Our Guidelines

At Novartis, Corporate Citizenship is firmly anchored at the Board level. The Audit and Compliance Committee of the Board of Directors oversees the implementation of Corporate Citizenship as part of the commitment to the Global Compact. Our Corporate Citizenship Policy laid down the principles of how we conduct our business. These were then further refined into guidelines addressing key aspects: 

• Management of Corporate Citizenship
  This guideline defines responsibilities, management process and mechanisms for conflict resolution and complaints ("whistle-blowing"). It is very important that discrepancies between financial performance objectives and Corporate Citizenship goals are openly discussed. It is also essential that employees are able to raise issues with senior management without fear of reprisal. 
• Fair Working Conditions
  This guideline focuses on the well-being of our employees. It explains our policies on paying a living wage, maintaining reasonable working hours, avoiding forced and child labor, prohibiting discrimination and respecting our employees' freedom of association. 
• Bribery, Gifts and Entertainment
  This guideline deals with business ethics. Specifically, it defines a minimum standard of fair marketing practices that we enforce in markets around the world. Marketing practices vary from country to country. In the USA, for instance, the industry has articulated a strict code of behavior, whereas in other countries the rules of fair marketing are less precisely defined. This guideline prohibits bribery and excessive marketing expenses. To enforce this, it makes sure that no payments can take place off the record. It also mandates that gifts and entertainment for physicians should not be lavish and should primarily have an educational content or a strong focus on patients. 
• Human Rights and Engagement in Society
  This guideline addresses the difficulties of dealing with governments and officials who may be violating human rights in some countries. This guideline makes it our policy to provide support for and to protect internationally accepted human rights. The guideline also instructs our local managers to take an active interest in the affairs of the country and to maintain a good dialogue with the relevant stakeholders.

A fifth guideline on how to engage contractors, suppliers and other third parties in line with our Corporate Citizenship principles will be finalized in the course of this year.