In today’s globalized market where free trade is on the rise, companies have a significant impact, both positive and negative, on human rights. Operating worldwide, the JVCKENWOOD Group recognizes the need to respect the human rights of all stakeholders that have an interest in its operations, including employees and suppliers, while ensuring fair labor practices. We are taking a wide range of measures to fulfill our responsibilities as a global company by sharing our human rights policy and initiatives across the Group while establishing and administering a relevant management system.

Under the supervisory responsibility of the CEO, JVCKENWOOD Group's Sustainability Management Office takes the lead in implementing risk management related to human rights. In addition, the Sustainability Management Office. conducts annual risk surveillance at all business sites that specializes in human rights risk. We have also established a company-wide system in which matters identified through risk surveillance that require company-wide initiatives through the Enterprise Risk Management Conference. In addition, since human rights issues are diverse, we are engaged in a variety of initiatives in multiple divisions by stakeholder and theme.

Occupational health and safety are mainly handled by the Safety and Health Committee, sustainability procurement by the SCM Department, and the whistle-blower system regarding human rights violations and harassment by the Legal & Compliance Office.

The Sustainability Management Office is responsible for holistically understanding these individual initiatives and promoting them by assuming responsibility for day-to-day human rights respect activities. The office collaborates as necessary with each department that is implementing initiatives.

Please see Enterprise Risk Management for specific risk surveillance mechanisms.

The JVCKENWOOD Group strives to identify, prevent, and mitigate adverse impacts on human rights by carrying out human rights due diligence in the course of its business operations in line with the commitment outlined in the JVCKENWOOD Group Human Rights Policy. A PDCA cycle is continuously operated on an annual basis. Our human rights due diligence process is described below.

1. Identify, analyze, and assess adverse human rights impacts through a risk surveillance process specific to human rights conducted by the Legal & Compliance Office, annual self-assessment questionnaires (SAQ) for suppliers conducted by the Procurement Department, and periodic safety patrols conducted by the Safety and Health Committee. The priority risks to be addressed are then identified, and outstanding human rights issues specific to the Group are identified at the Enterprise Risk Management Conference.

2. Each promotion department manager is responsible for preventing and reducing potential adverse impacts and implementing corrective actions to deal with any adverse impacts that become arise.

3. Monitor risk mitigation measures and corrective actions at set interim monitoring and final review timings as well as during annual risk surveillance processes and SAQs.

4. Disclose information on the progress of initiatives to external stakeholders.

Based on the above process, outstanding human rights issues were identified and disclosed information to stakeholders in January 2023, and interim monitoring of the status of initiatives on each issue was conducted in June of the same year. We will also continue with final reviews, assessments, and monitoring.

As a company engaged in global manufacturing, the JVCKENWOOD Group recognizes the need to consider a wide range of human rights. We consider not only the human rights of our own employees, but also the human rights of local residents who may be affected through our business activities, and human rights in the supply chain.

We identify salient human rights issues based on international norms, domestic laws and regulations, trends in each country, and current conditions and business characteristics in addition to the results of the human rights risk surveillance conducted for all business centers annually since 2021. In January 2023, the following four salient human rights issues were identified and disclosed to stakeholders.

1. Labor Management of Employees
The JVCKENWOOD Group has established the JVCKENWOOD Health Policy Statement and believes in the need to maintain employee health through labor management. In addition, we are actively working to reform work styles by making working hours visible, promoting the use of planned leave, and promoting telework.

[Specific measures: Prevention of excessive working hours]

By combining the following measures, we are working to reduce total working hours through the realization of more efficient ways of working.

■By visualizing and continuously monitoring the working hours of each employee, we consider the allocation of human resources and the allocation of duties so that overtime work is not biased toward specific employees.

■In the event of long working hours, additional health checkups and medical interviews are conducted for eligible employees, employees' mental and physical health is managed, and work details are reviewed as appropriate.

[Specific measures: Optimization of working hours]

■The introduction of flexible systems, such as the planned annual leave system, which allows employees to decide in advance when to take paid leave, promotes the use of leave in consideration of work-life balance.

■Promote more efficient working styles by reducing the time and burden of employees commuting and optimizing the use of working hours through the introduction of telework systems, including the provision of telecommuting allowances.

[Specific measures: Support for living wage]

■We have established a basic policy that complies with all wage-related laws and regulations concerning minimum wages, legal benefits, overtime work, etc. in each country's employment regulations, etc., and pay wages in excess of those stipulated by laws in each country and region.

2. Protection of Consumer's Personal Information
The JVCKENWOOD Group complies with the laws, guidelines, and other norms of each country regarding the protection of personal information, as well as the JVCKENWOOD Group Privacy Policy. We have established rules, manuals, and guidelines for the safe management of personal data, and also have taken appropriate measures to ensure the safe management of personal data. (Including personal data handling rules, training for employees, etc.).

