High standards of corporate responsibility have long been an integral part of the Swedish Match corporate culture. Building long-standing relations with stakeholders, maintaining sound workplace practices, and upholding high business ethics and morals are key success factors for long-term growth and corporate sustainability.
Swedish Match Code of Conduct is the foundation for the Company’s position in areas related to Corporate Responsibility. The Swedish Match commitment to social responsibility and environmental issues is supported by the Group’s core values: Communication, Teamwork, Trust, Innovation, Recognition, and Growth. These values are the platform for Swedish Match business ethics and, as such, they are demonstrated in relations with stakeholders and are a natural part of the way Swedish Match conducts its business.
The Code consists of a number of policies related to the following five areas:
- Social responsibility – including human rights, child labor, supplier contracts, and topics specific to tobacco products.
- Workplace practices – including health and safety, recruitment, and remuneration.
- Business ethics – including conflict of interest, ethical conduct; compliance with laws, rules and regulations; fraud response; gifts and loans; and related party transactions. Read the Fraud Response Policy in PDF.
- Communication – including designated spokespersons, public reporting and communication, and internal reporting on critical information. Read the Corporate Communications Policy.
- Environment – including progressive pollution prevention and continuous, measurable environmental improvement. Read the Group Environmental Policy in PDF
Read the Swedish Match Code of Conduct in PDF. The Company policies comply with international conventions and guidelines on human rights and labor conditions. The international conventions and guidelines referred to here are the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the central International Labour Organization conventions (ILO), and the OECD’s Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
Compliance with the Code of Conduct
Swedish Match is an international group of companies. As such, it must comply with the national laws and regulations of the countries in which it operates and demonstrate respect for indigenous cultures and traditions in these countries.
The Code of Conduct is applicable to all Group employees, regardless of position. All Swedish Match companies and employees shall comply with the Code of Conduct even if it stipulates a stricter standard than required by national laws or regulations. Every employee has a responsibility to make sure that actions taken comply not only with the letter of the Code, but with its spirit. Management has a responsibility to foster a culture of compliance with the Code. Every manager in the Group has an obligation to ensure that employees are informed about the Code of Conduct.
Individual company policies in the business must always conform to the principles stated in the Code. Violations of the Code of Conduct lead to disciplinary actions deemed appropriate.
Reviews
The Code of Conduct, approved by the Board of Directors, is reviewed annually to ensure a high level of business ethics within the Group. Various procedures are in place for monitoring and reviewing the policies in the Code of Conduct. The reviews are intended to ensure that employees and other stakeholders affected by the Code of Conduct are aware of, understand and comply with its content. The reviews are conducted by an external partner, AON, an international risk management company. The reviews primarily comprise an examination of the Company’s own business units. The business units are reviewed every other year according to an established schedule. The reviews include implementation of the Code as such, social responsibility, and workplace practices. Business units are evaluated in areas such as human rights, child labor, forced labor, supplier contracts, health and safety matters. Based on the results, the external partner presents recommendations if needed. Areas for improvement are reevaluated the following year.
Areas such as business ethics and communication are evaluated through internal control processes.
The conclusions of the reviews are reported to the business unit’s management team and to Group Human Resources. Divisional management has operational responsibility for ensuring compliance with the Code. Operationally, Group Human Resources is responsible for further development and revision of the Code.
Whistleblower function
To further secure sound business ethics within the Company, Swedish Match has established a “whistleblower function” that provides every employee in the Group with the opportunity to report any suspicion of infringement of Group policies. Such suspicions can be submitted – anonymously – to a Company representative, the Senior Vice President of Legal Affairs or the Chairman of the Audit Committee.