(i) Governance of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
The Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer, a member of the Executive Committee, is responsible for overseeing the respect of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in the Group. This mission has been entrusted to her by L’Oréal’s Chief Executive Officer, to whom she reports.
The Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer has a budget and a dedicated team of Human Rights experts. She consults all the Group’s teams and resources in carrying out her work.
A dedicated network of Human Rights Correspondents covering all of the Group’s markets allows the Group’s commitments in terms of Human Rights to be rolled out.
The Human Rights Committee, chaired by the Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer and comprising representatives of the various activities, functions and geographic areas (including Purchasing, HR, CSR, Safety, Security, etc.), is a forum for coordination and discussion on the implementation of the Group’s Human Rights policy. Its primary objective is to promote the emergence of a Human Rights culture within the Group.
Country Managers (or, for Corporate or Zone staff, the members of the Group’s Executive Committee to whom they report) are responsible for ensuring compliance with Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
The Human Relations teams are responsible for ensuring that the activities of the Subsidiaries respect employees’ Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
Employees may contact their manager, their Head of Human Relations, their Legal Director, their Purchasing Director, their Human Rights Correspondent, their Ethics Correspondent and, ultimately, the Chief Ethics, Risk and Compliance Officer if they have any questions about compliance with the Applicable Rules
The Purchasing teams ensure that Suppliers' activities respect Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Suppliers included in the Risk Matrix are not listed in L’Oréal’s Supplier database until they have contractually committed to comply with the Applicable Rules. During Management Committee meetings that include representatives from all Zones and purchasing areas, the Purchasing teams discuss the results of audits, their consequences for business relationships, and the related actions plans to achieve continuous improvement of results at the Group’s Suppliers.
(ii) Governance of Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) in the workplace
The Chief Operations Officer, reporting to the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Executive Committee, is responsible for the general policy to prevent serious adverse impacts on the environment, and health and safety. The implementation of this policy is the responsibility of the Group’s Subsidiaries and Group Sites. The Chief Operations Officer is supported by and delegates the rollout and monitoring of the policy to:
The Purchasing teams are responsible for collecting Suppliers'confirmation that they accept the Applicable Rules via the Mutual Ethical Commitment Letter.
They use audits carried out by third-party companies to ensure that Suppliers included in the Risk Matrix implement the prevention measures for EHS risks. As for Human Rights, the Purchasing teams discuss, during Management Committee meetings that include representatives from all Zones and Purchasing areas, the results of audits, their consequences for commercial relations, and the related actions plans to achieve continuous improvement of results at the Group’s Suppliers.
Communication of the Applicable Rules and training of the teams involved supplement and support the effective application of the measures set out in the Plan by L’Oréal’s Subsidiaries and Suppliers.
(i) Communication on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
Human Relations teams are informed of the Applicable Rules by their line manager.
All new Group employees must receive a hard or electronic copy of the Group’s Code of Ethics and must confirm that they have read it. Employees must be reminded of the Code of Ethics and its contents on a regular basis. Any employee in contact with Suppliers must receive the The Way We Work with our Suppliers guide when they are hired.
It explains the ethical standards that apply to Supplier relations.
An internal Ethics website is available to employees. An annual Ethics Day, including Human Rights, has been held since 2009. The day is a chance for employees to discuss matters such as respect for Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms via a livestream with L’Oréal’s Chief Executive Officer and the other members of the Executive Committee. Discussions on Ethics are also organised in the Subsidiaries for employees to engage in conversations with their Subsidiary’s Chief Executive Officer.
In 2024, over 35,000 people logged on to Ethics Day sessions and more than 5,000 questions were submitted worldwide.
With respect to Suppliers, in addition to the communication of Applicable Rules via the Mutual Ethical Commitment Letters, they are given access to the following documents(1) :
