Responsibility Management
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Stakeholders, including customers, investors, government, partners, employees, communities and the environment, are indispensable to the development of the Company. Following the CSR philosophy of Integrated Capacity and Infinite Capability, we respond to the appeals of stakeholders and contribute to the sustainable development of society by taking effective and accountable actions.
The General Meeting of Shareholders
The general meeting of shareholders presents an opportunity for the company's board of directors and shareholders to communicate directly and establish a good relationship. In order to ensure that all shareholders of the company enjoy equal status and effectively exercise their rights, the company holds the general meeting of shareholders every year in strict accordance with the notifying, assembling, and convening procedures specified in relevant laws, regulations, and the articles of association.
Board of directors
As of December 31, 2021, the Board of Directors has nine directors, including five independent non-executive directors, accounting for 55.56% of the total. Five specialized committees, namely the Strategy Committee, the Audit Committee, the Remuneration and Appraisal Committee, the Nomination Committee, and the Risk Control Committee are set under the Board.
Supervisory Committee
The supervisory committee of the company is currently composed of four members, including two employee representatives. The supervisory committee is responsible for supervising the board of directors, its members, and senior executives to prevent them from abusing their power and infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of shareholders, the company, and its employees. The supervisory committee shall abide by the principle of good faith and actively carry out all work.
As of December 31, 2021, the Board of Supervisors has four supervisors, including two shareholder representatives and two employee representatives. The Board of Supervisors is responsible for reviewing financial reports and other financial information submitted by directors at the General Meeting of Shareholders and supervising the conduct of the Board of Directors and senior management in their duty performance.
Internal Controls
The company is committed to improving the internal control system and comprehensively strengthening it in combination with special activities such as corporate governance. The board of directors of the company is responsible for establishing, improving, and effectively implementing internal control. The supervisory committee shall supervise the establishment and implementation of internal control of the board. The senior executives are responsible for organizing and leading the daily operation of the company's internal control. The risk control committee is responsible for guiding the Company’s internal organizations to evaluate the effectiveness of the internal control.
In order to strengthen and standardize the enterprise’s internal control and improve the operation management and risk prevention ability, the company has commenced the construction of the internal control system since March 2011 in accordance with the Basic Fundamental Rules of Corporate Internal Control and the Supporting Guidelines for Corporate Internal Control that are jointly issued by the Ministry of Finance, CSRC, National Audit Office, CBRC and CIRC.
We have established the Corporate Compliance Committee and newly formulated the Compliance Management Measures to further strengthen compliance management and risk control in key business areas and links. We also continue to integrate the quality system well with the risk control system to improve our management efficiency.
We have revised our policies, such as Risk Assessment Guidelines, to improve risk early warning and screening.
With a deep study of laws, regulations, and policies, we improve risk prevention of the fleet by issuing risk warnings, conducting risk investigations, and monitoring voyage compliance.
We organize lectures on the Civil Code, risk management rules, and regulations to improve compliance awareness of employees and guide compliance. With the release of Compliance Monthly, we integrate risk management and compliance into the entire process of operation and service to encourage compliance.
We value the establishment, protection, and proper use of intellectual property rights and avoid infringement happens. We also ensure that no valid patent rights of any third party are wittingly infringed, or obligations of confidentiality to any third party are disregarded.
Health, Safety and Environment Protection
The Company is dedicated to fulfilling all due management responsibilities and obligations in the course of developing ship management and shipping businesses, and thus formulates the following target, policy and commitment in respect of occupational health, safety and environmental conservation.
Target: zero injury, zero accident, zero pollution, high energy efficiency and low emission.
Policy: safety is the top priority and requires an emphasis on preventive measures and a holistic management approach; business operations are conducted based on people-oriented philosophy, energy conservation and emission reduction, as well as high efficiency from modest resource consumption; life and health, ship safety and marine environment protection must always be ensured.
Anti-Corruption and Anti-Commercial Bribery
Any employee of COSCO SHIPPING Energy shall not directly or indirectly ask, give, request or accept bribery, facilitating spending, kickback or any other improper payment in any way, irrespective of it’s being paid or received directly or through the third party (e.g. agent, representative, contractor, partner or retailer).
The Company must refrain from any special connected transaction, which is economic transactions with any special affiliated enterprise (business entities that a key person or a person related to such person of China COSCO SHIPPING Corporation Limited established, controlled or invested in).
