Our Code of Conduct

DUTY OF CARE

CoC - DUTY OF CARE Item

CARING ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS

In BioMar we acknowledge that respecting and promoting human rights is essential for living our purpose. We aim to safeguard that all people are being met with respect and dignity through their life. Human rights are the foundation for our contribution within innovation, cooperation, sustainability and performance.

It is not an easy promise defending human rights while operating in a global world, but we are here to make a stand. We are dedicated to follow the international standards related to human rights as well as the standards related to social and labour conduct. This includes the principles from ILO, OECD and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Our pledge applies internally as well as in our cooperation upstream in the value chain.

BioMar does not accept any discrimination, child labour, forced labour, inhumane treatment or harassment. We provide employees in BioMar with the possibility to live a decent life with adequate working hours and fair pay and we promote the same standards in our supply chain. Our company must be a diverse and inclusive workplace with equal opportunities, where we treat each other with respect and dignity. This applies to all our decisions and all our behaviour, including recruitment, training, promotions, pay practices, benefits, disciplinary actions and terminations.

Our employee lifecycle must support the continous development of human capabilities establishing the foundation for our contribution to an efficient and sustainable global aquaculture. In BioMar we respect the rights of our employees to associate freely and to communicate openly with management regarding working conditions. We acknowledge the employees’ rights to join labour unions, seek representation and/or join worker’s councils in accordance with local laws. In situations where the freedom of association is restricted under law, BioMar respects the workers right to freely elect their own representative.

CoC - DUTY of Care item 2

HEALTH & SAFETY ALWAYS COMES FIRST

BioMar acknowledges that a sustainable and profitable business must be built ensuring health and safety in our value chain. We do not make any compromises keeping our employees safe and in good health. At the same time we have a meticulous focus on food safety and nutrition taking responsibility for healthy, great tasting seafood for the end-consumers.

BioMar, our suppliers, contractors and subcontractors are to provide a safe and healthy workplace environment and must take effective steps to prevent potential accidents and injuries to workers’ health by minimising the hazards inherent in the workplace environment. We consider health and safety a responsibility for all managers and employees in BioMar. All employees must be able to work avoiding risks to health and safety, having the possibility to live a healthy life while working at BioMar. We have as our first priority to follow all legislation, policies and procedures related to safety. Furthermore we acknowledge that we play an important role in taking care of the health and safety of the end-consumers. We will never in any way jeopardise food safety or nutritional value. We are providing feed solutions for aquaculture but more importantly we contribute to delivering healthy, great tasting seafood to people around the world.

CoC - DUTY of Care item 3

MINIMISING OUR FOOTPRINT

In BioMar, we aim to minimise our environmental foot print. We drive sustainable solutions and take on ecological responsibility. Economic considerations must always be balanced between protecting the environment. We must contribute to a sustainable future by creating innovative business solutions and supporting the development of the aquaculture industry.

In BioMar we always comply with or go beyond the requirements of existing laws. We constantly strive to improve products, procedures and processes to further reduce our environmental impact. In our supply chain, we work with suppliers and customers to develop sustainable practices and we strive to ensure that sustainability continues to be a prioritised objective for both the industry and the end-consumers. BioMar source raw materials from suppliers whom we know take care of our environment and we are continuously working to increase the inclusion rate of raw materials that are grown, harvested and handled in a way that complies with the highest principles for sustainability.

At our own premises, we only use natural resources such as air, water and land within the framework of approvals granted by the relevant authorities and we never exploit or endanger our environment. We furthermore reduce and recycle our waste and we aim for minimum emissions and effluents at our factories. We take pride in cooperating with the communities around our operations: not only to minimise any inconvenience but also to contribute to the development of the society. Working in BioMar you are responsible for protecting the environment through your daily actions as well as our overall conduct.

MARKET INTEGRITY

CoC - Market integrity item 1

PROMOTING FAIR COMPETITION

We are committed to contributing to free competition. There must be no doubt that we strictly abide by applicable antitrust laws and that we promote a culture where all employees and managers know how to manage fair cooperation in the value chain.

In BioMar integrity and high ethical standards are the foundation for our way of doing business. We promote fair competition upstream as well as downstream in the value chain. There must be no doubt that we strictly abide by all applicable competition laws. To ensure fair competition we never support agreements, cooperation or communication with our competitors, suppliers, distributors or customers that restrict fair competition. We furthermore strive to promote a culture where all employees and managers act as ambassadors for free competition in our cooperation with stakeholders.

