4.7 Application of the duty of care law for parent companies

4.7.1 MAIN POINTS OF THE DUTY OF CARE PLAN

For more than 20 years, the Lagardère group has striven to carry out its businesses while strictly adhering to a certain number of universal principles. The Group’s first Code of Ethics dates from 1994 and was subsequently revised in 2005, 2012, 2016 and 2020. It sets out guidelines on integrity and professional conduct for all employees of the Lagardère group. The issues of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and of the health and safety of people and the environment are integral to the principles covered by the Code.
A cross-disciplinary working group was set up in the second half of 2017 to prepare the Group’s compliance with French law 2017-339 of 27 March 2017 on the duty of care for parent companies and their contractors. Under the supervision of the Sustainable Development and CSR Department, this committee drew together representatives from all divisions, as well as representatives from the directly affected corporate departments, namely the Group’s Legal Department and the Risk, Compliance and Internal Control Department.
The first step involved mapping out the risks linked to the Group’s supply chain. At the end of this stage, seven procurement categories were identified as being most likely to give rise to risks involving Lagardère group subcontractors or suppliers: printing activities and printing-related services, production of paper pulp, wholesale supply of accessories and household items, own-label products sold in stores, disposable items used in restaurants, energy supply (electricity, gas, steam, air-conditioning), and production of plastics. After the risk mapping process, the operating entities ranked suppliers in order of priority for their supplier assessment plan, which will be implemented over the next several years.
2020 was the third year of the plan’s roll-out.
In parallel, the Sustainable Development and CSR Department and Risk, Compliance and Internal Control Department have also been working together more closely to identify any non-financial risks caused by the Group’s businesses, using the same methodology used for the Group risk mapping exercise. The risk identification process is detailed in section 4.3.

4.7.2 MONITORING

All methods used to monitor measures taken in application of the Group’s duty of care can be found in the following sections of this Universal Registration Document:

  • regarding issues relating to respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, see section 4.3.1.3 on access to and dissemination of education, culture and entertainment, and section 4.3.3 on the general strategy to address these issues;
  • regarding issues relating to personal health and safety, see section 4.3.1.4 on the quality of products and services distributed and sold by the Group, and section 4.3.3.2 on health and safety in the workplace;
  • regarding environmental issues, see section 4.3.2.1 on the issues of natural resource management, anti-waste and the circular economy, and section 4.3.2.2 on energy and carbon impacts.

A set of indicators is used to assess the effectiveness of measures taken in each of these areas, some of which have been in place for many years.
Lastly, in 2019, Lagardère designed and developed a Group-wide, cross-business whistleblowing tool open to all stakeholders. It was officially launched in 2020.

Items appearing in the Annual Financial Report are cross-referenced with the following symbol AFR