Society

Human rights policy

1. Basic approach
   • 1) Our philosophy is management that respects human beings. We understand laws/regulations and international norms relating to human rights and strive to realize a sustainable society where human rights are respected together with our stakeholders
   • 2) The Shimamura Group understands that our business activities directly or indirectly affect human rights. Upon understanding the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, we shall support the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and tackle respect for human rights as one of the priority issues in our corporate management.
2. Implementation of human rights due diligence
   The Shimamura Group shall work on human rights due diligence with the President serving as the chief operator. (Due diligence means that companies understand the risks of human rights violations in their business activities, formulate preventative and mitigation measures, and build the mechanisms for that.) We shall not infringe upon human rights in any of our business activities. In addition, in the event our business activities have an adverse effect on human rights, we shall take the appropriate action to correct that. Moreover, we shall strive to respect human rights in cooperation with our employees and our business partners and to build a responsible supply chain.
3. Scope of application
   1. These rules shall apply to all the employees and officers (directors, auditors and executive officers) of the Shimamura Group.
      We shall also request that our business partners support these rules.
4. Priority issues
   
   • 1) Respect for human rights of our employees
   • 2) Respect for human rights of the employees of our business partners and supply chain
   • 3) Respect for human rights of our customers
   • 4) Thorough compliance
5. Initiatives for the priority issues
   
   1. 1) For our employees

      The Shimamura Group shall respect the human rights of our employees and shall comply with laws and regulations.

      • We shall work to maintain and improve the working environment so that our employees can work in good health and with peace of mind by appropriately managing their working hours, holidays and vacations in accordance with laws and regulations.
      • We shall conduct fair personnel evaluations so that employees can fully demonstrate their capabilities. We shall pay appropriate wages according to their skills and those evaluations.
      • We shall not discriminate against our employees in any way (e.g., nationality, age or gender) and we shall not allow harassment of our employees in any way (e.g., power harassment or sexual harassment).
      • We shall establish a point of contact to accept inquiries and reports from employees. In the event there is a problem, we shall take appropriate action.
      See details of prevention of discrimination and harassment
   2. 2) For business partners and the supply chain

      The Shimamura Group shall respect the human rights of the employees of our business partners and the supply chain and shall comply with laws and regulations.

      Shimamura transaction standards (Excerpt) PDF

      • We shall not make any requests other than for product transactions to business partners. We shall conduct fair transactions that will lead to prosperity for both our company and our suppliers.
      See details of respect for human rights in the supply chain
   3. 3) For customers

      The Shimamura Group shall respect the human rights of our customers and shall comply with laws and regulations.

      • We shall ensure the safety of products and stores.
      • e shall not discriminate or use expressions that foster discrimination in our product design and advertising activities.
      • We shall accept opinions from our customers in stores and with a toll-free number. In the event there is a problem, we shall take appropriate action.
   4. 4) compliance

      The Shimamura Group shall continue to engage in sincere corporate management to build long-term universal relationships of trust and confidence with various stakeholders including employees, customers, business partners, shareholders and society. The employees of the Shimamura Group shall comply with laws/regulations, internal rules and other regulations and then take responsible actions in accordance with social norms in line with this philosophy.