Business Gifts
The Company prohibits employees from requesting gifts or entertainment. As an act of good faith for building business relationships, receipt or provision of gifts shall not influence any business decision-making process or cause impression of such influence. When accepting gifts, employees must be aware of potential conflict of interest.
All employees are not allowed to accept gifts exceeding the equivalent value of RMB 100 (individually or in aggregate, including business gifts with company logos and holiday gifts), business meals exceeding the value of RMB 100 per person, or occasional business events of more than RMB 200 per person in value (for events that last less than one day and occur no more than three times a year for a single business partner), unless they have obtained prior approval from their immediate supervisors regarding gifts or events exceeding the above value or frequency limits.
Conflicts of Interest
Any employee of COSCO SHIPPING Energy shall avoid conflicts of interest in privacy and business. Employees must report potential conflict of interest to the Company. The Company relies on its employees in exercising good judgment when performing their duties and complying with the best interests and reputation of the Company.
The Company respects the privacy of employees in private matters and activities. However, employees shall avoid activities that actually impair their duty of loyalty to the Company, while reporting, recording and resolving potential conflicts of interest. Any individual interest that might affect the employees’ fairness in their job responsibilities must be reported to their supervisors promptly.
Prohibition of Insider Trading
All insiders knowledgeable of certain non-public information that can potentially influence a rational investor’s investment decision of trading the Company’s securities must comply with the duty of confidentiality until such non-public information is properly disclosed to the public. The Company’s directors, supervisors and senior management, as well as all departments and subsidiaries or branches of COSCO SHIPPING Energy are required to keep such non-public information confidential and refrain from unauthorized disclosure, insider trading and any act of assisting others in manipulating securities prices. Employees shall follow the guidelines given in the Company’s Administrative Measures for Recording and Managing Insiders published on 31 October, 2019.
Fair Opportunity and Prohibition of Harassment
The Company respects legitimate rights of all onshore and offshore staff, and provides competitive remuneration and safe working conditions. The Company shall maintain an inclusive working environment that allows all employees to share level playing ground to develop and utilize their skills. The Company strictly complies with laws and regulations, as well as labor policies, to avoid any form of gender discrimination and provide female employees with equal opportunities and resources to ensure their competitiveness at workplace.
All employees shall be treated with respect at work. The Company does not tolerate any workplace harassment, which includes any unwelcomed, humiliating, intimidating or hostile action or behavior. Employees must also avoid behaviors deemed or might be deemed as harassment. Any person with harassing conduct shall face severe consequences, including disciplinary actions, dismissal and even legal liabilities.
Protection of Company Assets
All employees shall protect and properly use the Company’s assets, including vessels, buildings, equipment, tools, provisions, communication facilities, funds, accounts, computer programs, information, technology, documents, techniques, data, patents, trademarks, copyrights and any other resource or property. Onshore and offshore employees are responsible for protecting such assets, so as to prevent waste, damage, abuse, loss, theft, embezzlement or infringement of rights, and ensuring responsible use of the assets.
All employees shall be liable for the ownership and confidentiality of the intellectual property rights that are acquired during the period of employment or arise from employment. Employees shall be careful of cyber attacks or frauds, such as phishing, and immediately report such incident, including those cause or might cause loss to the Company’s information or property.
Respect for Others’ Assets
The Company highly respects others’ physical assets and intellectual property, and requires that all onshore and offshore staff refrain from knowingly damaging or embezzling others’ physical assets, infringing others’ valid patents, trademarks and copyrights, misappropriating confidential information, or using or disclosing others’ confidential information without proper authorization.
Record-Keeping Accuracy and Completeness
All employees shall make sure that business records and files are prepared and maintained accurately, reliably and timely, including expenditures incurred by individual staff on behalf of the Company. Forgery of asset filing or misrepresentation of facts may constitute frauds, which may potentially bring in civil and criminal liabilities to both individuals and the Company. The Company’s business partners, government authorities and the public rely on the accuracy and completeness of the information and records we disclose, so that the Company shall maintain sound decision making based on such documentation, requiring that:
(1) all transactions be authorized, recorded and reported;
(2) creation, retention, recording or destruction of the files (including electronic files) be performed in compliance with applicable laws and the Company’s rules;
(3) any response to a request of information from the government or supervising departments should be provided only if necessary prior approvals are obtained.
The Company reviews the management system documents containing the above policies at least once a year, and releases policies immediately after revision to all employees.