30 June 2010
Thales is one of the 30 companies cited as examples in the latest publication of the UN Global Compact presented at the Leaders Summit on 24-25 June 2010 in New York.
The publication, entitled The Global Compact for Development, focuses on ways for companies to support the development objectives of the United Nations, and in particular the eight Millennium Development Goals*, which UN member states have undertaken to achieve by 2015.
Thales was featured as an example on the basis of its Purchasing and Corporate Responsibility Charter for suppliers and subcontractors. The Global Compact considers this initiative a positive contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
Dominique Lamoureux, Vice President, Ethics & Corporate Responsibility at Thales, welcomed the news as an “endorsement of Thales’s commitment to the principles of Corporate Responsibility, which the Group has adopted as a central plank of its strategy and also wishes its suppliers to uphold.”
The Purchasing and Corporate Responsibility Charter is a formal statement of Thales’s intention to ensure that its suppliers apply its Corporate Responsibility policy, comply with the principles outlined in its Code of Ethics, and adhere to the principles of the Global Compact and the OECD.
Thales’s participation in the Global Compact initiatives is voluntary and forms part of a process of continuous improvement designed to ensure that examples of good ethical and governance practices are recognised and promoted as transparently as possible.
In 2009, Thales was specifically cited in the United Nations Global Compact Annual Review, a report on actions by over 6,000 companies and 1,500 civil society partners that demonstrate a commitment to the principles of good governance in human rights, labour standards, environmental protection and the fight against corruption.
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* Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability, develop a global partnership for development
Note to editors
Launched in 2000, the UN Global Compact is both a policy platform and a practical framework for companies that are committed to sustainability and responsible business practices. It seeks to align the business operations and strategies of signatory companies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour standards, environment and anti-corruption. Some 6,000 companies around the world have signed up to the Global Compact. Thales has been a member since 2003 and has adopted the ten principles.
For more information about the Global Compact, visit www.unglobalcompact.org
The publication A Global Compact for Development is available here.
Press contact:
Caroline Philips
Thales, Corporate Communications
Tel. +33 1 57 77 87 26
caroline.philips@thalesgroup.com