The intention of this Supplier Code of Conduct is to establish basic principles and ethical standards of business behaviour through the implementation of the same responsible operating principles throughout the supply chain of Unikie and to help Unikie create long-term cooperative relationships with the suppliers to share the same values and responsible operating methods.
High ethics is one of Unikie’s core values and Unikie’s Code of Conduct and are also reflected in this Supplier Code of Conduct.
This Supplier Code of Conduct is therefore made available to our suppliers with the goal of strengthening our mutual understanding of how sustainability should be practiced in day-to day business.
A supplier, in this context, can be defined as an entity providing Unikie with any material, equipment, goods, commodities and/or service.
Unikie expects all its suppliers and sub-suppliers to share the principles which are expressed in this Supplier Code of Conduct and that comprise an important component of supplier selection and evaluation. Moreover, we expect our suppliers to replicate these standards further down the supply chain.
The Supplier shall ensure good business practices in all its business activities and comply with the law and regulations applicable to its operations.
The Supplier shall have zero tolerance towards corruption and bribery. The Supplier shall ensure that all parties acting on its behalf comply with the same principles.
The Supplier shall avoid and prevent all possible conflicts of interest with Unikie and with its other business partners. The Supplier shall inform Unikie immediately when they detect a conflict of interest.
The Supplier shall compete in a fair manner in compliance with applicable anti-trust laws and regulations on anti-money laundering, privacy rules and applicable economic and trade sanctions.
The Supplier shall protect all confidential information provided by Unikie or other parties and comply fully with data security legislation including the GDPR 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679).
The Supplier is expected to develop, implement, and maintain effective methods and processes appropriate to their products to minimize the risk of introducing counterfeit parts and materials into deliverable products. In addition, The Supplier shall provide notification to recipients of counterfeit product(s) when warranted and exclude them from the delivered product.
To prevent all unethical business practices, Unikie expects that its Supplier has the necessary processes and guidelines in place, implemented and trained for all parties acting on its behalf.
The Supplier shall respect the confidential information of companies and individuals and treat all confidential information with due care. The supplier will only use confidential information for legitimate business purposes.
Suppliers are expected to self-monitor their compliance with this code. Furthermore, Suppliers should ensure the compliance of their own subcontractors and must notify us in a timely manner of any noncompliance.
The Supplier must ensure that Supplier itself and its Consultants shall also in comply with respective Customers’ policies and instructions, such as but not limited to their respective Code of Conduct in force at any time and as may be amended from time to time.
Unikie conducts its business in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, for example in relation to governance, the environment, human and labour rights, communications and disclosures, insider trading and market abuse, anti-bribery, anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, data protection, tax law and financial industry standards. Unikie expects comparable compliance of its Suppliers.
Unikie expects its Suppliers to be aware of the environmental impact and environmental risks of their activities and strive to minimise the adverse effects of their activities.
The Supplier should implement a precautionary approach towards their relevant environmental impacts and issues, and implement remediation, mitigation, and management activities for them.
The Supplier shall, as applicable to identify, measure, and monitor their environmental impacts and risks relevant to their industry, which include but are not limited to greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption; pollution prevention and waste reduction; hazardous substances; water consumption; air and water emissions and reduction; resources use; and biodiversity and nature protection.
Suppliers should routinely monitor and control their impact on soil quality to prevent soil erosion, nutrient degradation, subsidence, and contamination.
The Supplier should take immediate action to address any activities within their sphere of influence that may be harmful to the environment and to take measures to remedy the situation and minimise the risks.
The Supplier should aim to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions from their own activities by increasing the carbon neutrality of their other purchases and by improving energy efficiency. Unikie encourages its suppliers to source renewable energy to use in their operational needs.
Unikie respects applicable local, national, international, and traditional rights concerning land, water, and resources. In particular, the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities shall be respected, promoted, and protected throughout the supply chain in accordance with the ‘UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples’.
The supplier undertakes not to participate in land theft. The supplier shall also observe the ban on the unlawful eviction from land, forests, and waters when acquiring, building on, or otherwise using land, forests, and waters that serve as a person’s livelihood. Indeed, the supplier shall obtain Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), e.g., as defined by the UN-REDD Programme, from existing land users and shall ensure adequate compensation where land use has been granted to the supplier.
Suppliers must use recruiters, employment agencies, and recruiting companies that are trained to recruit employees ethically, which comply with international standards and local labor laws of the country where the recruiting happens.
Unikie expects that our Suppliers comply with the basic human rights principles in the workplace such as Child Labour Avoidance and Freely Chosen Appointment. Unikie also expects suppliers to adhere to the requirements of UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises, and the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO).
Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the eight ILO core conventions, and the International Bill of Human Rights. Suppliers should immediately address any activity within their sphere of influence that violates or may violate human rights and to take measures to remedy the situation and minimise the risks.
The Supplier shall treat all its employees equally with respect and dignity and ensure that none of its employees faces physical, verbal, psychological or sexual harassment or abuse.
The Supplier shall comply with applicable laws and regulations on working hours, minimum wages, overtime, breaks, rest time, sick leave, annual holidays, parental leave, and mandatory benefits. Supplier will also appropriately record these metrics.
The Supplier should promote equality of opportunity and remuneration, ensure an inclusive workplace, where appropriate support disadvantaged workers, and refrain from practicing discrimination in the workplace.
The Supplier shall protect employees who exercise their legal rights related to freedom of association, collective bargaining, and peaceful assembly.
Suppliers should be committed to creating a healthy and safe work environment that prevents occupational injuries and illnesses, and where appropriate emergency procedures and equipment are provided.
The Supplier should always provide safety training to their employees, where appropriate, and recognise that their employees have the right to stop unsafe work.
The Supplier should record health and safety incidents and preventive measures should be used. The Supplier shall at least comply with the minimum standards according to national and local laws and regulations regarding the work environment.
The Supplier is expected to implement mechanisms to identify, determine and manage risks in all areas addressed by this Supplier Code of Conduct and with respect to all applicable legal requirements.
The Supplier will establish appropriate training measures to allow their managers and employees to gain an appropriate level of knowledge and understanding of the contents of this Supplier Code of Conduct, the applicable laws and regulations and generally recognized standards.
Unikie expects that actions inconsistent with this Supplier Code of Conduct are corrected promptly. If such inconsistencies are not corrected, Unikie may at the utmost choose to terminate the existing business relationship. All misconducts against this SCC needs to be solved without delay. Unikie does not accept any kind of retaliation against an employee who reports a misconduct to the best of his/her knowledge.
Unikie’s Suppliers and their employees are expected to report potential misconduct or violations of this Supplier Code of Conduct or Unikie’s Code of Conduct. Suppliers can raise their concerns to their Unikie contact person or through our whistleblowing channel.
We are committed to promoting sustainability across our supply chain and ensuring that our subcontractors in the IT sector adhere to the highest standards of environmental, social and ethical responsibility. We expect our subcontractors to comply with the following principles:
We monitor and assess our subcontractors’ compliance with this policy through regular audits, surveys and reviews, and we provide them with guidance and training to improve their sustainability performance. We also encourage our subcontractors to implement their own sustainability policies and practices, and to cascade them to their suppliers and sub-suppliers. We reserve the right to terminate our relationship with any subcontractor that fails to comply with this policy or to remediate any non-compliance issues within a reasonable time frame.