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The Lion Group's strong reputation for trustworthiness has been built through decades of hard work by its employees. The trust the Group enjoys has been a key driver of its growth and development. As our operating environment continues to undergo profound changes, we strongly believe that it is necessary to clearly lay out the principles that anchor our behavior, which we have honed over years of operations, in a Code of Conduct. We must create and maintain a framework that will ensure that each and every person working in the Lion group understands and is able to carry out their responsibilities.
Compliance means obeying laws and regulations as well as maintaining a strong ethical grounding in order to satisfy the expectations and needs of customers and other stakeholders while fulfilling our role as a public entity. We regard ethics as meaning, broadly, doing what is right. In concrete terms, we see this as rooted in being honest, observing social mores, not antagonizing others, and thinking of others as we think of ourselves. Based on this understanding, we established the Lion Group Charter for Corporate Behavior in 2003.
We have updated the Lion Group Charter for Corporate Behavior in light of changes in society. The Behavioral Guidelines contained therein now more clearly define our stance with regard to providing safe, secure products and services, addressing environmental issues and other topics.
We hereby once again declare our commitment to upholding the Lion Group Charter for Corporate Behavior and ensuring that the Company is useful and valuable to society.
January 1, 2008
The Lion Group Charter for Corporate Behavior and the Behavioral Guidelines form the foundation of the Lion Group’s compliance framework. The Corporate Ethics Committee, chaired by the director responsible for corporate ethics, works proactively to foster compliance awareness within the Lion Group. The Lion Group Charter for Corporate Behavior and the Behavioral Guidelines are publicly available on Lion’s website.
The Lion Group has established the LION Anti-Bribery Principles in light of developments around the world related to the strengthening of legal regulations against acts of bribery and corruption. Regarding taxation, the Group has established the Lion Group Tax Policy, stipulating that the Group shall practice highly transparent tax treatment and appropriately fulfill its tax obligations.
The Lion Group Charter for Corporate Behavior states that “We shall promote fair treatment and respect the diversity, individuality and personalities of our employees. We shall ensure a safe and comfortable workplace to realize the mental and physical well-being of our employees.” Accordingly, Lion prohibits sexual harassment as well as all other forms of workplace harassment, including those related to pregnancy, childbirth, childcare leave and nursing care leave.
Furthermore, to prevent the occurrence of harassment, we have formulated the Harassment Prevention Declarations, which define and provide examples of harassment. We are promoting widespread awareness of the Declarations among employees via the Company intranet and through regular e-learning training and other educational activities.
The Declaration applies not only to regular employees, but to everyone who works at Lion, including contract, part-time and temporary employees. The Lion Group strives to prevent and respond appropriately to harassment not only among employees, but also that involving customers and business partners.
The Lion Group has set up a whistleblowing system, the AL（All Lion） Heart Hotline, as a set of contacts for consultations for use when an employee or other stakeholder, including anyone working with the Group, a family member, a former Group employee or a business partner, learns of a compliance violation within the workplace that is impossible to report or cannot be handled appropriately through normal workplace channels, or for which the appropriate reporting channel cannot be identified. The system features two reporting hotlines, one internal and the other external, from which users can select depending on the nature of their findings.
When the AL Heart Hotline receives a consultation or report, we confirm the details of said report and the response desired by the reporter, and the general manager responsible for corporate ethics investigates and confirms the facts of the matter. If a problem is detected, steps are taken to seek solutions and resolve it. During this process, the privacy of both those who use the hotline and those involved in the matter reported is protected, and strict confidentiality is maintained regarding the investigation. We take steps to ensure that those who make reports or cooperate in investigations will not be treated disadvantageously.
All consultations and reports received by the Hotline are reported to the Corporate Ethics Committee,* and matters are also reported to the Board of Directors as needed. Furthermore, except in cases of anonymous reports or other such circumstances, feedback is provided to all consulters and reporters.
The AL Heart Hotline System
＊An independent, Group-wide committee that promotes specific measures related to improving the compliance framework and spreading and reinforcing compliance awareness.
Within the Lion Group, when a Group employee or customer becomes aware of any the Group or its employees engaging in any conduct in actual or suspected violation of laws or corporate ethics (as defined in the Lion Group Charter for Corporate Behavior or the Behavioral Guidelines), or otherwise wish to consult about any other ethical problems, they are entitled to consult with or notify the internal or external notification (whistleblowing) window (AL Heart Hotline).
| Address for document submission | 1-3-28, Kuramae, Taito-ku, Tokyo 111-8644 Japan “Attn: Person responsible for corporate ethics, Auditing Office, Lion Corporation” |
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| Email address (for this purpose only) | [email protected] |
| Address for document submission | 5F, Eiha-shinkawa, 1-5-17, Shinkawa, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0033 Japan “Attn: Attorney-at-law, Shuji Yamaguchi, OKABE & YAMAGUCHI” |
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| Email address (for this purpose only) | [email protected] |
In 2023, the hotline received 37 consultations and reports. Although there was a rise in cases mainly related to relationships in the workplace, none of the cases has been deemed to involve serious misconduct, and each is being properly addressed.
