Raw Materials Procurement Department and Indirect Materials Procurement Department, Global Procurement Division
Corporate Compliance Department, Global HR Department

Why is “Forced or Compulsory Labor” a critical issue to be addressed?
Explanation of the reason and background

At the Yokohama Rubber Group, we comply with action guidelines that emphasize respecting human rights both inside and outside of the company and creating safe and healthy workplaces, and for this reason forced or compulsory labor, including forced or compulsory labor in the supply chain, is also prohibited in the CSR Procurement Guidelines.
In addition, taking into account the risk of illegal labor being forced upon people who work at plants, business locations, and suppliers as we expand production and sales overseas, we have selected forced or compulsory labor as a critical issue to be addressed.

Vision (attainment goal) / target

Our goal is to achieve zero forced or compulsory labor at all of the Group’s primary suppliers of natural rubber, including overseas suppliers, by 2019.

Measures for vision achievement

In fiscal 2017, we distributed copies of our CSR-aware procurement guidelines to our primary suppliers in Japan, and asked them to implement various CSR-related measures, including measures relating to human rights and labor issues. We also held a Natural Rubber Suppliers Day, and asked our primary suppliers of natural rubber to also implement CSR-related measures. In addition, we administered a survey of the current situation – using a self-diagnostics checklist – to both our natural rubber primary suppliers and our domestic primary suppliers, to confirm that there was no use forced or compulsory labor. In fiscal 2018, we continued to expand this initiative to cover overseas suppliers, by compiling English-language versions of our CSR-aware procurement guidelines and self-diagnostics checklist.

Identification of the presence or otherwise of forced or compulsory labor at the Yokohama Rubber Group and in the supply chain

With regard to domestic raw materials suppliers, we conducted a survey of labor conditions using a self-diagnostics checklist, and confirmed that there were no cases of forced or compulsory labor.
A questionnaire survey on compliance (human rights, child labor, and the environment) with all natural rubber suppliers we have transactions with has been completed. We are observing compliance and legal systems while conducting CSR initiatives (plantation support).
In fiscal 2017, we conducted an on-site survey of natural rubber plantations in Myanmar (with which we have not yet begun any transactions), and confirmed that there were no cases of forced or compulsory labor.

Countermeasures to eradicate forced or compulsory labor

In addition to the efforts to assess the current state of forced or compulsory labor noted above, we also explained Yokohama Rubber’s CSR-aware procurement policy to natural rubber suppliers on Suppliers’ Day.

In the future, we will be aiming to further expand our efforts in this area to cover overseas suppliers, by issuing English-language versions of our procurement guidelines and self-diagnostics checklists.