Governance & ethics

Raising standards, leading the industry

Acting responsibly and with integrity wherever we operate underpins our whole approach and forms the foundation of our culture and values as a company. Corporate governance is key to ensuring the sustainable, long-term growth of our business.

Our Standards of Business Conduct (SoBC) is our core policy document covering areas such as speaking up (whistleblowing), anti-bribery and corruption, anti-money laundering and tax evasion, anti-illicit trade, lobbying and engagement, respect in the workplace, human rights, and political and charitable contributions among others. This is complemented by our Supplier Code of Conduct, which clearly defines the minimum standards we expect of all our suppliers, our Responsible Marketing Principles as well as supporting procedures, including our Third-Party Anti-Bribery and Corruption (ABAC) Procedure.

We’re always working to remain at the forefront of best practice and build upon our approach to meet new challenges and opportunities. For example, we continue to made good progress in strengthening our management of human rights, such as through the updates to our Supplier Code of Conduct , in 2018 to include additional human rights provision.

Our approach

Conducting our affairs with honesty, integrity and transparency is key if we are to continue to develop as a responsible, successful and sustainable business. Our corporate behaviour approach is built on:

•  Delivery with integrity: We’re committed to sustaining a culture of integrity. Our business standards should never be compromised for the sake of results.
•  Protecting human rights: We respect the rights of people across our entire supply chain and our own operations. We have an integrated approach to protecting human rights.
•  Marketing responsibly: We are committed to marketing all our tobacco and nicotine products responsibly and only to adult consumers.
•  Engaging responsibly: We are committed to conducting all our engagement activities with external stakeholders with transparency, openness, and integrity.