Information on materials procurement

Hitachi Metals Procurement Policy Basic Stance
on Materials Procurement

Open and Global Procurement

Our procurement activities shall be based on the principle of free and open competition, without consideration for nationality, corporate scale or past performance.

Fair and Impartial Transactions

The selection of suppliers shall be based on fair and impartial evaluations, taking into consideration quality, price, deadline, technological capacity, business reliability, service and other elements of economic logic. No employee shall accept gifts or personal benefits from suppliers.

Building Partnerships

Transactions with all suppliers shall be done from a fair and equal position. We shall make every effort to uphold and improve mutual understanding and relations of trust from a long-term perspective so that we can build partnerships capable of supporting mutual growth and development on a sustained basis.

Legal Compliance

Our procurement activities shall comply fully with all relevant laws and regulations, and in accordance with existing social standards. There shall be no relationships with anti-social forces, which pose a threat to the safety and peace of society.

Consideration for Human Rights, Workplace Safety and Health

We shall carry out our procurement activities with uncompromising regard for human rights, workplace safety and health. Suppliers shall likewise be required to make firm commitments to upholding human rights, workplace safety and health.

Preservation of Confidential Information

The confidential information of suppliers we acquire during procurement activities shall be handled with discretion equal to how we treat our company’s own information. We shall not disclose this data to third parties or use it for any purpose other than what we have stated without the consent of the supplier(s) in question.

Conservation of the Environment

We shall place priority on procuring materials from suppliers devoted to the active pursuit of environmental conservation, and on materials characterized by low environmental loads.

*Response to the Conflict Minerals Issue

In August 2012, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted and issued a final rule obliging companies with securities registered in the United States that use any conflict minerals in their products to report this to the SEC pursuant to Article 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which was signed into law in July 2010. Conflict minerals include columbite-tantalite, cassiterite, gold, and wolframite, the four minerals determined to be financing conflicts that are produced in the Democratic Republic of Congo (the "DRC") and adjoining countries (together the "DRC countries"). The goal of this law is to cut off revenues from armed groups that use violence and violate human rights in the conflict-ridden DRC countries.

Because Hitachi, Ltd. has not been listed in the United States since March 2012, we have no legal obligation to report. However, we strive to ensure that we do not, directly or indirectly, abet the human rights violations identified in the DRC countries. To continue our responsible procurement practices, we are working with Group companies, suppliers, and the industry association JEITA to strengthen supply chain transparency and to ensure that the minerals we procure do not finance or benefit armed groups committing human rights violations.