ECCO Code of Conduct

II
I
OBJECTIVES
ECCO designs, manufactures and markets
footwear and related accessories to consumers
around the world. Over the last more than
50 years, ECCO has developed from a
local Danish company into an international
company with production units and sales
subsidiaries all over the world.
Today, ECCO is one of the world’s leading
manufacturers and marketers of high-quality
footwear. ECCO has attained this position
through constant innovation and sound
business principles. However, it is just as crucial
to ECCO’s success that the company leads
the way when it comes to good corporate
citizenship.
THE 10 COMMITMENTS
This is the very heart of the ECCO Code of
Conduct as regards sustainable development,
issues related to religion, employee relations,
health and safety, environmental protection
and community relations.
1. ECCO is a guest in each of the countries in which it operates and respects the local culture.
It is essential to ECCO that the ECCO Code
of Conduct is an integral part of the entire
value chain. We therefore expect not only the
companies within the ECCO Group, but also
our external suppliers, wholesale and retail
customers to acknowledge and respect the
ECCO Code of Conduct. We regularly control
that the ECCO Code of Conduct is being
complied with.
3. ECCO respects equal opportunities and fights discrimination in the workplace.
2. ECCO supports, respects and takes a proactive approach to protecting internationally defined human rights.
4. ECCO respects the individual’s right to religious freedom.
5. ECCO respects the right to freedom of association.
6. ECCO wishes to provide employees with a workplace free of harassment or abuse and condemns any form of enforced labour.
7. ECCO supports the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
No matter where in the world ECCO operates,
this is done according to a set of principles
which stipulate that we will behave in a correct
and decent manner. This is our heritage as
a Danish company. The principles apply
to employee relations, to environmental
considerations and to
relations with business partners.
As expressed by K. Toosbuy, the founder of
ECCO, “ECCO is a guest in each of the
countries in which it operates and shall as
such respect the culture of the country”.
The respect for other people and cultures
is deeply rooted in the company. As a large
employer, ECCO understands its responsibility
and accepts it.
ECCO will only achieve long-term business
success by demonstrating good corporate
citizenship, which in turn can only be secured if
the business is based on constant achievement
of good results.
8. ECCO provides training, education and further development of human resources at all levels.
9. ECCO aims to be a leader within the environment, health and safety and supports sustainable development.
10. ECCO wishes to ensure that it complies with all relevant laws and regulations.
III
WHAT DOES ECCO MEAN BY
THE 10 COMMITMENTS?
HUMAN RIGHTS
a. ECCO has its origins in Denmark. This back-
ground is naturally reflected in ECCO’s point of view on human rights. ECCO wants
all its employees to be treated with respect and dignity.
b. ECCO recognizes that all human beings
are entitled to all the rights and freedoms
set forth in the UN Declaration of Human
Rights.
Compulsory Labour
a. ECCO shall not use work or services that
are extracted from any person under menace of any penalty, and for which
that person has not offered himself or
herself voluntarily – e.g. slavery, bonded
labour, debt bondage, or other
exploitative practices.
b. ECCO shall inform all employees of the
terms and conditions of service and the
voluntary nature of employment, and the
freedom to leave in a way customary in
the respective country.
EMPLOYEE RELATIONS
Non-discrimination
a. ECCO shall not deny employees
opportunities or otherwise discriminate
employees based on race, gender, age,
religious or political beliefs, or maternity
status.
b. ECCO shall base decisions concerning
hiring, salary, benefits, advancement,
termination or retirement solely on the
employee’s ability to do the job, with no
distinction, exclusion or preference made
on other grounds.
c. ECCO shall respect all relevant
employment laws and regulations in the
countries in which they operate.
Freedom of Association
a. ECCO shall respect the freedom of the
employees to join associations of their
own choice without fear of reprisal – this
does, however, not mean that the
employees must be organized.
Working Terms
a. ECCO shall ensure that the working hours
of the employees are in compliance with
legally set working hours in the countries
in which ECCO are operating.
b. While it is essential for ECCO to have flexibility in the organization and in the
scheduling of work, ECCO will not force
the employees to excessive overtime.
c. ECCO shall allow employees at least one
day off in seven.
d. ECCO shall provide wages and benefits
in such a way that they are not less than
the minimum wages set by applicable law and match the prevailing local
industry practices.
e.
ECCO shall ensure that each employee is
provided with a specification for every
pay period and shall not deduct any
pay from the employee’s salary for
any disciplinary infractions.