3. Discrimination and Harassment against Employees
The JVCKENWOOD Group clearly states "Respect for Human Rights and Elimination of Discrimination" as part of its commitment in the "JVCKENWOOD Group Human Rights Policy". We respect basic human rights and prohibit all forms of discrimination based on race, creed, age, social status, family origin, nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation/gender identity, and disability are prohibited.
We also respect the human rights of workers and do not tolerate inhumane treatment, such as mental or physical abuse, coercion, harassment, or the performance of any act that could lead to such treatment.

4. Forced Labor and Child Labor in the Supply Chain

Because the JVCKENWOOD Group handles many products that incorporate electronic components, such as car navigation and professional-use radio systems, we believe there may be risks associated with forced labor and child labor in the procurement of raw materials as well as conflict minerals.

[Specific measures: Prevention of forced labor and child labor]

In order to reduce the risk of forced labor and child labor in the product value chain, especially in the process of raw material procurement, we continuously conduct a questionnaire survey (SAQ survey) with suppliers. Forced labor and child labor are considered important among the items to be checked in the SAQ survey, and suppliers at risk are requested to confirm and improve the situation.

The JVCKENWOOD CSR Procurement Guidelines also stipulate the prevention of forced labor and child labor. We ask new suppliers for their signatures in endorsement of these guidelines, while details of which are communicated to existing suppliers at our Partners Meetings.

The JVCKENWOOD Group requires all its employees complete Human Rights e-Learning in order to understand human rights initiatives based on the JVCKENWOOD Group Compliance Code of Conduct. In the training conducted in 2022, the new Human Rights Policy was explained in detail to disseminate and raise awareness among employees. In the questionnaire survey conducted after the training, 72% of the participants of this training answered that they had changed their awareness of human rights. We believe also that it is important to provide employees with the necessary training at the appropriate time according to their role. For new joiners, we provide new employee training that includes topics such as diversity promotion and harassment prevention. And for managers, compliance training including harassment is provided as part of the training when appointed to managerial positions. Furthermore, we conduct "Corporate Training on Business and Human Rights" by Human Rights Volunteers of the Ministry of Justice for our employees, including managers. We strive to prevent human rights violations, including all forms of harassment such as sexual harassment and power harassment, through continuous endeavors to enhance awareness. We will continue to proactively undertake initiatives aimed at raising awareness of human rights among our employees. We are also promoting the following initiatives as our goals to raise awareness of human rights issues, including forced labor and child labor in the supply chain, one of the prominent human rights issues.

In addition, the CSR Committee of the Policy and Strategy Board of the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA), in which the JVCKENWOOD Group participates, provides training and awareness-raising regarding its "Responsible Business Conduct Guidelines". In August 2023, internal personnel in charge of procurement attended a training course on sustainable procurement in line with these guidelines to promote understanding of the initiatives required in procurement, including child labor and forced labor. In the future, we will also provide training on human rights and related issues for our suppliers to foster understanding of responsible business conduct in the supply chain.

The JVCKENWOOD Group maintains a whistleblower system that enables employees to report on possible violations of any law or regulation, the JVCKENWOOD Group Compliance Code of Conduct, and other internal rules. In FY2022, there was one incident escalated via whistle-blowing that was addressed.

Compliance

The following initiatives are also being promoted as targets for accepting whistle-blowing from external business partners, NGOs, etc

JVCKENWOOD is committed to complying with labor standards, including labor laws and minimum wage standards in the countries in which it operates.

The JVCKENWOOD Group participates in the CSR Committee of the Policy and Strategy Board of the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA). The CSR Committee is an organization that addresses issues common to the industry related to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and conducts surveys, research, information dissemination, and external proposals from a professional CSR perspective. As part of the CSR Committee's initiatives, we participate in a task force that formulates and maintains the "Responsible Business Conduct Guidelines" in which we share issues related to labor practices that arise during CSR procurement by member companies and examine solutions to these issues. The information obtained is fed back internally and used to promote appropriate labor practices.

JVCKENWOOD promotes active dialogue between labor and management in recognition of the fact that trusting labor-management relations will boost the productivity and motivation of employees and lead to sustained growth for the company.

JVCKENWOOD has established labor agreements with the JVCKENWOOD Labor Union that represents all employees excluding managerial employees, with regard to the three rights of labor (the right to unionize, the right to collectively bargain, and the right to collectively act) and conducts negotiations/discussions on working conditions, etc. When making a practical change that may have a significant impact on the employees’ way of working, the management explains and discusses it with the union in advance, in accordance with the labor-management agreement.

Representatives of labor and management meet on a regular basis in informal management gatherings, financial results briefings, and special labor-management committee meetings to discuss institutional matters, and the agreements reached through these discussions are immediately put into place. In FY2021, 20 labor-management meetings were held to discuss matters such as changes to be made to the personnel system. In FY2022, we will further solidify the sound relations between labor and management by actively continuing to promote labor-management dialogue.