Building an organization and climate prioritizing compliance to meet the expectations of customers and society and fulfill our responsibilities.

In 2003, we created the Suntory Group's Code of Business Ethics to enable all Group employees to carry out their duties with common values and standards of conduct. We put in place a compliance regime based on this code and from a cross-group perspective.

Hotline Operations

We have created a Compliance Hotline in our Compliance Department and at an external law office. The Compliance Hotline is a common group-wide point of contact for quickly discovering and resolving actions that are in conflict with our Code of Business Ethics. We have also set up independent points of contact within the 18 companies in our national group. In 2010, the hotline received 105 calls across the Group. These calls included consultations about labor relations and human resources. The Compliance Department and the departments in all of the Group companies respond to calls to the hotline by, for example, issuing notifications of need for improvement, which are based on investigations that take into account the privacy of all persons involved. We also ensure that issues are resolved or mitigated, and that comprehensive actions are taken to prevent recurrence.

Ensuring Transparent and Well-Established Compliance

We are continually employing measures to ensure that compliance is transparent and well-established in our company, such as through various training courses for our Group employees and by uploading information to our intranet. In 2010, we put efforts into conducting public activities aimed at our employees. We will also enhance the spread of information in the future by directing efforts toward employees of our Group companies overseas.

Awareness Survey for Stronger Compliance

We conduct a Compliance Awareness Survey targeting all Group employees every other year (the latest one was conducted in June 2010). Based on the results of this survey, we track issues affecting the company as a whole and those affecting individual departments and divisions, and use this information to improve our policies and future initiatives.