As a company that develops diverse businesses globally, protecting supply chains is a fundamental concept that serves as the foundation of our management and reflects our corporate philosophy of “Living and prospering together with people, society, and the planet, we aim to be a value-generating corporation that contributes to the creation of prosperous societies.

The Toyota Tsusho Group has formulated the Supply Chain Sustainability Behavioral Guidelines, disseminates the guidelines to suppliers, and asks them to put the guidelines into practice. In addition, we strive to assess risks and identify issues through due diligence, and if issues are identified, we work to make improvements through dialogue with suppliers.
Going forward, we will make efforts to build a sustainable supply chain that takes human rights, labor environments, and the natural environment into consideration together with our suppliers.

In 2012, Toyota Tsusho formulated the Supply Chain CSR Behavioral Guidelines to foster a common understanding of sustainability, coordinate CSR initiatives, and realize mutual sustainable growth with suppliers. These guidelines were revised in 2019 and 2022 to clarify the common understanding we have with our suppliers in response to the increased awareness of human rights and environmental issues.
In the 2022 revision, we mainly clarified our stance on human rights and the environment further as well as changed the name of the guidelines to the Supply Chain Sustainability Behavioral Guidelines. The contents of the guidelines have been reported to the Board of Directors meeting.
In line with the 2022 revision, we have notified approximately 6,000 of our suppliers as well as domestic and overseas consolidated subsidiaries of these guidelines and asked them to disseminate these guidelines and put them into practice. We will continue to update the content of these guidelines as appropriate in response to changes in the external environment.

In June 2022, we added a sustainability clause to the template of our Basic Sale and Purchase Agreement. The sustainability clause, which requires suppliers to comply with our Human Rights Policy, Environmental Policy, and Biodiversity Guidelines in line with our Supply Chain Sustainability Behavioral Guidelines, is used in this agreement.

For new investment and loan projects, we investigate the impact that the business will have on the environment and social.

The Toyota Tsusho Group is building a global supply chain; in order to promote business activities that reflect our concerns for human rights, occupational safety and health, the environment, and other fields of risk across our entire supply chain, we have established the Toyota Tsusho Supply Chain Sustainability Behavioral Guidelines. Available in Japanese, English, and Chinese, we share the Behavioral Guidelines with our business partners; we also conduct questionnaires and on-site surveys as part of our supply chain management.

With regard to suppliers who breach our Behavioral Guidelines, we try to understand the reasons for the breach and the present conditions, offer corrective advice and solutions, and ask them for their understanding and compliance in the future.

Referring to the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, we are conducting human rights due diligence covering the supply chain based on the opinions of internal and external experts. We conduct risk assessments in the supply chain, conduct questionnaires of suppliers in high-risk fields and regions, and conduct on-site surveys by a third-party specialized organization to identify, prevent, and mitigate adverse impacts on human rights.

In the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, we conducted a risk assessment of approximately 6,000 suppliers in our group and identified approximately 250 suppliers in fields and regions with high human rights risks.
As of July 2024, we are in the process of questinnnaire surveying approximately 250 suppliers in turn. And four of the approximately 250 suppliers have completed on-site surveys.
We did not discover any serious problems requiring an immediate response from those results.
However, during the on-site surveys, concerns were identified in terms of health and safety management. We have also checked the prompt improvement measures and countermeasures taken by our suppliers on problems raised as concerns at the time of the survey. And we will continue to promote remedial measures through dialogue with suppliers.

Similar to human rights due diligence, we have also started initiatives for environmental due diligence targeting our supply chain.

In the fiscal year ending March 2024, to raise awareness of our environmental approach, we held briefing sessions on our environmental policy for key suppliers in our main businesses.

In the fiscal year ending March 2025, we began examining the design of environmental risk assessments for suppliers and measures to address high-risk suppliers. Going forward, we will identify high-risk suppliers and advance environmental due diligence across the supply chain.

We conducted questionnaires and on-site surveys of suppliers in the apparel industry in fields with high human rights risks. As a result, we did not find any serious human rights issues that require immediate actions.

<Confirmation of Human Rights Initiatives>

We confirmed that when hiring, personnel managers work to comply with laws and regulations by, for example, checking IDs to ensure everyone hired is at least 18 years old, that a plant offers programs for maternity leave and reduced work hours, and that the company shows concern for employee work-life balance.

<Safety-Related Initiatives>

Plants pays attention to worker safety, requiring that workers operating cutting machines wear metal safety gloves to prevent accidents. In quality control, we confirmed that defective products result in a recall, followed by a meeting of a plant’s quality committee to determine the cause, and that customers are then provided with a report.

<Environmental Initiatives>

Offices and plant premises are clean, and even warehouse space is well-organized. We confirmed that paper and fabric scraps leftover from cutting patterns and cloth are recycled as part of a plant’s environmental initiatives.

Our company is a full member of the Japan Center for Engagement and Remedy on Business and Human Rights (JaCER), a general incorporated association that provides a “Dialogue and Remedy Platform” in accordance with the United Nations "Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights". This platform serves as a grievance mechanism that accepts complaints and facilitates appropriate corrective and remedial actions.

Through this membership, we provide remedies to individuals and local communities affected by sustainability-related issues, including human rights and environmental concerns. The grievance mechanism is available to all stakeholders—both internal and external—including employees of the Toyota Tsusho Group and suppliers.

Reports of actual or suspected violations of international codes of conduct and national regulations related to sustainability—including human rights and environmental issues—can be submitted 24/7 via the complaint form on JaCER’s official website.

Upon receiving a report, our company conducts an investigation. If it is determined that our business activities have caused or contributed to adverse impacts, we will take corrective and remedial actions through appropriate procedures and dialogue.

By accepting complaints through a third-party channel, we aim to ensure fairness and transparency in the grievance process, promote dialogue and remedy more effectively than before, and address fundamental human rights issues. The reporting system also guarantees the anonymity of the whistleblower and the confidentiality of the report.

Periodic updates of information in response to the report through JaCER, including the nature of the report and its status, will be disclosed on the website of JaCER while ensuring the anonymity of whistleblowers.

Establishment of an Inquiry Page for Sustainability We have established a system to accept opinions and requests from suppliers through an inquiry page on our website. The opinions and requests we receive are shared with the relevant departments within the company through a specialized organization and are linked to initiatives aimed at solving issues.

We conduct training programs, including e-learning, for all employees to raise awareness about building a sustainable supply chain.