Child Labour
a. ECCO’s long term goal is the elimination
of child labour. The short term aim for
ECCO is to improve the conditions for
working children based on the principles
below.
b. ECCO believes that outright prohibition
of any child labour may put children and
the households to which they belong
under even greater financial strain, which
may result in a tendency to hide working
children from the public. This leaves the
children more vulnerable to exploitation,
while making it harder to take the
necessary initiatives to protect them
and their rights.
c. ECCO will ensure that the UN Convention
on the Rights of the Child is respected. It
prescribes that children must not carry
out work that is harmful to them, that
children are entitled to be heard on
issues affecting their lives and that all
decisions must be taken in accordance
with the child’s best interests.
d. ECCO will ensure that children are
protected from economic exploitation
and from work which may be dangerous
to their health, or may interfere with their
education or may hinder their physical,
mental, spiritual, moral or social
development.
e. The minimum age limit accepted by
ECCO is 15 years.
Children of 15 -18 year s must never
participate in any form of strenuous or potentially hazardous work.
Children from 15 to 18 years of age should
always be closely monitored and helped
through training and frequent consultations with their superior or sponsor. The child’s best interest must be the primary concern.
Training and Education
a. ECCO operates a system of continuous
training from the first introduction
throughout the employee’s life with the
company.
b. ECCO believes that training and
education of the employees enable the employees to obtain skills and expert
knowledge and develop the employees’
competences and opportunities required
to match future challenges.
c. ECCO especially believes in cross-cultural
training. Many employees are offered the
opportunity to move to another ECCO
business in another country – some for
temporary training, others for permanent
jobs.
d. Training and education also help prevent
and minimize the risk of accidents. ECCO
will therefore offer the necessary training
and education of the employees.
e. Training and education shall ensure that
the employees are familiar with the core
values of ECCO.
IV
HOW DOES ECCO ENSURE
THE OBSERVANCE OF THE 10 COMMITMENTS?
HEALTH AND SAFETY
ENVIRONMENT
AUDITS
a. ECCO works hard to prevent accidents
at work. While accidents are difficult to
avoid altogether, it is important that all
ECCO companies make every effort to
avoid accidents and continue to
improve the safety of the employees.
a. ECCO aims to be a market leader in
terms of environment performance in the
shoe manufacturing industry.
a. ECCO carries out systematic audits in order to identify and improve processes
and conditions, which are potentially
harmful to our employees or to the
environment.
b. ECCO will ensure that the efforts to
improve the safety and the health of the
employees as a minimum are in
accordance with the local legislation
and local culture.
c. Where necessary, ECCO will provide
instruction, training and supervision of
work practices, handling of harmful
substances, together with the application
and use of techniques, such as
ergonomics.
d. ECCO will provide personal protective
equipment to protect employees from
any potential hazards.
e. ECCO will ensure that adequate lighting,
heating, ventilation and exhaust systems
are installed at the workplace.
f. ECCO will ensure that the procedures to
deal with emergencies and accidents
are widely known.
b. ECCO’s business strategies and success
must be based on environmental
responsibility and sustainable development. This is done by
reducing use of materials, energy resources and waste, prevention of pollution and, if possible, by recycling of
waste from production units.
c. ECCO wishes to minimize the use of chemical and harmful substances
in connection with the manufacturing of
products or parts of products. As a result
hereof, ECCO has set up standards for
the maximum content of harmful
substances, which ECCO will fulfil.
d. ECCO will strive to educate the
employees so that they assist in
environmental responsibility.
e.
ECCO will reward suggestions for
improvement of practices and
procedures which will be beneficial to
the environment.
COMMUNITY RELATIONS
g. ECCO will provide medical and first aid
services.
h. ECCO will value suggestions for
improvement of the safety of the
employees.
a. ECCO wishes to be an active and
supportive member of the local
community in the countries in which we
conduct business and will as such involve
ourselves in relevant local issues.
b. ECCO has a Corporate Conduct
department which is responsible
for our Code of Conduct audits. The
purpose of this department is further to
identify and ensure that practical
measures are taken to maintain a
sustainable development.
January 2014
Version 3.0
The ECCO Code of Conduct is translated to various languages.
In case of any discrepancies in translation, the English version shall prevail.
ECCO Sko A/S · Industrivej 5, DK-6261 Bredebro
Tel.: +45 74 91 16 25 · Fax: +45 74 71 03 60 · ecco.com