SearchOUR COMPLIANCE PROCESSES
We operationalize our Integrity Culture through a variety of compliance processes described below:
1. Reporting Compliance Concerns
To promote an atmosphere where our employees and other stakeholders, including customers, vendors and communities, feel free to raise any compliance concerns including those related to human rights without fear of retaliation. We have a variety of ways to report compliance concerns.
We have a global organization of Integrity Ambassadors who support SABIC’s Compliance Program. They are employees of all levels who are responsible for receiving concerns and ensuring they are investigated and addressed. Employees can also raise their concerns through several other platforms including, any manager, Human Resources, or Legal Affairs, or an internal reporting icon. Additionally, any internal or external stakeholder can report concerns through integrity@sabic.com or contact one of our regional Integrity Ambassadors. The number and type of concerns raised, as well as their disposition, are measured, tracked and reported.
2. Compliance Reviews
SABIC conducts Compliance Reviews designed to engage our business units and corporate functions to assess compliance processes, prioritize key risks and develop mitigation plans to address those risks.
This process results in the development of risk mitigation or action plans for the highest priority risks. These plans include assigning the responsibility for mitigation actions to particular individuals with required dates for completion. The progress toward completion of the plans is tracked every month through a digitized system tracker and is also discussed at periodic meetings of our regional Integrity Councils.
3. Integrity Councils
The oversight of SABIC’s compliance program is performed by a network of regional Integrity Councils, also called Compliance Councils. These Councils meet periodically to identify any new significant compliance concerns, review the activities of the Legal Compliance Team, and monitor our Integrity Culture.
4. Compliance Training
All employees are trained on our Code of Ethics via a comprehensive web-based training program. All employees take General Awareness courses on the basics of the policies. In addition, advanced, more detailed courses are assigned to employees based on their roles within the company. This approach allows employees to complete training with a particular focus on those compliance policies and practices that pertain most directly to the issues they face in performing their job duties. Our employees are required to take an average of about 15 advanced courses during a two-year training cycle. Several of our compliance courses are available in the languages most commonly used by our employees.
In addition to the Code of Ethics specific training, we also conduct live training based on job scope or location for high-risk topics (e.g. EHSS, International Trade and Antitrust).
Another feature of our compliance training program is the executive level training delivered by our company’s senior leadership, with the support of the Legal team. This training is designed to train senior management on the compliance responsibilities of a leader, emerging compliance risks, how to conduct compliance investigations and a review of our compliance infrastructure.
5. Supplier Qualification Process and Contracts
All stakeholders, including suppliers, share a responsibility to minimize human rights risks and other compliance risks in the value chain. By collaborating closely with our business partners, we can ensure traceability and transparency in our supplier qualification processes. We have a supplier registration and due diligence program, Supplier Lifecycle Management (SLM). All suppliers must register and complete due diligence around ethical standards as described in our Supplier Code of Conduct, including fair employment practices, responsible sourcing, anti-corruption, data privacy and EHSS matters such as providing a safe work environment, pollution prevention, waste minimization and recycling, and safe and secure transportation of materials. All suppliers must answer a due diligence questionnaire to register in SLM, and those deemed to be in a high-risk category also may be subject to on-site audits or be assigned additional training. In addition, our standard forms of contract contain multiple provisions designed to ensure our suppliers meet our integrity standards and EHSS expectations. All suppliers are required to adhere to the principles contained in our Supplier Code of Conduct.
Contractors and temporary workers play an essential role in SABIC’s ability to provide quality products and services to our customers while meeting the highest standards of legal and ethical conduct. Our Temporary Worker Code of Conduct sets forth the standards of conduct to which our contractors and temporary workers must adhere while conducting business with or on behalf of SABIC.
For our additional supply chain disclosures please see:
6. Digital Tools and Periodic Compliance Messaging
Several digital tools enhance the robustness of our compliance program.
Customers, vendors and banks are regularly screened to ensure that no business is done with parties that are on sanctions lists. Such screening of customers is conducted through the Global Trade Services module in SABIC’s enterprise operating system, SAP, with escalations handled by company trade compliance professionals using our subscription to the LexisNexis® screening software tool, Bridger Insight®. Vendor screenings are handled by the company’s trade compliance professionals using Bridger Insight®.
In addition, our leadership team engages employees through frequent communications, live training and discussions regarding compliance responsibilities.
7. ETHICAL BUSINESS
SABIC is committed to ensuring that all of its business dealings – in both the public and private sectors – are based on lawful, ethical and fair practices. Our private sector interactions involving the exchange of business gifts and hospitality are governed by the Business Gifts and Hospitality Procedures. These procedures ensure that our interactions with customers, suppliers, and other private third parties do not create an improper business advantage or the appearance of one.
As a global company, we have also adopted Anti-Bribery Procedures to meet internationally accepted standards for our interactions with Government Officials. We must ensure that Business Gifts and Hospitality are offered to and accepted from Government Officials under appropriate circumstances and in an ethical and lawful manner.
View our policies regarding ethical business: