The Standards are developed and managed by our Business Conduct Office (BCO). Ethisphere magazine gave our SBC an A grade as part of its recognition of Sun as one of the world's most ethical companies this year. We updated the Standards in fiscal 2007 to ensure that they continue to reflect the company's values and are aligned with legal requirements in the countries where we do business. The new code — developed in consultation with content experts throughout the company — will be distributed to employees and partners early in fiscal 2008. It's translated into 11 languages to ensure that it's accessible to all Sun employees and business partners around the world.
Changes to the SBC this year include:
- The Board of Directors statement now requires that invitations received by Directors to serve on another Board be evaluated for conflicts of interest by the
Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee.
- The Business Courtesies section has been expanded to differentiate between business courtesies to commercial entities, U.S. government entities, and non-U.S.
government entities.
- Selected Q&As have been updated to reflect current areas of concern and address trends identified by the Business Conduct Office.
We want to make sure our employees are fully aware of the Standards of Business Conduct and any changes to this code, and that they have easy access to ethical conduct information available to them. The BCO has a substantial presence on our global intranet, SunWeb, providing employees with a great deal of information about ethical standards and behavior at Sun. BCO staff are visible inside and outside Sun, often invited to conferences, staff meetings, and Sun Town Hall gatherings to speak about the Standards of Business Conduct and other ethics initiatives.
