The Coca-Cola Company is committed to upholding fundamental principles of international human and workplace rights everywhere we do business.
Our commitment to respecting human rights, as formalized in our Human Rights Statement, is grounded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, related covenants and the International Labor Organization's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights to Work. The workplace rights principles are encompassed in our Workplace Rights Policy, which covers Company-owned operations and our Supplier Guiding Principles, which covers our supplier partners and independent bottlers.
Our Workplace Rights Policy and Supplier Guiding Principles expressly prohibit the use of all forms of forced labor, including prison labor, indentured labor, bonded labor, military labor, slave labor and human trafficking.
The Coca-Cola Company's Human Rights Statement and Workplace Rights Policy apply to all of the entities that it owns, holds a majority interest in or for which we have management responsibility. Our Workplace Rights Policy is guided by international human rights principles, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Labor Organization's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. The Policy provides a consistent approach to workplace rights worldwide and embeds it as an integral part of our culture, strategy and day-to-day operations. We conduct independent third party assessments of our operations to validate compliance to our Workplace Rights Policy. In the past year, we have trained thousands of Company associates on our Workplace Rights Policy. This training has now been incorporated as a standard training module for all employees.
Our Supplier Guiding Principles (SGP) communicate our values and expectations of suppliers and emphasize the importance of responsible workplace practices that respect human rights and comply, at a minimum, with applicable environmental and local labor laws and core international conventions. The Supplier Guiding Principles reflect our commitment to respect human rights across our business system and global supply chain.
These minimum requirements are a part of all agreements between The
Coca-Cola Company and all of our direct and authorized suppliers that make up our global supply chain. We expect our suppliers to develop and implement appropriate internal business processes to ensure compliance with the Supplier Guiding Principles. The Company routinely verifies compliance by using independent third parties to assess suppliers' compliance with the SGP; the assessments generally include confidential interviews with employees and on-site contract workers. If a supplier fails to uphold any aspect of the SGP requirements, the supplier is expected to implement corrective actions. The Company reserves the right to conduct unannounced audits at is discretion and to terminate an agreement with any supplier that cannot demonstrate that it is upholding the SGP requirements. Company employees are required to report any violation of Company policy or law, including WRP and SGP. The Company maintains a third-party service to allow employees and vendors to report violations 24 hours a day. In all of our Purchase Orders, suppliers certify that all product supplied is in compliance with all applicable country laws and regulations, including those regarding forced labor, including human trafficking.
