In February 2004 SCA’s Board of Directors approved a Code of Conduct. The code was the result of a growing need for common guidelines.
The Code, although not exhaustive, contains guidelines for SCA and individual employees in regard to such issues as health and safety, human rights, including special references to child and forced labour, business practice, employee relations, community relations, privacy of data and procedures to report violations of the Code.
The Code of Conduct applies to all employees and in all countries in which SCA operates. The complete Code of Conduct is available in 19 languages. SCA employees worldwide have undergone training and awareness programmes on the Code of Conduct.
The Code of Conduct in practice
SCA shall comply with all applicable legislation and the regulations of the countries in which we operate. We are a guest in these countries and will behave accordingly. We always try to find appropriate ways to communicate openly with governments and international institutions on our contributions to society and the principles to which we adhere. We believe that open communication is an asset in our relationship with regulators, governments and international institutions.
Compliance
SCA monitors compliance with the Code of Conduct through existing reporting systems where performance on a series of Key Performance Indicators (KPI´s) are reported by all SCA businesses. These indicators include health and safety, age and diversity statistics, education levels and many others.
Background to the Code of Conduct
SCA has expanded substantially over the past decade and has evolved into a truly international Group with a presence in a growing number of countries on all continents. This globalization process creates many opportunities, but it also makes SCA more complex. In 1992 SCA had 27,000 employees in 22 countries, mostly in Europe. Today, the Group has around 45,000 employees in about 60 countries. This creates a situation where SCA has to consider broad differences in areas such as culture, legislation, business traditions and ethics.
SCA has traditionally striven to live up to high standards of business ethics, to be a good corporate citizen and a preferred employer. In view of the Group’s rapid growth, it has been necessary to develop policies and procedures based upon SCA’s core values of respect, responsibility and excellence. The code of conduct is a compilation of universal standards that describe SCA's expectations of its businesses and partners regardless of location and background. It is an integral part of the way SCA does business. Furthermore, in a decentralized organization like SCA, it is important that internal and external stakeholders have a positive and consistent image of and experience of doing business with SCA.
To meet the expectations that customers, consumers, shareholders, employees, business partners and society at large place on SCA as a reliable and ethical enterprise.