INTRODUCTION
Yokogawa Electric Corporation and its Group companies (hereinafter referred to as the Yokogawa Group) respect the basic human rights and personal dignity of all individuals. Pursuant to our commitment to respect human rights, Yokogawa Electric Corporation and Yokogawa (United Kingdom) Ltd. are releasing this statement in accordance with the requirements of the United Kingdom (UK) Modern Slavery Act 2015.
In this statement, we disclose the initiatives that the Yokogawa Group has implemented to prevent slavery and human trafficking throughout our business and supply chain for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024.
BUSINESS AND SUPPLY CHAIN
Founded in 1915, the Yokogawa Group has contributed to the development of society by providing relevant industries with leading-edge products and solutions based on measurement, control, and information technologies. Across the entire Yokogawa Group, we have as of March 31, 2024 a total of 17,365 employees serving our customers worldwide. We have 126 Group companies in 60 countries including Japan.
We source raw materials and electronic parts as well as software development and engineering services for the development and delivery of products and solutions in the aforementioned business segments.
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITMENT
The Yokogawa Group commits to respecting human rights as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the United Nations Guiding Principles of Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). We also abide by the 10 principles on human rights, labor, the environment, and anti-corruption of the UN Global Compact, which we became a signatory to in 2009. We seek to ensure that every person we are involved with is not subject to any form of slavery or human trafficking. Respecting human rights is also a critical component of Yokogawa’s overall sustainability goals. Our approach to addressing slavery and human trafficking lies within our wider human rights commitment.
In September 2020, we established the "Yokogawa Group Human Rights Policy" and we will continue to work with our stakeholders to establish and implement a system to prevent or mitigate human rights risks in cooperation with not only our group but also other stakeholders.
For our suppliers, we have established the Yokogawa Group Sustainable Procurement Guidelines, which is the Yokogawa Group's concept on human rights and items to be observed, and presented them to suppliers.
HUMAN RIGHTS RISKS AND DUE DILIGENCE
The Yokogawa Group address slavery and human trafficking risks not only with our own operations, but also throughout our supply chains. To protect human rights, we are enhancing our efforts to exercise due diligence by conducting research and analysis to identify risks in our activities and supply chains, prioritizing areas of response, and we continue making changes wherever there is a need for improvement, and the initiatives for fiscal year 2023 are disclosed on our website. Our focus with these activities and activity reports are on preventing slavery, forced and compulsory labor, and inhumane treatment of workers throughout our operations and our supply chains.
The Yokogawa Group's supply chains are managed with the oversight of its headquarters’ governance functions in a manner that is consistent with the characteristics of each Yokogawa Group company. Our standard contracts with Japanese suppliers include language whose intent is to ensure that the suppliers will meet the expectations set out in the Yokogawa Group Sustainable Procurement Guidelines. The Group audits its suppliers to identify any human rights violations, requests corrections when violations occur, and suspends dealings with them if action is not taken. We also request the suppliers for all contracts made by Group companies based outside Japan to comply with the Yokogawa Group Sustainable Procurement Guidelines and we have introduced the use of a self-assessment questionnaire (SAQ), based on which we conduct audits as necessary.
We also strive to ensure that the raw materials (tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold) we source are not directly or indirectly used to generate funds for conflicts. We have been working together with our suppliers to investigate the use of conflict minerals in certain products, in accordance with our customers’ requests. We request suppliers to trace their use of conflict minerals and identify the potential risks of becoming a source of funds for armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo or its adjoining countries. If any minerals are found to be a source of funds for armed groups, we will seek for alternative ways to source such minerals.
HUMAN RIGHTS TRAINING
Through annual compliance training and various other relevant training activities, the Yokogawa Group educates its employees on human rights. As part of our initiatives to raise awareness and improve our understanding of risks inherent in our supply chains, throughout the Group, we provide internal newsletters and e-learning programs. All our employees are encouraged to report any concerns related to our business and supply chains. For suppliers, we regularly hold events to share our awareness of human rights issues and to inform them of the Group's human rights policies.
HUMAN RIGHTS HELPLINE
To detect and rectify any human rights violations that we may have directly caused or be indirectly involved in, Yokogawa has established an in-house consultation and reporting desk for all persons working in our group, as well as a helpline for our suppliers. We also accept reports and consultations on human rights infringements from the general public and all stakeholders, including stakeholders in our supply chains, through the Contact Us form on our website. For human rights violations notified by our stakeholders, our Corporate Ethics, Human Resources, Procurement and Legal Departments will work together to investigate and take corrective action such as advertising and educating those responsible to prevent the reoccurrence of similar cases.
Hitoshi Nara
Director, President & CEO, Representative Executive Officer
Yokogawa Electric Corporation
Resolution passed at the Board of Directors' meeting on September 3, 2024