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These Principles are adopted to assist EVERGREEN MARINE CORP. (TAIWAN) LTD. (hereunder referred to as "the Company") to foster a corporate culture of ethical management and sound development, and offer a reference framework for establishing good commercial practices.
The ethical corporate management best practice principles are applicable to the Company's business groups and organizations, which comprise its subsidiaries, any foundation to which the Company's direct or indirect contribution of funds exceeds 50 percent of the total funds received, and other institutions or juridical persons which are substantially controlled by such company ("business group").
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When engaging in commercial activities, directors, supervisors, managers, employees, and mandataries of the Company or persons having substantial control over such company ("substantial controllers") shall not directly or indirectly offer, promise to offer, request or accept any improper benefits, nor commit unethical acts including breach of ethics, illegal acts, or breach of fiduciary duty ("unethical conduct") for purposes of acquiring or maintaining benefits.
Parties referred to in the preceding paragraph include civil servants, political candidates, political parties or members of political parties, state-run or private-owned businesses or institutions, and their directors, supervisors, managers, employees or substantial controllers or other stakeholders.
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"Benefits" in these Principles means any valuable things, including money, endowments, commissions, positions, services, preferential treatment or rebates of any type or in any name. Benefits received or given occasionally in accordance with accepted social customs and that do not adversely affect specific rights and obligations shall be excluded.
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The Company shall comply with the Company Act, Securities and Exchange Act, Business Entity Accounting Act, Political Donations Act, Anti-Corruption Statute, Government Procurement Act, Act on Recusal of Public Servants Due to Conflicts of Interest, TWSE/GTSM listing rules, or other laws or regulations regarding commercial activities, as the underlying basic premise to facilitate ethical corporate management.
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The Company shall abide by the operational philosophies of honesty, transparency and responsibility, base policies on the principle of good faith and establish good corporate governance and risk control and management mechanism so as to create an operational environment for sustainable development.
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The Company shall in its own Procedures of Ethical management and Guideline for Conduct clearly and thoroughly prescribe the specific ethical management practices and the programs to forestall unethical conduct ("prevention programs"), including operational procedures, guidelines, and training.
When establishing the prevention programs, the Company shall comply with relevant laws and regulations of the territory where the company and its business group are operating.
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The Company and its respective business group shall clearly specify in their rules and external documents the ethical corporate management policies and the commitment by the board of directors and the management on rigorous and thorough implementation of such policies, and shall carry out the policies in internal management and in commercial activities.
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The Company shall engage in commercial activities in a fair and transparent manner based on the principle of ethical management.
Prior to any commercial transactions, the Company shall take into consideration the legality of its agents, suppliers, clients, or other trading counterparties and whether any of them are involved in unethical conduct, and shall avoid any dealings with persons so involved.
When entering into contracts with their agents, suppliers, clients, or other trading counterparties, the Company shall include in such contracts terms requiring compliance with ethical corporate management policy and that in the event the trading counterparties are involved in unethical conduct, the Company may at any time terminate or rescind the contracts.
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When conducting business, the Company and its directors, supervisors, managers, employees, mandataries, and substantial controllers, may not directly or indirectly offer, promise to offer, request, or accept any improper benefits in whatever form to or from clients, agents, contractors, suppliers, public servants, or other stakeholders.
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When directly or indirectly offering a donation to political parties or organizations or individuals participating in political activities, Company and its directors, supervisors, managers, employees, mandataries, and substantial controllers, shall comply with the Political Donations Act and their own relevant internal operational procedures, and shall not make such donations in exchange for commercial gains or business advantages.
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When making or offering donations and sponsorship, the Company and its directors, supervisors, managers, employees , mandataries, and substantial controllers shall comply with relevant laws and regulations and internal operational procedures, and shall not surreptitiously engage in bribery.
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The Company and its directors, supervisors, managers, employees, mandataries, and substantial controllers shall not directly or indirectly offer or accept any unreasonable presents, hospitality or other improper benefits to establish business relationship or influence commercial transactions.
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The Company and its directors, supervisors, managers, employees, mandataries, and substantial controllers shall observe applicable laws and regulations, the company's internal operational procedures, and contractual provisions concerning intellectual property, and may not use, disclose, dispose, or damage intellectual property or otherwise infringe intellectual property rights without the prior consent of the intellectual property rights holder.
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The Company shall engage in business activities in accordance with applicable competition laws and regulations, and may not compete by unfair means.
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In the course of procurement, provision, or sale of products and services, the Company and its directors, supervisors, managers, employees, mandataries, and substantial controllers shall observe applicable laws and regulations and international standards to ensure the transparency of information about, and safety of, their products and services. They shall also adopt and publish a policy on the protection of the rights and interests of consumers or other stakeholders, and carry out the policy in their operations, with a view to preventing their products and services from directly or indirectly damaging the rights and interests, health, and safety of consumers or other stakeholders. Where there are sufficient facts to determine that the company's products or services are likely to pose any hazard to the safety and health of consumers or other stakeholders, the Company shall, in principle, recall those products or suspend the services immediately.
