Global Operations Guiding Principles



Our products have been a standard of quality and environmental responsibility since 1846. We always do business in a responsible and ethical manner in accordance with our Global Operations Guiding Principles. They set out the minimum standards we require of ourselves and our vendors to ensure:

  • compliance with ethical and applicable legal requirements;
  • workers' and labor rights are respected and protected;
  • the prevention of forced and child labor;
  • working conditions are safe and the health and safety of workers is protected;
  • workers are treated with respect and dignity;
  • manufacturing processes are environmentally responsible; and
  • compliance with all applicable anti-corruption, anti-bribery and trade laws.

These principles reflect our commitment to internationally recognized standards and our support and respect for internationally proclaimed human rights and are significantly aligned with the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, the International Labor Organization's 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the Labor Principles of the United Nations Global Compact.

Our principles are also significantly aligned with the Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code (http://www.ethicaltrade.org/eti-base-code) (the "ETI Base Code") and the methodology and guidance documents provided by Sedex (http://www.sedexglobal.com), which provide a universally recognizable and common framework. While these principles focus on our expectations and requirements for our vendors and those in their supply chain, we require our people to comply with them too.

These Guiding Principles are in addition to and complement our commitment to comply with all other applicable legal, government, regulatory and professional requirements.

We require our vendors to adopt or establish a management system to implement policies and procedures related to the scope of these Guiding Principles, including their posting in a location where workers can readily see them.

Ethical Standards and Reporting Concerns

  • The reputation and integrity of Church & Dwight are valuable corporate assets, vital to our success. Each Church & Dwight employee, including each of our officers and general managers and each of our directors, is responsible for conducting our business in a manner that demonstrates a commitment to the highest standards of integrity and which complies with our Guiding Principles. We encourage among our personnel a culture of honesty, accountability and mutual respect. Additionally, we provide guidance to help our personnel recognize and deal with ethical issues (see Section XIV below to learn more about mechanisms to report unethical conduct). Any violation of our Guiding Principles or any dishonest, unethical or illegal conduct will constitute grounds for disciplinary action up to and including termination.
  • Our vendors must conduct all business to a set of ethical standards compatible with the foregoing Church & Dwight Ethical Standards.

Legal, Governmental, Regulatory and Professional Requirements

  • We require our vendors to be law abiding and, at a very minimum, to comply with all applicable legal, governmental, regulatory and professional requirements (collectively "legal requirements"), including those relating to the subject matter of these Guiding Principles.

Employment Standards

  • Child Labor: Vendors must engage individuals of the legal working age as specified by applicable legal requirements or at least age 16 if not specified. Children and young persons under 18 must not be employed at night or in hazardous conditions. Vendors must conform with the relevant International Labour Organization standards and policies on child labor. Vendors should also develop, participate in and contribute to policies and programs which allow children workers to attend and remain in education until they are no longer a child.
  • Prison Labor/Forced Labor/Trafficking: Vendors' workers must be engaged of their own free will. Vendors must not use forced labor in any form -- prison, indentured, bonded or otherwise. For example, such workers may not be required to lodge "deposits" or their identity papers with their employer and must be free to leave their employer after reasonable notice. Vendors must not engage in or support trafficking of individuals and must have appropriate systems in place to ensure compliance with slavery and human trafficking laws.
  • Disciplinary Practices and Humane Treatment: Vendors must not use corporal punishment or other forms of mental, physical or financial coercion. Improper deductions from wages as a disciplinary measure shall not be permitted nor shall any deductions from wages not provided for by applicable law be permitted without the expressed permission of the worker concerned. Physical abuse or discipline, the threat of physical abuse, sexual or other harassment and verbal abuse or other forms of intimidation shall be prohibited. All disciplinary measures should be recorded.
  • Employment Information: All vendors' workers shall be provided with written and understandable information about their employment conditions in respect to wages before they enter employment and about the particulars of their wages for the pay period concerned each time that they are paid and such other employment information as is legally required.

Living Wages, Working Hours and Benefits

    Vendors must comply with the following:
  • Workers' wages and benefits must meet or exceed applicable legal requirements and are encouraged to meet industry benchmark standards, if higher. In any event wages should be enough to meet basic needs and to provide some discretionary income.
  • Workers must be paid for all hours worked at least in accordance with applicable legal requirements. Wages for regular and overtime work must be compensated at the legally mandated rates.
  • Wages must be paid in legal tender and at least monthly.
  • Regular and overtime working hours must be at a minimum in compliance with applicable legal requirements and any applicable collective agreements or relevant international labor standards (including the ETI Base Code), whichever affords greater protection to workers.
  • Regular and overtime working hours, which must be voluntary, must be documented, verifiable and accurately reflect all hours worked by employees. Workers must be provided with rest days that meet or exceed applicable legal requirements.
  • Payroll deductions must comply with applicable legal requirements.

Freedom of Expression and Association and Respect for Collective Bargaining

  • Vendors must respect the right of workers to join and organize associations of their own choosing and respect the right of individuals to collectively bargain to the extent permitted by applicable legal requirements. Vendors should adopt an open attitude towards the activities of trade unions and their organizational activities. Workers' representatives should not be discriminated against and should have access to carry out their representative functions in the workplace. Where workers' right to freedom of association and collective bargaining is restricted under law, vendors are encouraged to facilitate, and not hinder, the development of parallel means for independent and free association and bargaining.

Living Conditions

  • Dormitories and canteens must be safe, sanitary and meet or exceed all applicable legal requirements.

