The Maruha Nichiro Group has established a compliance program as a foundation for practicing sustainable management at the organization level and by all officers and employees. We recognize that compliance requires that every employee not only abide by laws and regulations, but also put into practice the Group Philosophy and follow the Group Code of Conduct at all times.
Compliance Framework
To promote compliance, the Group has established the Maruha Nichiro Group Compliance Committee with the goal of early detection and prevention of any violations of laws or regulations as well as penetration of compliance awareness.
The Compliance Committee has established a secretariat within the Legal Affairs & Risk Management Department, where it checks the appropriateness of operations within the Group based on changes in the social environment, surveys of public institutions and past cases of legal violations or scandals inside and outside of the Group. It provides support to promptly rectify any deficiencies.
Compliance Framework
(As of Apr 1, 2024)
Whistleblowing System
The Maruha Nichiro Group has introduced a whistleblowing system to enhance its capacity for self correction. There are two internal and external points of contact to receive inquiries and reports from employees. All employees working in the Maruha Nichiro Group, including employees on loan, contract workers and temporary employees, officers, and employees who have retired within the past year, can directly access these contact points via telephone, e-mail or standard mail without going through their supervisor. At the request of the whistleblower, whistleblowing reports made to an external legal office will be communicated to the Maruha Nichiro Corporation's whistleblower response personnel (Legal Affairs & Risk Management Department) without using the whistleblower's name, which will confirm the facts of the matter while cooperating with other relevant department and the whistleblower response personnel of the relevant company.
We also strive to protect whistleblowers by accepting anonymous notifications and forbid departments inside the company from looking for the whistleblower when confirming the facts of the matter.
In addition, the contact information for the whistleblower contact is provided in the Philosophy Book and on the intranet and other media accessible to Group employees to ensure that all employees know where to turn to when necessary. In FY2023, there were 19 whistleblower reports. However, none of the reports were determined to involve human rights violations, environmental pollution, or significant impacts on socially accepted practices.
Number of Whistleblower Reports
Group Philosophy Training
The Group Philosophy Training Program was developed based on our experience that the Group Philosophy was not resonating with employees following the pesticide contamination incident at AQLI Foods which occured in 2013.
From FY2022, we have updated the training content with the aim of making the Group Philosophy a “personal matter." The purpose of the training is to provide an opportunity for each employee to consider the relationship and connection between the Group's philosophy and the work they face on a daily basis, and to understand the Group's philosophy as their own.
In FY 2023, we resumed group training sessions which had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and also conducted Group Philosophy training for all employees, including those at Group companies, using a combination of online training.
