Compliance Promotion System

The sustainability activities of the Company are actions to resolve issues in overall Group business activities and the system to promote compliance that creates the foundation to support these actions. The Board of Executive Officers determines policies on how to address various issues in our business activities and social challenges, and checks the status on a regular basis in order to improve corporate value. We have formulated the Joshin Group Code of Conduct as the foundation for promoting compliance. This code shows the course of action that all employees working for the Group should take, as well as the assessment criteria and the guidelines for action that must be followed. This Code of Conduct, along with the Joshin Group Anti-Corruption Policy, sets out the behavior required of various stakeholders, as well as compliance with laws and social norms, fair trade practices, conservation of the environment, handling personal information, policy on purchasing products, etc., and guidelines for activities within the supply chain. The Code of Conduct is used as a basic tool for training of employees by category including company orientation and schooling for promotion.

Operation of the Public Interest Notification System

To prevent and promptly correct illegal and misguided acts, and to improve the capability to govern these acts, the Company uses a public interest notification system as our whistleblowing program. This system is made available not only to the employees of the Group, but also to the employees of franchisees, staff of business partners and contractors, as well as former employees as prescribed by laws.

It guarantees the protection of whistleblowers, including measures to prevent disadvantage to whistleblowers resulting from their reporting, and accepting of anonymous reports.

In order to prevent information that could identify the whistleblower from leaking, and to thoroughly communicate confidentiality obligations not only to employees involved with whistleblowing, but to all Group employees, these requirements have been applied to the Group Code of Conduct and regulations and procedures have been established.

[Whistleblower cases (number of cases) (FY 2023)] 39 (38 harassment cases and 1 internal rule violation case)