Initiatives to ensure respect for human rights

In 2003, we established the Foster Group Corporate Action Guidelines and the Foster Group Code of Conduct for Staff. They define our respect for human rights in compliance with all laws and regulations, international rules, and their spirit and intent, regarding aspects such as forced labor, child labor, discrimination, harassment, the protection of personal information, safety and health and responsible minerals sourcing. Further, we ensure respect for human rights throughout the entire supply chain with cooperation from suppliers under the Foster Group Supplier Sustainability Code of Conduct.
Further, in 2024, we established the Foster Group Human Rights Policy as our top-level human right policy, aiming to strengthen our human rights initiatives further. This policy applies to all employees and suppliers and it clarifies our responsibilities regarding human rights and our commitment to human rights. At the same time, it serves as guidelines as we promote sustainable business practices through internal and external control and improving human right risks.
In 2025, we revised our Harassment Prevention Regulations to address diverse types of harassment, including non-sexual harassment. We will continue to focus on initiatives to prevent harassment so as to create a workplace where employees with diverse attributes can work comfortably.

We value employees’ well-being and work to ensure that their human rights are respected, from the perspectives of respect for employees’ human rights, the prohibition of discrimination, the prevention of harassment, the protection of personal information and privacy, workplace safety and health, compliance with labor laws, and other perspectives. Further, we provide harassment training for all employees, which is aimed at increasing their awareness of the issue, provide all employees with e-learning and raise their awareness regarding human rights and business in the Human Rights Week every year, and provide e-learning programs to enable them to increase their understanding of LGBTQ+ issues as part of our activities promoting diversity. We inform employees of our internal whistleblowing system using a compliance questionnaire, and the percentage of employees informed of the internal whistleblowing system has been kept at 100%.

We have our suppliers sign a letter of intent to comply with the Foster Group Supplier Sustainability Code of Conduct, conduct surveys on the status of initiatives taken including items related to human rights infringements (CSR self-assessments), and request that our suppliers take corrective actions as necessary. Further, in the sourcing of minerals, we conduct due diligence (a survey on responsible minerals sourcing) to confirm that the minerals we procure do not provide funding to armed forces/groups engaging in serious human rights violations, and are promoting to procure minerals only from certified smelters.

We have established contacts for consultation and reporting such as the Compliance Hotline and the Harassment Helpline, our internal whistleblowing system and advise various stakeholders (including employees and officers of the Foster Group, their families, and employees of our business associates). When a vigorous investigation confirms a violation of human rights, we take corrective and punitive actions ensuring that the whistleblower will not be retaliated against or treated disadvantageously.