We stipulate the core principles in competition law towards relevant employees and encourage them to always seek advice whenever in doubt whether a specific communication or agreement is legal. To us, it is important that no legislation is being broken and that no employee is in doubt of the lawfulness of an action.

CoC - market integrity item 2

COMMITTED TO FIGHT CORRUPTION

The commitment to build long-term business relationships based upon mutual trust, openness and professional cooperation is a part of our DNA. We are at the same time dedicated to ensuring that our relations with all business partners are based upon professional criteria such as agility, quality, reliability and competitiveness as well as compliance with environmental, social and corporate governance standards.

BioMar is fully committed to fighting any kind of corruption and facilitation payments. BioMar excludes its employees, agents, and other third parties acting on BioMar’s behalf from engaging in any form of bribery. While dealing with business partners or government officials we must never demand or accept anything of value (e.g. cash, gifts, entertainment or any other personal benefits) which could be construed as an attempt to influence or induce business decisions or approval processes. Likewise, employees of other companies or government officials must never be promised or granted any personal benefits with the intent to obtain or retain business or to gain any improper advantage for BioMar. Offering, granting, demanding or accepting cash or cash equivalents is never appropriate.

We only accept or provide gifts, business meals or entertainment if intended or understood as simple business courtesies. Our acts need to be consistent with customary business practices and from the outset rule out any influence on a business decision, an approval process or an official decree.

PROTECTING OUR ASSETS

CoC - Protecting our assets Item 1

SAFEGUARDING THE INTERESTS OF BIOMAR

In BioMar integrity is a part of our DNA. That means that we expect all employees and cooperation partners to respect that no hidden conflicts of interests take place.

We trust our employees to act in the best interests of our company and to safeguard our reputation by avoiding conflicts of interest. Personal relationships or interests must not affect business activities. This means that no employee must create or maintain personal interests, which may pose, or appear to pose, a conflict with the interests of BioMar or which might influence, or appear to influence, judgment in the performance of duties.

SECURING THE FUTURE OF THE BUSINESS

All employees treating confidential information have an additional responsibility protecting the business continuity of BioMar. It might have severe consequences if any non-public information is disclosed revealing business secrets or giving someone an unfair business or personal advantage.

Employees in BioMar are trusted contributors to innovation and cooperation. We encourage knowledge sharing but we are at the same time very aware that all employees must meet our requirements and policies regarding protection of data and confidential information relating to BioMar as well as our cooperation partners. If confidential information is revealed it might jeopardise our ability to protect our business investments as well as our products and innovations. As our owners are a publicly traded company, employees are furthermore prohibited to disclose any information that could impact the value of publicly-traded securities, in particular the shares of Schouw & Co. Insider trading laws prohibit making personal use of such information and/or disclosing it to third parties, including friends and family.  

CoC - Protecting our assets Item 2

RESPECTING PRIVACY

BioMar is committed to respecting the privacy of its employees and business partners. We adhere to strict standards when processing personal information. All data collected and held by BioMar will be processed fairly, transparently, carefully and in compliance with the applicable data privacy laws.

Fundamentally we always obtain permission before processing personal information in accordance with applicable data privacy laws. Access to personnel records, confidential and sensitive data must always be restricted to personnel requiring this information to fulfil the duties of their job. If any external party needs to support our processing or storage of personal data, the external party needs to obtain appropriate authorisation and sign our clauses for treatment of such data unless mandated by law. We only store personal information if required to fulfil the purpose described to the data subject and we always embrace the right to be forgotten.

PROTECTION OF OUR ASSETS

In BioMar we trust that our employees can handle a high degree of freedom. We believe that a culture founded upon self-management, purpose and mastery creates the strongest possible platform for our contribution to the industry. To fortify this way of working we stipulate that all employees act with the deepest respect for our assets.

Autonomy is only an option as long as we all handle company property in a responsible manner and protect BioMar assets against loss, damage, theft, abuse and unauthorised use. Company property also includes intangible assets such as proprietary knowledge, intellectual property rights and copyrighted material. In line with our values we expect all employees to think about BioMar assets and our business partner’s assets as if it was their own valuable resources. When we all are guided by strong principles regarding integrity, respect and cooperation we fortify the values that founded BioMar more than 50 years ago.