18. Chapter 1: The company (continued)
will help to form the basis for our CSR agenda
during the period 2007 to 2010.
At a local level, 63 per cent of our operating
companies report that they have contacts with
NGOs and 43 per cent indicate that they participate
in joint projects. To facilitate the process of
stakeholder dialogue, some - including our
businesses in the Netherlands, Nigeria, and our
Central and Eastern European Region - have
produced their own local or regional social or
sustainability reports.
The roll-out of the Stakeholder Assessment and
Management Tool we announced in our previous
Sustainability Report has been postponed as we
want to put in a broader perspective at a later
stage. During 2006 we will assess how our
operating companies can best use this tool
in the context of their own CSR programmes.
We believe the tool's effectiveness will be
enhanced if it receives greater support from
local CSR management.
Integrity
We consider integrity an essential prerequisite
to any business transaction we undertake. To
safeguard the integrity of business decisions taken
at any level of our international operations, we
have developed the Heineken Code of Business
Conduct, first adopted in December 2004, and the
Heineken Code of Whistle Blowing. Both codes are
published in full on our corporate website.
The Code of Business Conduct sets out company
rules on compliance with local laws and
regulations, fraud prevention, dealing with business
gifts, corruption, conflicts of interest and supply-
chain responsibility.
Our approach to business conduct provides a general
framework for behaviour, which should be adapted to
meet local business conditions and cultures. This
allows operating companies to develop codes and
methodologies that meet local requirements and
match their own style, format and language. These
local variations are checked for consistency with
the framework code by our Business Conduct
Review Committee.
This Committee consists of representatives from
Group Control Accounting, Group Corporate
Relations, Group Internal Audit and Group Legal
Affairs. Only approval from this Committee assures
that an operating company is in compliance with
our central code.
Over the past few years, we have run a number
of pilot projects to refine our implementation
methodology. The current system is based on
a successful test at the Surinaamse Brouwerij
(Surinam) in July 2004.
Heineken N.V. - 2004/2005 Sustainability Report