Doing business brings with it obligations to comply with the law, adhere to our own standards, to exercise good stewardship of the environment and to behave safely and ethically at all times.

In order to meet these obligations, the Code sets out the principles and standards that guide the way we do business. We also maintain a series of policies that describe in greater detail certain principles and standards, including:

• our Anti Bribery & Corruption Policy
• our Ethical Purchasing Policy
• our Whistleblowing Policy
• our Related Person Transaction Policy
• our Insider Trading Policy
• our IM User Security Policy
• our Records Retention Policy

The Code provides in one place the complex ethical and legal guidelines applying worldwide across our entire business and in this way helps our employees understand the basic rules that apply. By being clear about their personal responsibilities, employees are best placed to know what is right and to strive to do the right thing as they carry out their day-to-day jobs.

We believe that only by consistently acting in accordance with our Code and related policies will we earn the trust of our customers, shareholders, colleagues, suppliers and the communities in which we live and work. These are the people whose trust we must maintain if we are to continue to be successful in the future. As a result the Code and related policies provide the foundation for a company-wide program supported by the Edwards board of directors.

The Code applies to all staff and was launched in 2007. To ensure full understanding of the Code, a summary booklet was distributed to all employees globally and is provided to all new joiners. It has been translated into nine languages and made available to suppliers and other partners or third parties representing Edwards. A group of regional Code Sustainability Managers are responsible for ensuring the Code is communicated throughout the business. Detailed information on the Code and compliance issues is available to staff via a dedicated section of the company’s intranet site. All staff carry out compulsory web-based training and there is a global rolling program of face-to-face training.

There are various ways in which employees are encouraged to raise concerns including anonymous email and the ‘Speak Out’ freephone telephone hotline service provided by an independent third party service provider – Safecall.

We take our Code of Conduct extremely seriously at Edwards - all legitimate concerns reported are investigated fully and action plans implemented. All material matters are discussed with the Edwards board.

View a summary of the Edwards: Code of Conduct

View our Ethical Purchasing Policy