The assumption of the creation of The Synerise Code of Ethics and Business Conduct (the “Code”) was to define the principles and guidelines in the field of legal and ethical issues encountered while conducting Synerise business.
The Code sets forth Synerise‘s standards of ethics and business conduct. It has been prepared to aid you as you go about your daily work. These standards supplement and may go well beyond compliance with laws and regulations including Synersie internal regulations.
We can only succeed if we adhere to a common set of values and standards. It is essential that we each make a personal commitment and recognize that we are responsible and accountable for understanding and meeting the standards described in this Code because Synerise‘s success and reputation depend upon the performance of each of us.
The Code’s foundations are related to our values - they are the groundwork of all that we do, and we each are expected to adopt these values in our day-to-day business activities. Widespread adherence to these values will enhance our long-term success by improving our ability to serve customers, increasing our competitiveness, and promoting our pride in being part of the Synerise team.
The Code describes how we should interact with each other, with other companies, individuals and governments that make up the world in which we operate. Specifically, it addresses three areas:
We recognize and respect local legal differences in employment, privacy, and other applicable laws. We will comply with regional and local requirements concerning the matters discussed in this Code. If any part of this Code conflicts with applicable local law, the law will prevail.
The Code applies to all personnel employed by Synerise, including, associates of the company, management and the Board.
Synerise expects from them to:
Further, Synerise expects its managers to:
Compliance with Laws, Regulations, and Synerise Policies
We must each operate within the bounds of all laws, regulations, and internal policies applicable to Synerise‘s business, wherever we conduct it. Where local laws are less restrictive than this Code, you must comply with the Code, even if your conduct would otherwise be legal. On the other hand, if local laws are more restrictive than the Code, you must always comply with those laws.
Typically, the countries in which Synerise operates have laws and regulations that prohibit unlawful restraint of trade, usually referred to as antitrust or competition laws. These laws are designed to protect consumers and competitors against unfair business practices and to promote and protect healthy competition. Synerise commits rigorously to observing applicable antitrust or competition laws of all countries or organizations.
Antitrust or competition laws vary from country to country but, generally, such laws prohibit agreements or actions that reduce competition without benefiting consumers. Among those activities generally found to violate antitrust or competition laws are agreements and understandings among competitors to:
Agreements of the type listed above are against public policy and are against Synerise policy. Employees must never engage in discussions of such matters with representatives of other companies. You should report to the Synerise Legal Department any instance in which other companies initiate such discussions.
Unfair methods of competition and deceptive practices are also prohibited. Examples of these include:
Because of the complexity of antitrust and competition laws, seek advice from the Synerise Legal Department on any related question.
You are prohibited from receiving, offering, promising, authorizing, directing, or making any bribes, kickbacks, or payments of money or anything of value to improperly obtain business or any other advantage for Synerise or yourself.
The above prohibition applies whether such payments go to:
Contracts or other arrangements that involve exclusive dealing, tie-in sales, price discrimination, and other terms of sale may be unlawful under applicable antitrust or competition laws. You should not enter into such arrangements without the approval of the Synerise Legal Department.
Synerise does not participate in any economic boycott not sanctioned by the applicable authorities. Synerise and its employees are prohibited from discriminating against or refusing to do business with a country that is the object of an unsanctioned boycott.
Additionally, Synerise and its employees may not furnish information concerning Synerise’s, or any other person’s, business relationships with a boycotted country. If requested to supply any information, take any action, or refrain from taking any action to further or support a boycott of any country, immediately contact the Synerise Legal Department.
You must ensure that you, and any employees who work for you, comply with all applicable immigration laws. Synerise employees who travel internationally on business are responsible for obtaining appropriate authorizations including work permits before attempting to enter a host country. Visa and work permit requirements apply to all Synerise employees who travel outside of their home countries for business purposes or who work on projects or international assignments outside of their home country for any duration. Moreover, Synerise prohibits its employees from knowingly allowing contractors or other employees to work on a project without the proper authorization or documentation.
Synerise expects all employees to comply fully with our security policies and not to provide confidential information. Each employee signing a contract undertakes to respect the rules in this area.