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harassment | 11 | 8 | 12 | 13 | 17 |
| Personnel and labor management issues | 11 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 7 |
| Others | 3 | 58 | 2 | 3 | 13 |
We are taking steps to raise awareness of said system among all employees, including temporary staff. Furthermore, via the annual Compliance Awareness Survey we carry out for employees, we provide an explanation of the hotline and monitor its recognition rate among employees. The recognition rate was 99.5% in 2023.
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 98.6% | 99.5% | 99.0% | 99.4% | 99.5% |
Compliance educational seminars are regularly conducted each year via e-learning. As a compulsory curriculum, compliance content is available on the Lion Career Village (LCV) on-demand media platform. Employees are, encouraged to complete the curriculum in a set period of time, and after that they can review the materials at any time.
In 2023, we held regular training sessions on 11 topics including unconscious bias, and at different times we held special sessions on reinforcing compliance awareness and on mental health in the workplace (self-care and line care) as part of our awareness-raising initiatives.
Every March, the Corporate Ethics Committee conducts the Compliance Awareness Survey,* which covers all domestic Lion Group and affiliated company employees (including part-time employees). This survey provides an assessment of compliance awareness at the individual employee level and a periodic evaluation of the effectiveness of compliance systems. In 2023, approximately 91.9% of all employees responded. Matters identified as requiring a response through the opinions and other results gathered via the survey are dealt with promptly, and the survey results are reported to management, which then provides feedback to individual divisions.
＊ Anonymous questionnaire survey covering such topics as compliance with the Lion Group Charter for Corporate Behavior, whether there was feedback from the results of the previous Compliance Awareness Survey, and awareness of the AL Heart Hotline.
Percentage of Employees Who Received Feedback from the Survey Results
The Lion Group will, in accordance with the global trend of reinforced legal regulations against the acts of bribery and corruption, set out the LION Anti-Bribery Principles with a view to preventing such acts of bribery and corruption and thoroughly requires the pursuit of business activities in compliance with all applicable laws of the countries and regions where we are conducting business.
The Lion Group did not make any political contributions in fiscal year 2021-2023.
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Political Contributions | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The Lion Group strives to correctly understand both the letter and the spirit of tax-related laws and systems in the countries and regions in which it operates and to appropriately fulfill its tax obligations. To this end, the Group has established the Lion Group Tax Policy. By practicing highly transparent tax treatment and appropriately utilizing tax planning and tax incentives, the Group seeks to contribute to the development of local communities and increase its corporate value.
| FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic | 16,802 | 5,649 | 3,502 |
| Overseas | 1,731 | 673 | 1,661 |
| Total | 18,533 | 6,322 | 5,164 |
To ensure honest, transparent and corruption-free business activities, Lion Corporation (Thailand) Ltd. (“LCT”) has been a member of the Private Sector Collective Action Coalition Against Corruption since 2014 and established an Anti-Corruption Policy in 2015. This policy prohibits the receipt of bribes and lays out rules to ensure the transparency of donations and other forms of support for external organizations.
LCT also implements measures to spread anti-corruption awareness among employees. At an anti-corruption event, top management spoke about the company’s anti-corruption commitment, and everyone in attendance provided their signature to create an anti-corruption board. Furthermore, the company had ballpoint pens inscribed with “Anti-Corruption” made and distributed to employees to remind them to think carefully about possible issues before signing contracts with external parties.
Southern Lion Sdn. Bhd. (“SL”) in Malaysia distributes an Employee Handbook, containing its CSR policy and stance on human rights, to all employees. Furthermore, SL has prepared a Code of Conduct that includes the key elements of the Lion Group’s latest policies and works to ensure awareness of it among employees.
Lion Corporation (Korea) (“LCK”) has operated a hotline for employees (including part-time and contract employees) as well as external stakeholders since 2004. Consultations made through the hotline are reported to the director in charge of ethics, the relevant officers and external consulting lawyers. Those using the hotline can choose to do so under their name or anonymously. The confidentiality of consultations is assured.
To promote awareness of the hotline, LCK notifies employees of the hotline as part of their compliance education and provides information on the hotline via the LCK website and company intranet.
Since 2014, Lion Daily Necessities Chemicals (Qingdao) Co., Ltd. (“QDL”) has provided a hotline that employees can use in the event of a violation corporate ethics. An external Chinese law firm receives reports from the hotline, and the director of corporate ethics and other related QDL staff investigate reports and take action as needed. QDL promotes employee awareness of the hotline via postings on the company intranet.