OUR PRINCIPLES OF CONDUCT AND ACTION

…means mobilising to the best of our ability, knowledge and know-how. It also calls for training to keep up to date with what you need to know to be the best at your job.

It requires personal commitment and a willingness to take on tasks and to gain the knowledge necessary to do the job. It means we want everyone to effectively contribute in caring particularly for the environment and for worker health and safety.

is an absolute pre-requisite for the professional and personal development of each person. It applies throughout the Group worldwide. It implies an acceptance of pluralism, that having many views is better than a single view and a positive view of other cultures and of people of all origins.

It is essential everyone at Saint-Gobain is ready to listen to others, to inform, to explain, and to engage in dialogue.

It means that no individual compromises the interests of the Group in favour of his or her own private interests – whether in dealing within the Group or in dealing on behalf of the Group with third parties, whatever local practices might be.

…requires honesty and fairness in dealing with all colleagues as well as with third parties dealing with the Group.

In particular, it is incompatible with the pursuit of self-interest where self-interest conflicts with the goals of the individual company or the Group as a whole.

It implies the adherence to the guidelines and internal rules of individual companies and of the Group.

…is based on a sense of individual responsibility at work, which prevails over self-centred thinking.

It encourages teamwork and bringing out the best in each person, in order to achieve the objectives of the company and the Group.

It means rejecting management or operational methods geared more to the self-satisfaction of given individuals rather than the interests of the individual company or the Group as a whole.

…all Group companies must apply in all areas all laws and regulations of the countries where they do business. Particular attention is drawn to the areas described below.

All Group companies must prohibit all actions which might breach applicable norms of competition law. They must refrain from any form of financing political parties or activities, even if allowed under local law. They must also reject all forms of active or passive corruption whether in domestic or international transactions. Furthermore, Group companies must not exploit loopholes or inadequacies in any such laws or regulations where this would mean non-compliance with the norms of the Saint-Gobain Group in the other areas.

…Group companies are to actively promote the protection of the environment.

All company sites, wherever they are located, must be managed in a way that allows the setting of clear environmental targets and the regular monitoring of environmental performances and measuring the same against these targets.

They must strive to raise the main relevant environmental performance standards of their own sites to the level of particularly effective performance standards found in the Group for comparable sites – even if that means going beyond the requirements of local legislation.

…Group companies are to take particular care to adopt all measures necessary to ensure the best possible protection against health and safety risks in the workplace. They must adopt risk reduction policies and follow-up on the due application of the same, checking actual results against the applicable standards. Such policies apply both to their own employees and to employees of sub-contractors, when the latter are working on a Group site.

They must strive to raise the main relevant health and safety performance standards of their own sites to the levels of particularly effective performance standards found in the Group for comparable sites – even if that means going beyond the requirements of local legislation.

…Group companies must scrupulously ensure that employees’ rights are respected. They must promote an active dialogue with their employees. In addition, and without limitation, they must respect the following rules, even if not provided for by applicable local law.

They must refrain from any form of recourse to forced labour, compulsory labour, or child labour – whether directly or indirectly or through sub-contractors when the latter are working on a Group site; and they must refrain from any form of discrimination with respect to their employees, whether in the recruitment process, at hiring, or during or at the end of the employment relationship.