Synerise requires its employees to compete fairly and ethically for all business opportunities. Employees involved in the sale or the negotiation of agreements, or the delivery of services to customers are expected to understand and honor the terms of Synerise‘s contractual agreements. In addition, each employee must ensure that all statements, communications, and representations to customers are accurate and truthful. Synerise is committed to meeting all of its contractual obligations.
You must obtain all appropriate approvals before executing, modifying, or amending any contracts. Synerise prohibits unauthorized contracts or modifications of contracts, including “side letters” or oral agreements.
Before acquiring any goods or services or making any other commitments on behalf of Synerise, you must ensure that you have spending authority and you have the required signing authority. If you have the authority to sign documents on behalf of Synerise, you may not delegate this authority to another employee without the approval.
Synerise strictly observes the laws, rules, and regulations that govern the acquisition of services by any governmental entity of any country and the performance of government contracts. Activities that may be appropriate when dealing with non-government customers may be improper and even illegal when dealing with government. The penalties of failing to adhere to these laws are severe and include substantial civil and criminal fines and imprisonment, and Synerise could be prohibited from doing business with the government. Synerise employees who deal with any governmental agency, including international organizations, are responsible for learning and complying with all rules that apply to government contracting and interactions with government officials and employees.
No Synerise employee shall attempt to obtain, from any source:
If such information is inadvertently communicated to you by another vendor, a consultant, or a government employee, you should promptly contact the Synerise Legal Department.
Synerise employees must strictly observe all laws and regulations regarding classified information.
Synerise employees must ensure that in performing government contracts there is no actual or potential organizational conflict of interest (OCI) that would provide Synerise unequal access to non-public information or an unfair advantage in a competitive procurement, or impair the objectivity of Synerise employees in providing assistance or advice to the government or in performing contract work for the government.
Before engaging in any discussions related to possible employment or entering a business opportunity with a current or former government employee, you must obtain approval from the Synerise Legal Department.
No one shall give or offer, in a corrupted manner, directly or indirectly, anything of value to a government official to obtain or maintain business or any other advantage for Synerise. It is a violation of the anti-corruption laws and other similar international anti-corruption laws to engage in any form of bribery.
Government employees and international organizations generally are governed by laws and regulations concerning their acceptance of entertainment, meals, gifts, gratuities, and other things of value from firms and persons with whom those departments and agencies do business. Synerise employees are prohibited both, the giving and receiving of any gifts or any kind of courtesy to (from) government employees or international organizations. An example of such courtesy should also be understood as paying the bill for the dinner.
If you have any questions, contact the Synerise Legal Department.
Synerise encourages employees to participate personally in civic affairs. However, employees must:
You may not use your position to coerce nor pressure other employees to make political contributions or support candidates or political causes.
Besides its people, Synerise‘s most important assets are its intellectual property rights, including its:
We are each responsible for protecting Synerise‘s intellectual property rights by complying with Synerise‘s policies and procedures. Maintaining the confidentiality of Synerise‘s trade secrets and proprietary information is an important element of such protection. This obligation continues even after you leave the employ of Synerise.
We also respect the intellectual property of others. Synerise will provide any software necessary for employees to perform their functions adequately under appropriate licensing agreements with vendors. It is against Synerise policy to use, copy, display, or distribute third-party copyrighted software, documentation, or other materials without permission. For example, you may not post another entity’s copyrighted content to any internal or external web site without first obtaining the necessary approvals. You are not permitted to use or copy software or documentation except to the extent that applicable license agreements allow.
Consult the Synerise Legal Department Web site for relevant policies and guidelines, including:
Accurate and reliable financial and business records are of critical importance in meeting Synerise‘s financial, legal, and business obligations. Below are some helpful guidelines regarding financial record keeping:
Information, data and materials should be stored, in accordance with Synerise rules and regulations, in a way that prevents access by unauthorized persons.
Synerise must disclose accurate and complete information regarding the results of its operations. We should report financial results and other significant developments fully, fairly, accurately, timely, and understandably. Synerise will not tolerate unauthorized "leaks" or disclosures of corporate information to the press or financial community.
All communications with the press and financial community must be authorized by Marketing Department or the Board.
