Tata Steel Code of Conduct
Tata Steel Code of Conduct
Tata Steel Code of Conduct
A Tata company, in the course of its business activities, shall respect the
culture, customs and traditions of each country and region in which
it operates. It shall conform to trade procedures, including licensing,
documentation and other necessary formalities, as applicable.
Clause: 2
Financial reporting and records
A Tata company shall prepare and maintain its accounts fairly and
accurately and in accordance with the accounting and financial
reporting standards which represent the generally accepted
guidelines, principles, standards, laws and regulations of the
country in which the company conducts its business affairs.
Internal accounting and audit procedures shall reflect, fairly and
accurately, all of the company’s business transactions and disposition
of assets, and shall have internal controls to provide assurance to the
company’s board and shareholders that the transactions are accurate
and legitimate. All required information shall be accessible to company
auditors and other authorised parties and government agencies.There
shall be no willful omissions of any company transactions from the
books and records, no advance-income recognition and no hidden
bank account and funds.
Any willful, material misrepresentation of and/or misinformation on
the financial accounts and reports shall be regarded as a violation
of the Code, apart from inviting appropriate civil or criminal action
under the relevant laws. No employee shall make, authorise, abet or
collude in an improper payment, unlawful commission or bribing.
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Tata Code of Conduct
Clause: 3
Competition
A Tata company shall fully support the development and operation
of competitive open markets and shall promote the liberalisation
of trade and investment in each country and market in which it
operates. Specifically, no Tata company or employee shall engage
in restrictive trade practices, abuse of market dominance or similar
unfair trade activities.
Clause: 4
Equal opportunities employer
A Tata company shall provide equal opportunities to all its
employees and all qualified applicants for employment without
regard to their race, caste, religion, colour, ancestry, marital status,
gender, sexual orientation, age, nationality, ethnic origin or
disability.
Human resource policies shall promote diversity and equality in the
workplace, as well as compliance with all local labour laws, while
encouraging the adoption of international best practices.
Employees of a Tata company shall be treated with dignity
and in accordance with the Tata policy of maintaining a work
environment free of all forms of harassment, whether physical,
verbal or psychological. Employee policies and practices shall be
administered in a manner consistent with applicable laws and other
provisions of this Code, respect for the right to privacy and the right
to be heard, and that in all matters equal opportunity is provided to
those eligible and decisions are based on merit.
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Tata Code of Conduct
Clause: 5
Gifts and donations
A Tata company and its employees shall neither receive nor offer or
make, directly or indirectly, any illegal payments, remuneration, gifts,
donations or comparable benefits that are intended, or perceived, to
obtain uncompetitive favours for the conduct of its business.
However, a Tata company and its employees may, with full disclosure,
accept and offer nominal gifts, provided such gifts are customarily
given and/or are of a commemorative nature. Each company shall have
a policy to clarify its rules and regulations on gifts and entertainment, to
be used for the guidance of its employees.
Clause: 6
Government agencies
A Tata company and its employees shall not, unless mandated
under applicable laws, offer or give any company funds or property
as donation to any government agency or its representative,
directly or through intermediaries, in order to obtain any favourable
performance of official duties. A Tata company shall comply with
government procurement regulations and shall be transparent in all
its dealings with government agencies.
Clause: 7
Political non-alignment
A Tata company shall be committed to and support the constitution
and governance systems of the country in which it operates.
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Tata Code of Conduct
Clause: 8
Health, safety and environment
A Tata company shall strive to provide a safe, healthy, clean and
ergonomic working environment for its people. It shall prevent the
wasteful use of natural resources and be committed to improving
the environment, particularly with regard to the emission of
greenhouse gases, and shall endeavour to offset the effect of
climate change in all spheres of its activities.
Clause: 9
Quality of products and services
A Tata company shall be committed to supply goods and services of
world class quality standards, backed by after-sales services consistent
with the requirements of its customers, while striving for their total
satisfaction. The quality standards of the company’s goods and services
shall meet applicable national and international standards.
A Tata company shall display adequate health and safety labels,
caveats and other necessary information on its product packaging.
Clause: 10
Corporate citizenship
A Tata company shall be committed to good corporate citizenship,
not only in the compliance of all relevant laws and regulations but
also by actively assisting in the improvement of quality of life of the
people in the communities in which it operates. The company shall
encourage volunteering by its employees and collaboration with
community groups.
The company shall not treat these activities as optional, but should
strive to incorporate them as an integral part of its business plan.
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Tata Code of Conduct
Clause: 11
Cooperation of Tata companies
A Tata company shall cooperate with other Tata companies
including applicable joint ventures, by sharing knowledge and
physical, human and management resources, and by making efforts
to resolve disputes amicably, as long as this does not adversely
affect its business interests and shareholder value.
In the procurement of products and services, a Tata company
shall give preference to other Tata companies, as long as they can
provide these on competitive terms relative to third parties.
Clause: 12
Public representation of the company
and the Group
The Tata Group honours the information requirements of the public
and its stakeholders. In all its public appearances, with respect to
disclosing company and business information to public constituencies
such as the media, the financial community, employees, shareholders,
agents, franchisees, dealers, distributors and importers, a Tata company
or the Tata Group shall be represented only by specifically authorised
directors and employees. It shall be the sole responsibility of these
authorised representatives to disclose information about the company
or the Group.
