringements and is working to prevent compliance-related problems from occurring. Specifically, we created a “Non-Compliance Risk Map” consisting of a list of 60 items and tailored to the business characteristics of each organization and company. We have identified key themes to be addressed by conducting risk assessments at each organization and company based on the results from the previous fiscal year. Based on these findings, we work to make improvements by formulating an improvement plan for each fiscal year.
Implementation of Integrity Survey
The Kurita Group conducts the Integrity Survey of the employees of the Company and the Group companies in Japan as well as their dispatch workers once a year in order to clarify the results of integrity activities*, create opportunities for respondents to the survey to reflect on their own awareness and behavior, and identify the risk of latent legal or regulatory infringements to help reduce risks in the future. It should be noted that the survey is conducted in such a way as to guarantee the anonymity of respondents.
- These activities include compliance-related activities.
Status of Integrity Survey Implementation
| FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of subjects (persons) | 7,503 | 7,531 | 7,630 | 8,424 |
| Number of respondents (persons) | 7,413 | 7,386 | 7,512 | 7,839 |
| Response rate (%) | 98.8 | 98.1 | 98.5 | 93.1 |
Requests for Business Partners
For details on requests for business partners, please click on the link below.