Furnishing meals, refreshments, entertainment, and event access in conjunction with business discussions with non-government personnel is a commonly accepted practice. You may do so when it is appropriate to the circumstances. Such practices, however, must not violate the standards of conduct of the recipient‘s organization, any contractual agreement with a customer, or expense rules. You are responsible for familiarizing yourself with any such rules.
Synerise prohibits giving anything of value (including charitable donations or sponsorship of events) directly or indirectly to any private individual, firm, or entity as a means of improperly inducing business. Employees who make, facilitate, and/or approve expenditures for meals, refreshments, or entertainment must use care to ensure that such expenditures are in the ordinary and proper course of business and could not reasonably be construed as bribes or improper inducement.
In any case, business courtesies must be nominal enough not to appear to influence the judgment of the recipient to secure unfair preferential treatment or gain improper advantage. A final test of appropriate business courtesies, even if allowed under the law, is whether public disclosure would be embarrassing to Synerise or the recipient. All donated and received business courtesies that exceed EUR 100 should be reported to the Leader.
Synerise employees generally may accept unsolicited gifts or other business courtesies from actual or potential customers, suppliers, or other business partners provided they are not of material value and are not given with the purpose of influencing one‘s judgment. It is never appropriate to solicit gifts or other courtesies directly or indirectly. If you are offered a gift or other business courtesy of material value from an individual, firm, or representative of a firm who has or seeks a business relationship with Synerise, you must demonstrate that the gift could not be construed as an attempt by the offering party to secure favorable treatment. Synerise recognizes that in some parts of the world gift giving is common practice and not accepting a gift could reflect badly on Synerise.
Neither you nor any member of your family may accept any loan, guarantee of loan, or payment from an individual or firm doing or seeking business with Synerise.
You may accept occasional meals, refreshments, or other entertainment appropriate to the circumstances in connection with normal business discussions. Again, it is inappropriate to accept such favors if they are offered solely to influence your business decision. Every employee and co-worker is personally responsible for ensuring that acceptance of any business courtesies, gifts, or entertainment is proper and does not reasonably appear to be an attempt by the offering party to secure favorable treatment.
The term conflict of interest describes any circumstance that could cast doubt on an employee‘s ability to act with total objectivity with regard to Synerise‘s interests. Synerise wants the loyalty of employees towards the company to be natural.
All employees have a duty to avoid financial, business, or other relationships that might be opposed to the interests of Synerise or might cause a conflict with the performance of their duties. Employees should conduct themselves in a manner that avoids even the appearance of conflict between their personal interests and those of Synerise.
Conflict of interest situations may arise in many ways. Examples of improper actions by Synerise employees and co-workers when acting in conflict with Synerise include, but are not limited to, the following:
Sometimes a conflict of interest will develop accidentally or unexpectedly, and the appearance of a conflict of interest can also easily arise. If you feel that you have a conflict, actual or potential, report all pertinent details to your manager. The presence of a conflict does not necessarily mean that the proposed activity will be prohibited. Your responsibility is to fully disclose all aspects of the conflict to your manager and remove yourself entirely from the decision-making process.
Additionally, if you observe any situation involving another employee and in your opinion it is, or may be, a conflict of interest, report the situation to your manager.
We are committed to using our technology and resources to advance education in innovative ways, promote diversity, enrich the life of communities, and protect the environment.
Synerise does not make charitable donations to close deals or seek favor from decision makers. It is possible, however, for business units to support nonprofit organizations, as long as they approach it as part of an ongoing, positive business relationship and not to close business or otherwise secure favorable treatment and decisions affecting Synerise.
You are required to protect confidential information to which you have access in connection with your Synerise employment. Synerise’s personal data protection policy governs the collection, use, transfer, and security of employee data, customer and prospect data, and data Synerise may access in connection with services. You are required to abide by these policies when collecting or processing the relevant personal information.
All information related to Synerise‘s business that is not public should be considered confidential. Confidential information includes:
In addition, information concerning Synerise’s customers, partners, prospective customers, and vendors that was provided to Synerise in confidence is considered confidential information.
Protection of Synerise’s source code is particularly essential to our business. Any disclosure of source code outside of Synerise must be approved in advance by the CTO. Prior to disclosing any source materials, contact the Synerise Legal Department for the appropriate agreements.
