Ethics and anti-corruption

Naval Group is committed to promoting a culture of integrity and is constantly stepping up its vigilance on key aspects of the fight against corruption and influence peddling.

Wherever we do business, ethics are our main concern. To ensure that all group employees share the same vision of ethics and the behaviour to be followed, it is essential to set clear rules and ensure that they are shared. In each aspect of this philosophy, repositories exist and training is provided.

Alert system

Suppliers: strict rules

In the area of purchasing, “establishing a relationship with a designated third party” follows set rules. Gifts, invitations and marks of hospitality must be declared. The Code of Conduct is a contractual document signed by all suppliers: it sets out the rules to be followed to prevent conflicts of interest or corruption or to ensure compliance with competition rules. Upstream, all suppliers are vetted according to a checklist to assess their interests and those of their managers. All must respect the social, human and environmental conventions that permeate all our activities.
Naval Group has been awarded the Responsible Supplier Relations label, which recognises organisations that have implemented responsible purchasing practices. This aspect of our commitment has been judged positively by the Mediation of Companies, an organisation that has awarded the Supplier Relations and Responsible Purchasing label to Naval Group every year since December 2014. For several years, Naval Group has also been developing its purchases from companies in the specially adapted and protected workers sector, with a target of €3 million per year in purchases from some thirty companies.

Everything about Purchasing

Anti-corruption, a culture of integrity

Supported by its managers and its network of compliance officers at all its sites in France and within its French and overseas subsidiaries, the group raises awareness and trains its employees in best practices in these areas. Based on risk mapping, it implements a training plan aimed at the personnel most exposed to these risks.
Naval Group’s Compliance system, inspired by the French Sapin II law on transparency, the fight against corruption and the modernisation of economic life, is a founding reference system that follows on from reference texts such as the United Nations Convention against corruption. It is applicable wherever the group is present, in France and abroad.

Mapped risks

Reviewed annually, the risk map forms the basis to the compliance system and mobilises all the players concerned. The Chairman and CEO of Naval Group personally follows this approach, based on the principle of zero tolerance. Anti-corruption governance also involves the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors.

Calibrated governance

Since its creation in early 2015, the Group Ethics, Compliance and Governance Department has been dedicated to fighting corruption wherever the group operates. It is overseen by a Chief Compliance Officer, who is the group's actual compliance expert. This compliance task force is organised into three divisions: definition of the system; operational deployment in France and abroad; internal control and investigations. In the field, the network of compliance officers works as closely as possible with the operational teams to guide and support them.

Whistleblowing without prejudice

Naval Group employees and stakeholders who are victims of, or witness to, inappropriate behaviour may raise the alert via a system that guarantees the confidentiality of their request and of the data reported. With ethics@naval-group.com, the group is committed to impartial processing of alerts and offers each and everyone the possibility to speak in complete confidence and without risk.

Alert system