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The directors, managers, employees, mandataries, and substantial controllers of the Company shall exercise the due care of good administrators to urge the company to prevent unethical conduct, always review the results of the preventive measures and continually make adjustments so as to ensure thorough implementation of its ethical corporate management policies.
Human Resources Department (HRD) is responsible for establishing and supervising the implementation of the ethical corporate management policies and prevention programs to achieve sound ethical corporate management. HRD shall be in charge of assisting the board of directors and management in auditing and assessing whether the prevention measures taken for the purpose of implementing ethical management are effectively operating, and preparing reports on the regular assessment of compliance with ethical management in operating procedures.
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The Company and its directors, supervisors, managers, employees, mandataries, and substantial controllers shall comply with laws and regulations and the prevention programs when conducting business.
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The Company shall adopt policies for preventing conflicts of interest to identify, monitor, and manage risks possibly resulting from unethical conduct, and shall also offer appropriate means for directors, managers, and other stakeholders attending or present at board meetings to voluntarily explain whether their interests would potentially conflict with those of the company.
When a proposal at a given board of directors meeting concerns the personal interest of, or the interest of the juristic person represented by, any of the directors, supervisors, managers, and other stakeholders attending or present at board meetings of the Company, the concerned person shall state the important aspects of the relationship of interest at the given board meeting. If his or her participation is likely to prejudice the interest of the company, the concerned person may not participate in discussion of or voting on the proposal and shall recuse himself or herself from the discussion or the voting, and may not exercise voting rights as proxy for another director. The directors shall practice self-discipline and must not support one another in improper dealings.
The Company's directors, supervisors, managers, employees, mandataries, and substantial controllers shall not take advantage of their positions or influence in the companies to obtain improper benefits for themselves, their spouses, parents, children or any other person.
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The Company shall establish effective accounting systems and internal control systems for business activities possibly at a higher risk of being involved in an unethical conduct, not have under-the-table accounts or keep secret accounts, and conduct reviews regularly so as to ensure that the design and enforcement of the systems are showing results.
The internal audit unit of the Company shall periodically examine the company's compliance with the foregoing systems and prepare audit reports and submit the same to the board of directors. The internal audit unit may engage a certified public accountant to carry out the audit, and may engage professionals to assist if necessary.
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The chairman, president, or senior management of the Company shall communicate the importance of corporate ethics to its directors, employees, and mandataries on a regular basis.
The Company shall periodically organize training and awareness programs for directors, managers, employees, mandataries, and substantial controllers and invite the company's commercial transaction counterparties so they understand the company's resolve to implement ethical corporate management, the related policies, prevention programs and the consequences of committing unethical conduct.
The Company shall apply the policies of ethical corporate management when creating its employee performance appraisal system and personnel policies to establish a clear and effective reward and discipline system.
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The Company has established an independent whistle-blowing mailbox
"[email protected]"
to allow company insiders and outsiders to submit reports. The Company shall promise confidentiality of the identity of whistle-blowers and the content of reported cases and measures for protecting whistle-blowers from inappropriate disciplinary actions due to their whistle-blowing.
The procedure of general whistle-blowing case shall apply to company grievance and appeal policies. However any tip involving a director or senior manager shall be reported to the independent directors and investigated by dedicated personnel or unit. When material misconduct or likelihood of material impairment to the Company comes to their awareness upon investigation, the dedicated personnel or unit shall immediately prepare a report and notify the independent directors or supervisors in written form.
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The Company shall handle disciplinary and appeal cases in accordance with its personnel policies and grievance procedure for violations of the ethical corporate management rules, and shall make immediate disclosure on the company's internal website of the title and name of the violator, the date and details of the violation, and the actions taken in response.
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The Company shall disclose the measures taken for implementing ethical corporate management, the status of implementation, and the effectiveness of promotion on company websites, annual reports, and prospectuses, and shall disclose their ethical corporate management best practice principles on the Market Observation Post System.
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The Company shall at all times monitor the development of relevant local and international regulations concerning ethical corporate management and encourage its directors, managers, and employees to make suggestions, based on which the adopted ethical corporate management policies and measures taken will be reviewed and improved with a view to achieving better implementation of ethical management.
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The ethical corporate management best practice principles of the Company shall be implemented after the board of directors grants the approval. The same procedure shall be followed when the principles have been amended.
When the ethical corporate management best practice principles are submitted for discussion by the board of directors pursuant to the preceding paragraph, the board of directors shall take into full consideration each independent director's opinions. If an independent director objects to or expresses reservations about any matter, it shall be recorded in the minutes of the board of directors meeting. An independent director that cannot attend the board meeting in person to express objection or reservations shall provide a written opinion before the board meeting, unless there is some legitimate reason to do otherwise, and the opinion shall be specified in the minutes of the board of directors meeting.
History
Issued on December 27th, 2016