Your obligation to protect company’s confidential information and personal information continues after the end of your employment with Synerise. Moreover, just as we expect employees to abide by their obligations not to disclose this information after they leave, we expect employees to abide by their obligations to protect the confidential information of their former employers. No confidential information obtained during or as a result of your work with former employers should be brought to Synerise or used in any form in your work at Synerise.
As a company, we encourage communication among our employees, customers, partners, and others - blogs, social networks, discussion forums, websites, video, and other social media can be a great way to stimulate conversation and discussion.
It is particularly important to remember the applicable rules in this area. The following principles are a collection of good practices that should be followed by Synerise employees whenever they are active on social media platforms as representatives of Synerise:
Any doubts regarding the right to speak on social media and the scope of topics discussed should be consulted with the Marketing Department. Additionally, if any employee of Synerise's finds that he or she has violated the above rules, that employee should inform the Legal Department and Marketing Department about this fact. We also encourage employees to report cases where offensive or inaccurate content about Synerise appears on social media.
We use a number of company assets and resources to perform our jobs. These include Synerise facilities, computers, telephones, and email. It is critical that each of us fully understands the requirements for appropriate use of these resources.
It is required to comply with the rules of using the company's resources, in particular:
Synerise may employ security procedures at its offices to monitor and maintain security, including the use of closed circuit television. Also, use of Synerise computers, systems, and resources may be monitored to the extent permitted by applicable law.
In addition, Synerise requires its employees to comply with Synerise’s information and physical security policies at all times. Upon leaving employment with Synerise, all Synerise property – including badges, computer equipment, software, handbooks, and internal documents – must be returned to Synerise.
We encourage you to express ideas for improving the workplace and any concerns you may have about the workplace or specific job-related problems. We will not retaliate nor tolerate retaliation against any employee who raises an issue, complaint, or concern in good faith. Our goal is to deal fairly and equitably with each employee.
Synerise affirms the principle of equal employment opportunity without regard to any protected characteristic, including but not limited to: race, religion, national origin/ancestry, color, gender, age, disability, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation.
We practice and promote such policies in all locations as appropriate under the law. We affirm this principle of freedom from discrimination in all aspects of the employment relationship, from recruitment and hiring, through performance evaluations, compensation, and promotions, to the end of your employment relationship with Synerise.
We base personnel actions strictly on individual ability, performance, experience, and company need. We avoid actions influenced by personal relationships and discriminatory practices of any kind. Our goal is to compensate personnel – with wages, salaries, and other benefits – in relation to their responsibilities, performance, and service.
Synerise‘s policy is to provide a work environment free from harassment. Synerise prohibits harassment in any form, whether physical, verbal, or non-verbal.
Report instances of harassment in accordance with Anti-abuse Policy.
We are committed to protecting the health and safety of our employees and visitors. Our policy is to maintain our offices and run our business operations in a manner that does not jeopardize the occupational health and safety of employees. Compliance with health and safety laws and Synerise policy is expected of all employees.
We maintain open and frank business dealings with our suppliers, partners and strive to develop mutually advantageous relationships. By building partnerships, we can become a global company. We expect our suppliers, partners to adhere to high ethical standards and to avoid engaging in any activity that involves even the appearance of impropriety. We expect our suppliers, partners to comply with all applicable laws and regulations and to ensure that all goods and services provided by them conform to all applicable legal standards.
Every Synerise employee should take care of customer and partner satisfaction.
Synerise is committed to using our technology and resources to advance education in innovative ways, promote diversity and enrich the life of communities.
The strength of Synerise is its people. Synerise is fortunate to have a talented group of employees throughout the world. We trust that each of you will recognize that we must adhere to the standards of this Code and uphold Synerise‘s business values if we would like to be leaders in our industry.
Though we are confident that we can count on every member of the Synerise team to do his or her part, we would be remiss if we did not state categorically that deviations from our policies or business conduct standards will not be tolerated.
Any Code of Ethics and Business violations should be reported in accordance with our Anti-abuse policy.
*As "Synerise" we understand Synerise SA and each of its subsidiaries.