      See details of compliance

Response to human rights risks

Respect for human rights in the supply chain

1. Construction of a CoC compliance structure

   • The Shimamura Group purchases almost all of the products it sells from its suppliers and does not own our own factories or manufacture products, but we recognize that respect for human rights throughout our supply chain is an important ESG issue. Therefore, in 2019, we enacted the Shimamura Supplier Code of Conduct (CoC), and we are working to respect human rights in our supply chain in cooperation with our suppliers based on that.
     Shimamura Supplier CoC PDF
   • We engage in transactions with all our suppliers upon explaining the Shimamura Supplier CoC to them and receiving a declaration of compliance with the Shimamura Supplier CoC from them.
     Declaration of compliance with the Shimamura Supplier CoC (To Shimamura, Japanese) PDF Declaration of compliance with the Shimamura Supplier CoC (To supplier, Japanese) PDF Declaration of compliance with the Shimamura Supplier CoC (To supplier, English) PDF Declaration of compliance with the Shimamura Supplier CoC (To supplier, Chinese) PDF
   We use at timely these briefing sessions to explain our basic approach to consideration for human rights and the environment, the specific factory check methods to be conducted by suppliers to comply with the CoC, and other matters.
   Staff from our Merchandise Management Department have been confirming the working environment of employees in actual factories while implementing a system to certify PB factories. We are now creating a structure in which our suppliers can also take appropriate initiatives for respecting human rights in our supply chain with our company and our suppliers sharing the various pieces of expertise we have accumulated in briefing sessions and at other opportunities.
   

   〈CoC compliance structure in the supply chain〉

   1. The Shimamura Group shall inform all our suppliers (first-tier business partners) of the importance of respecting human rights in the supply chain, the content of CoC and the declaration and the method of checking compliance with the CoC through briefing sessions and disclosures over the Internet (as needed).
   2. Suppliers shall explain a declaration of compliance with the Shimamura Supplier CoC to second-tier business partners (e.g., production factories, distribution and processing operators and logistics operators). Then, upon checking the status of compliance with the CoC that focuses on respect for the human rights of employees, suppliers shall collect a declaration from those second-tier business partners (once a year).
   3. Suppliers shall submit a declaration of compliance with the Shimamura Supplier CoC to the Shimamura Group (once a year).
   4. For PB products only, the PB product production factories collect a copy of the Declaration of compliance with the Shimamura Supplier CoC and the Business License from the main material suppliers (mainly fabrics) of our tertiary suppliers, which are verified by our Merchandise Management Department staff during the audit at the product production factories.
   5. The Shimamura Group shall engage in transactions upon confirming the content of the received declaration of compliance with the Shimamura Supplier CoC (once a year).

   ＊In a declaration of compliance with the Shimamura Supplier CoC, we ask business partners who have signed it to also apply the CoC to suppliers in upstream processes.

2. Respect for human rights at PB factories

   • The Shimamura Group sells products with selected materials, functions and quality as private brand (PB) products. Approximately 20% of the products we handle in the business of Shimamura are PB products.
     We outsource the production of our PB products to overseas factories through our suppliers and the Trading Department. In order to ensure quality, we have adopted a Factory Certification System in which our employees review and evaluate those factories in advance. We currently produce PB products in approximately 450 certified factories mainly in China and Southeast Asia.
     
   • The staff from our Merchandise Management Department responsible for quality control visit factories in order to certify PB product production factories to confirm the production control of those factories. In addition, they confirm the status of compliance with action guidelines such as the working environment and human rights of our employees.
     See details of a system to certify PB factories

Prevention of discrimination and harassment

The Shimamura Group stipulates in the Work Regulations that the prevention of discrimination and harassment is a matter which all employees must strictly adhere to in duties.
In addition, we have stipulated in the Recruitment Regulations that we shall not discriminate according to nationality, age, gender or other characteristics during recruitment.

• Method of informing employees
  We shall work to prevent the occurrence of discrimination and harassment by providing harassment training for managers at the store manager level and above on a periodic basis.
• Whistleblowing system
  We have set up a point of contact to accept inquiries and reports from employees. In the event there is a problem, we take appropriate action. We also do not dismiss or otherwise disadvantageously treat those who have made reports or inquiries due to their reports or inquiries.
  See details of whistleblowing system

Information security

The Shimamura Group considers the protection and management of information assets to be an important issue in management. Together with that, we recognize that information leaks are a human rights risk. Therefore, we have enacted the Information Security Regulations and are working on information security.
Under these regulations, the Information Security Committee (Systems Department, General Administration Department, Planning Section and Audit Section, Legal Section) confirms the information security compliance situation, investigates and corrects problems, and provides education and information. The Information Security Committee is chaired by the executive officer responsible for the Systems Department.