Business Principles

Integrity is at the heart of SGS. The trust that we inspire in our customers and stakeholders is the key to our success. As leaders in our industry we hold ourselves to the highest standard of professional behaviour as embedded in our Code of Integrity.

It is our aim to:

• Earn the trust of our customers
• Be accountable for our actions
• Be honest and transparent in everything we do
• Create a culture of integrity within SGS

It is therefore our commitment to:

• Uphold the independence and impartiality of SGS and resist undue influences
• Conduct our business honestly and transparently
• Never partake in bribery, insider trading or any form of corruption
• Comply with international, national and local laws and regulations
• Be guided by principles, when making decisions, not by arbitrary choices or personal preferences
• Be willing to speak up: we are confident enough to raise concerns and smart enough to consider any that are brought to us

Acting with integrity is an individual responsibility for all of us, at every level within our organisation. These commitments apply to all SGS employees and contractors. Management is responsible for ensuring full compliance with SGS policies.

SGS’s long term success and sustainable business depends on its ability to remain a recognised leader and a reference for all Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) matters.

It is our aim to:

• Provide and ensure safe and healthy working conditions for all our employees (permanent and temporary), visitors, contractors and other stakeholders
• Ensure that all our services and operations are performed and managed in such a way as to protect the environment

It is therefore our commitment to:

• Protect the health and safety of our employees, contractors, customers and third parties
• Protect the environment and the communities where we work and live, by preventing pollution and minimising our impact
• Comply with all applicable HSE national, regional and local regulations and laws
• Comply with all SGS Group standards when exceeding national, regional or local regulations and laws
• Continuously improve the HSE working conditions in order to move ever further towards our “Zero incident” target
• Continuously assess and improve our HSE management systems, programs and tools
• Provide all necessary equipment, resources and training; to increase all SGS employees HSE awareness and promote safer behaviour
• Give the Stop-Work-Authority to all SGS employees and contractors in case of any HSE risk
• Promote state-of the-art HSE technologies and best practices
• Apply the SGS HSE statement to all our activities, operations, constructions, systems and investments

Respecting Health, Safety and Environment rules is an individual responsibility for all of us, at every level within our organisation. These commitments apply to all SGS employees, contractors and visitors. Management is responsible for ensuring full compliance with SGS policies.

Quality and Professionalism are integral parts of SGS’ Business Principles and are a cornerstone of ensuring high levels of customer satisfaction. By maintaining operational excellence we ensure the long-term sustainability of our business.

It is our aim to:

• Deliver world-class services to meet our customers’ needs
• Be known and recognised for our superior knowledge and reliability, along with our accuracy and consistency
• Nurture and propagate a culture of quality within SGS with the full support of management and engagement of all employees
• Develop the understanding that we will never compromise on quality

It is therefore our commitment to:

• Place our customers at the heart of everything we do
• Actively listen to industry and customer needs and expectations and innovate in our quality statement to meet them
• Continuously challenge ourselves to improve our quality management system by setting and reviewing our objectives, risks, KPIs, results and customer satisfaction levels
• Develop and maintain the processes we need to deliver high quality, optimised and coherent services
• Continuously measure, maintain and increase SGS’ knowledge base through a sustainable processes of talent recruitment and training
• Respect client confidentiality and individual privacy whilst remaining transparent in all other aspects of our work
• Protect SGS’ intellectual property and know-how
• Embody the SGS brand and its independence in all that we do

Delivering quality and professionalism is an individual responsibility for all of us, at every level within our organisation. These commitments apply to all SGS employees and contractors. Management is responsible for ensuring full compliance with SGS policies.

SGS provides an environment where its employees can thrive. As a fundamental part of this we must ensure we treat people fairly.

It is our aim to:

• Respect Human Rights
• Provide a working environment founded on dignity, equal opportunities and mutual respect for all
• Provide diversity in our workforce with zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind

It is therefore our commitment to:

• Ensure all aspects of the employment lifecycle within SGS are based on the principle of creating equal opportunities, regardless of race, gender, religious or political views, union membership, nationality, sexual orientation, social origin, age, or disabilities
• Provide a working environment where physical abuse, intimidation and any form of harassment are strictly prohibited
• Comply with country specific labour laws, including those relating to wages and benefits, working hours and legal requirements for employment contracts
• Never exploit child labour. We do not and will not employ, under any circumstances, children under the age of completion of compulsory schooling or, in any case, under 16 years old. Children between 16 to 18 years old shall not perform work, which is likely to harm their health, safety or morale
• Support the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining of all employees and respect their choice to form and join trade unions and bargain collectively. Employees’ representatives shall not be the subject of discrimination and shall have access to all work places necessary to carry out their functions as representatives

Being respectful is an individual responsibility for all of us, at every level within our organisation. These commitments apply to all SGS employees and contractors. Management is responsible for ensuring full compliance with SGS policies.

At SGS, we use our scale and expertise to enable a more sustainable future. We ensure that we minimise our impact on the environment throughout the value chain. We are good corporate citizens and invest in the communities in which we operate.

It is our aim to

Deliver value to society. We do this in three ways:

• Our sustainability services enable our customers to adopt and develop more sustainable business practices which, in turn, help them to create products, technologies and services that deliver added value to society
• Our corporate sustainability programmes drive our social, environmental and economic performance locally which, in turn, supports our global initiatives to minimise our impacts on society
• Through our engagement activities and our partnerships with external stakeholders, we combine our knowledge and expertise to deliver programmes at scale, which contribute to sustainable development

It is therefore our commitment to:

• Provide sustainable services to our customers while upholding high standards of conduct
• Manage a long-term profitable business by delivering measurable value to society
• Take into account all the positive and negative environmental, social and economic impacts we have on society
• Ensure the health, safety and development of our people, while promoting diversity and equal opportunities
• Manage our climate change impacts through energy reduction, efficient logistics and distribution, carbon offsetting, and promoting renewable energy
• Minimise our water consumption and responsibly manage our effluents and waste
• Procure products and services in a responsible way
• Evaluate and only acquire companies that align with our sustainability values
• Invest in the communities in which we work and live

Championing sustainability is an individual responsibility for all of us, at every level within our organisation. This policy statement applies to all SGS employees, contractors, suppliers and other key business partners. Management is responsible for ensuring full compliance with SGS policies.

We are passionate entrepreneurial people with a relentless desire to learn and innovate.

It is our aim to:

• Create an open culture, where smart work is recognised and rewarded and where teamwork and commitment is fostered
• Not only to demonstrate leadership but to develop it

It is therefore our commitment to:

• Inspire employees to achieve their career goals with SGS by providing learning and development opportunities, including job shadowing, networking, formal education and training
• Instil SGS’s core values and behaviours in our people
• Create an innovative culture by challenging, developing and supporting our employees’ ideas
• Encourage an honest and transparent two-way relationship with our people to promote sharing, collaboration and engagement
• Provide an employee Performance Management Program to set targets, monitor performance and identify opportunities for development and growth
• Surpass expectations. In all our businesses we are committed to not only meet minimum legal requirements, but to show leadership by exceeding them
• Base our approach to employee remuneration and benefits on our global principles and guidelines

Demonstrating leadership is an individual responsibility for all of us, at every level within our organisation. These commitments apply to all SGS employees and contractors. Management is responsible for ensuring full compliance with SGS policies.