Discrimination

  • We do not tolerate unlawful discrimination in hiring, compensation, access to training, promotion, termination or retirement , intimidation, abuse or harassment. We require all vendors' workers to be engaged on the basis of their ability to do the job and not on the basis of personal characteristics, cultural differences or beliefs (i.e. a worker's race, caste, national origin, religion, age, disability, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, union membership or political affiliation).

Environmental Management

  • Vendors should share our commitment to the protection of the environment and have programs in place to minimize their impact on the environment, and thereby minimizing environmental impacts in the countries and communities in which it operates. All materials and components used by vendors should be obtained in accordance with international treaties and protocols, in addition to applicable legal requirements.

Healthy & Safe Working Conditions

  • Vendors must provide workers with a safe and healthy work environment and put in place programs that minimize the risk of accidents, injury, and exposure to health risks, bearing in mind the prevailing knowledge of the industry and of any specific hazards. Adequate steps shall be taken to prevent accidents and injury to health arising out of, associated with, or occurring in the course of work, by minimizing, so far as is reasonably practicable, the causes of hazards inherent in the working environment. Workers shall receive regular and recorded health and safety training, and such training shall be repeated for new or reassigned workers. Access to clean toilet facilities and to potable water, and, if appropriate, sanitary facilities for food storage shall be provided. Accommodation, where provided, shall be clean, safe, and meet the basic needs of the workers. Responsibility for health and safety shall be assigned to a senior management representative.

Corruption, Bribery & Trade

  • Our employees and any of our vendors, must not provide, offer or accept bribes, kickbacks, corrupt payments, or inappropriate gifts, travel or entertainment related expenses to or from government officials or any commercial person or entity, regardless of local practices or customs. Vendors are required to have in place adequate policies and procedures and controls to prevent bribery and corruption in all commercial dealings and to ensure that all actions are in compliance with all applicable anti-corruption, anti-bribery and trade laws.

Financial Dealings

  • Vendors must be mindful of their economic interactions and ensure that all relevant documentation in relation to the vendor and vendor finances is kept and maintained in accordance with applicable accounting practices, i.e. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) or International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Anti-retaliation

  • We expect our vendors to prohibit unlawful retaliation against employees and workers who in good faith report a compliance or ethical issue learned during the course of their work performed for Church & Dwight, or who cooperate in good faith with the investigation of a complaint.

Your Supply Chain

  • We expect our vendors to apply similar high standards to these Guiding Principles to their own vendors and subcontractors (including contract and seasonal workers and temporary agencies) by communicating the expectations contained in these Guiding Principles and holding them accountable to those standards, such as by requiring them to implement verifiable policies, practices and procedures.

Verification

  • We require our vendors to maintain on file all documentation needed to demonstrate compliance with these Guiding Principles. Our vendors agree to make these documents available for monitoring and auditing by us or independent auditors engaged by us promptly upon our request. We may also request that vendors complete a self-assessment questionnaire and periodic certifications as to compliance with these Guiding Principles. We reserve the right to audit any of our vendors at any time to ascertain whether they and those in their supply chains are complying with these Guiding Principles. We expect our vendors to provide access to all facility grounds and workers. If non-compliance with these Guiding Principles is suspected or discovered, we reserve the right to investigate such breach or take such other remedial steps as we consider appropriate. Without prejudice to any other actions that we may take, in our discretion, and in appropriate circumstances, we may elect to work with a vendor to implement a corrective action plan to resolve the non-compliance. However, we reserve the right to immediately terminate a vendor relationship where a vendor or those in its supply chain has not complied with these Guiding Principles.

Reporting Concerns

  • To report a concern, talk to your Church & Dwight representative. If you prefer to remain anonymous you may go to www.churchdwight.ethicspoint.com or call the Church & Dwight Hotline at one of the toll free telephone numbers provided below; both the web site and telephone numbers are administered by an independent third-party.
  • For any location that utilizes AT&T Direct Access, the Direct Access Code would need to be dialed first, and then a Reporter would dial the number in the "Number(s)" column. Some locations have multiple numbers available based on either telephone carrier, region in the country, or primary language. These have been noted in parenthesis next to each number below.

Country

Dialing Type

Direct Access Code

Direct Access Code

Number(s)

Number(s)

Australia

International Toll-Free Service (ITFS)

1-800-339276

Brazil

International Toll-Free Service (ITFS)

0800-8911667

Canada

DirectDial

1-855-384-9879 (English)

1-855-350-9393 (French)

China

International Toll-Free Service (ITFS)

10-800-120-1239 (Southern China)

10-800-712-1239 (Northern China)

Denmark

AT&T Direct Dial Access®

800-100-10

855-384-9879

France

International Toll-Free Service (ITFS)

0800-902500

Germany

AT&T Direct Dial Access®

0800-2255288

855-384-9879

India

AT&T Direct Dial Access®

000-117

855-384-9879

Mexico

International Toll-Free Service (ITFS)

001-800-840-7907 (Spanish)

001-866-737-6850 (English)

New Zealand

International Toll-Free Service (ITFS)

0800-447737

Panama

AT&T Direct Dial Access®

800-0109 (English)

800-2288 (Spanish)

855-384-9879

Singapore

AT&T Direct Dial Access®

800-001-0001 (StarHub)

800-011-1111 (SingTel)

855-384-9879

Taiwan

AT&T Direct Dial Access®

00-801-102-880

855-384-9879

United Kingdom

International Toll-Free Service (ITFS)

0800-032-8483

United States

DirectDial

1-855-384-9879