Canon global

A Shared Compliance Awareness

Compliance activities form an essential foundation for Canon to become a truly excellent global corporation.
Canon Inc. strives to ensure that executives and employees share common values with regard to legal compliance and corporate ethics. We do this by promoting mainly three activities, publicizing our corporate principles and policies, building infrastructure, and providing training and education, while also pursuing increased compliance awareness and appropriate business activities.
Group companies in Japan carry out similar activities, while Group companies outside Japan conduct compliance-related activities in accordance with local laws and regulations with regional marketing headquarters taking the lead.

Canon Group Code of Conduct

In 2001, Canon updated its 1992 Canon Code of Conduct from a global perspective and introduced the revised Canon Group Code of Conduct.
The Canon Group Code of Conduct has been translated into 13 different languages, including English, French, and Chinese, facilitating its use across the entire Group.
In 2006, a collection of case studies entitled Practice! A Corporate Ethics Reader was distributed to all Group employees in Japan. The Second Edition was issued in 2008, providing a wider range of familiar examples and further promoting a deeper understanding of compliance and corporate ethics.
We also participated in the formulation of the standards outlined in the Charter of Corporate Behavior of Nippon Keidanren (Japanese Business Federation), an alliance of leading Japanese corporations, which we continue to faithfully respect.

• Reference: Charter of Corporate Behavior of Nippon Keidanren
• Reference: Outline of the Implementation Guidance for Charter of Corporate Behavior of Nippon Keidanren

Compliance Promotion System

Specific compliance policies and measures concerning Canon Inc and Group companies in Japan are determined by the Corporate Ethics and Compliance Committee. This committee is one of the management committees and is made up of Canon Inc.'s directors and executive committee officers. The compliance policies and measures determined by this committee are implemented by compliance coordinators in each of Canon Inc.'s headquarters divisions as well as at Group companies in Japan, under the supervision of the Compliance Office.
The Global Legal Affairs Coordination Committee investigates and analyzes the movement of worldwide legal regulations corresponding to Canon products and sets forth policies. In addition, the appropriate management sections formulate and carry out training programs and other measures to improve and consolidate the compliance systems in relation to specific laws and regulations, including those for security trade control, the environment and product safety.
At Group companies outside Japan, management works with the legal affairs and human resource divisions at each regional marketing headquarters to guide the construction of compliance promotion systems in accordance with local laws.

Compliance Structure

Global Legal Affairs Coordination Committee

Canon's Global Legal Affairs Coordination Committee, established in 1987, is chaired by the Group Executive in charge of the Corporate Intellectual Property and Legal Headquarters, with the Group Executives of the Environmental & Quality Headquarters, Information & Communication Systems Headquarters, and Senior General Managers of the Corporate Legal Center, and Global Logistics Management Center acting as vice-chairs. The secretariat of the Global Legal Affairs Coordination Committee is the Legal Affairs Coordination Division, which is under the direct control of the president and conducts a broad range of efforts focusing on legal matters from a company-wide perspective.
The Committee also convenes annual meetings with Group company presidents worldwide to share information regarding legal policies and countermeasures.
The Committee consists of cross-functional working groups to ensure compliance with laws and regulations worldwide. Each working group investigates and analyzes product-related regulations, issuing guidelines and white papers concerning legal and regulatory trends so that employees can be fully informed about legal issues. English-language versions of guidelines and white papers are as a rule also prepared with the aim of sharing information with Group companies worldwide.
In 2011, Canon established the Global Legal Affairs Coordination Meeting so as to enable a more cross-functional response. This meeting is attended by the legal staff from the Corporate Intellectual Property and Legal Headquarters, Environment & Quality Headquarters, Global Logistics Management Center, Corporate Legal Center, and Legal Affairs Coordination Division. It is mainly engaged in risk analysis and shares data on laws and regulations, so as to enable prompt and accurate evaluations of how such laws and regulations affect Canon's business. The establishment of this meeting resulted in a restructuring of the working groups, in which some of them were done away with.
In addition, various guidelines and white papers were updated and English-language versions issued, and investigation/analyses of legal and regulatory trends in China and other developing nations in Asia were carried out.
Canon is taking a more proactive approach based on this new structure. Important topics for us to deal with include ongoing improvements and strengthening of our trade secrets management system, the establishment and revision of policies on items such as security trade controls and international trade taxation, and investigation and analysis of legal and regulatory trends in developing countries. We also plan to formulate guidelines for matters important from a legal perspective in our increasingly important cloud business.

Guidelines and White Papers Produced in 2011

PL Response Guideline 2010

IT Law White Paper 2010

China Law White Paper 2010

Product Environmental Law White Paper 2010*

Trade Secrets Management Guideline 2011*

Guidelines for Setting Prices from Canon Inc. to Sales Subsidiaries

Guideline for Response to the Tax Haven Tax Code

Security Trade Control Guidelines

【Principal Working Themes of the Global Legal Affairs Coordination Committee】

• Export controls
• Trade secrets management
• IT
• Environment (REACH, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment [WEEE], Restriction of Hazardous Substances [RoHS])
• Product liability
• International tax/anti-monopoly laws
• Regional law (United States, Europe, China)
• Disability laws
• After-sales service
• Trends in copyright law
• Smooth utilization of open-source software (OSS)
• Product safety regulations
• Product marking
• Encryption management regulations
• Establish policy for uniform labeling in measurement units
• Legal considerations associated with cloud business

Canon's Compliance Hotline and Monitoring

To prevent illegal activity at an early stage, Canon Inc. maintains a Compliance Hotline for compliance-related consultation and reporting. Employees may also contact all the corporate directors and auditors by e-mail to report compliance issues.
The Compliance Hotline maintains strict confidentiality and guarantees that there will be no penalties for users. We are also working to increase awareness of the Compliance Hotline through the Compliance Website on our Intranet in addition to conducting compliance training and putting up posters in the workplace.
Hotlines have been set up at all Group companies in Japan as well as major Group companies outside Japan. At Canon Inc., the Compliance Office constantly handles any information provided via the Hotlines. Items judged to have a serious impact on business are promptly reported to management, and also reported on at the quarterly Corporate Ethics and Compliance Committee.