Supply Chain Management
Our Policy
As a company that manages projects in about 20 countries worldwide, we recognize our important role in fair and impartial procurement and supply chain management. Our Details on Ethical Procurement Guideline1 expressly prohibits impediments to fair and impartial competition, abuse of a dominant bargaining position, and inappropriate granting or receipt of benefits, and requires protection of the confidentiality of supplier information and technologies. In addition to that fundamental policy on procurement, we require our officers and employees to comply with our Mission and Sustainability Principles for the purpose of fair and impartial procurement.
In FY2022, we established the Supplier Code of Conduct,2 which sets out our expectations of our suppliers across seven ESG-related areas, and includes compliance with labor and environmental laws and regulations, prevention of corruption, and respect for the INPEX Group Human Rights Policy. We manage ongoing commitments through regularly surveying and monitoring our suppliers.
In FY2023, we established our Supplier Code of Conduct Guidelines3 to promote understanding of the code by our suppliers. These guidelines are a more concrete description of what we seek in the Supplier Code of Conduct, and are intended to improve the level of ESG initiatives undertaken by our suppliers.
1 Details on Ethical Procurement Guideline
3 Supplier Code of Conduct Guidelines
Procurement Overview
Management Structure
The Compliance Committee consists of full-time Directors, Executive Officers—including the Head of the Logistics & IMT Division responsible for supply chain management—and other members. The Committee is chaired by the officer in charge of compliance and meets regularly to ensure strict compliance with corporate ethics and behavior in accordance with the Details on Ethical Procurement Guideline and Supplier Code of Conduct.
In January 2023, the Sustainability Committee discussed external assessments of our supply chain management, and our initiatives in this area.
In 2023, our SA8000 auditor-qualified employees have been working with the procurement departments to identify and improve sustainability risks in the supply chain. They assessed the content of questions asked in both the self-assessment surveys and CSR audits of major suppliers and added some questions on human rights and labor.
Since issues related to human rights and labor tend to vary from country to country, we are taking further measures to strengthen our risk management by adding questions related to discrimination, occupational health and safety, and—in Japan, where it is likely to pose most risk—excessive working hours.
Supplier Code of Conduct
In July 2022, we established our Supplier Code of Conduct, which clearly outlines our expectations of our suppliers in the following seven ESG-related areas in order to address ESG throughout our supply chain.
Area |
Overview |
|---|---|
Human rights and labor rights |
General principles of human rights, including elimination of child labor and discrimination, and protection of workers |
Fair business practice |
No bribery, collusion or cartels, or association with antisocial forces, etc. |
Environment |
Prevention of environmental destruction through business activities, and reduction of CO2 emissions, etc. |
Confidentiality |
Protection of personal and confidential information obtained through business operations |
Local community |
Promotion of coexistence and co-prosperity with local communities |
Whistleblower system and grievance mechanism |
Establishment of a whistleblower system (hotline) and employee education on same |
Disclosure |
Disclosure of ESG-related information and ensuring transparency |
We require contracted suppliers to comply with the Supplier Code of Conduct by including it in our standard contracts. We also work to reduce risks across the entire supply chain by conducting ESG assessments during tenders and auditing suppliers according to risk assessments.