Clause: 13
Third party representation
Parties which have business dealings with the Tata Group but
are not members of the Group, such as consultants, agents, sales
representatives, distributors, channel partners, contractors and
suppliers, shall not be authorised to represent a Tata company without
the written permission of the Tata company, and/or if their business
conduct and ethics are known to be inconsistent with the Code.
Third parties and their employees are expected to abide by the
Code in their interaction with, and on behalf of, a Tata company.
Tata companies are encouraged to sign a nondisclosure agreement
with third parties to support confidentiality of information.
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Tata Code of Conduct
Clause: 14
Use of the Tata brand
The use of the Tata name and trademark shall be governed
by manuals, codes and agreements to be issued by Tata Sons.
The use of the Tata brand is defined in and regulated by the
Tata Brand Equity and Business Promotion agreement. No third
party or joint venture shall use the Tata brand to further its
interests without specific authorisation.
Clause: 15
Group policies
A Tata company shall recommend to its board of directors the adoption
of policies and guidelines periodically formulated by Tata Sons.
Clause: 16
Shareholders
A Tata company shall be committed to enhancing shareholder
value and complying with all regulations and laws that govern
shareholder rights.The board of directors of a Tata company shall
duly and fairly inform its shareholders about all relevant aspects
of the company’s business, and disclose such information in
accordance with relevant regulations and agreements.
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Tata Code of Conduct
Clause: 17
Ethical conduct
Every employee of a Tata company, including full-time directors and
the chief executive, shall exhibit culturally appropriate deportment
in the countries they operate in, and deal on behalf of the company
with professionalism, honesty and integrity, while conforming to
high moral and ethical standards. Such conduct shall be fair and
transparent and be perceived to be so by third parties.
Clause: 18
Regulatory compliance
Employees of a Tata company, in their business conduct, shall
comply with all applicable laws and regulations, in letter and
spirit, in all the territories in which they operate. If the ethical and
professional standards of applicable laws and regulations are below
that of the Code, then the standards of the Code shall prevail.
Directors of a Tata company shall comply with applicable laws and
regulations of all the relevant regulatory and other authorities. As
good governance practice they shall safeguard the confidentiality
of all information received by them by virtue of their position.
Clause: 19
Concurrent employment
Consistent with applicable laws, an employee of a Tata company
shall not, without the requisite, officially written approval of the
company, accept employment or a position of responsibility (such
as a consultant or a director) with any other company, nor provide
freelance services to anyone, with or without remuneration. In the
case of a fulltime director or the chief executive, such approval
must be obtained from the board of directors of the company.
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Tata Code of Conduct
Clause: 20
Conflict of interest
An employee or director of a Tata company shall always act in the
interest of the company, and ensure that any business or personal
association which he/she may have does not involve a conflict of
interest with the operations of the company and his/her role therein.
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Tata Code of Conduct
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Tata Code of Conduct
Clause: 21
Securities transactions and confidential
information
An employee of a Tata company and his/her immediate family shall not
derive any benefit or counsel, or assist others to derive any benefit, from
access to and possession of information about the company or Group
or its clients or suppliers that is not in the public domain and, thus,
constitutes unpublished, price-sensitive insider information.
An employee of a Tata company shall not use or proliferate
information that is not available to the investing public, and
which therefore constitutes insider information, for making or
giving advice on investment decisions about the securities of the
respective Tata company, Group, client or supplier on which such
insider information has been obtained.
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Tata Code of Conduct
Clause: 22
Protecting company assets
The assets of a Tata company shall not be misused; they shall be
employed primarily and judiciously for the purpose of conducting the
business for which they are duly authorised. These include tangible
assets such as equipment and machinery, systems, facilities, materials
and resources, as well as intangible assets such as information
technology and systems, proprietary information, intellectual property,
and relationships with customers and suppliers.
Clause: 23
Citizenship
The involvement of a Tata employee in civic or public affairs shall be
with express approval from the chief executive of his/her company,
subject to this involvement having no adverse impact on the
business affairs of the company or the Tata Group.
Clause: 24
Integrity of data furnished
Every employee of a Tata company shall ensure, at all times, the
integrity of data or information furnished by him/her to the company.
He/she shall be entirely responsible in ensuring that the confidentiality
of all data is retained and in no circumstance transferred to any outside
person/party in the course of normal operations without express
guidelines from or, the approval of the management.
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Tata Code of Conduct
Clause: 25
Reporting concerns
Every employee of a Tata company shall promptly report to the
management, and/or third-party ethics helpline, when she/he
becomes aware of any actual or possible violation of the Code or
an event of misconduct, act of misdemeanour or act not in the
company’s interest. Such reporting shall be made available to
suppliers and partners, too.
Note:
The TCoC does not provide a full, comprehensive and complete
explanation of all the rules that employees are bound to follow.
Employees have a continuing obligation to familiarise themselves
with all applicable laws, company policies, procedures and work
rules.
All JVs could adopt TCoC or a joint code of conduct incorporating all
elements of the TCoC.
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