Preamble

We, the private sector of the East African Community, have developed this Code of Conduct for Business in the East African Community together with its Rules & Procedures as an initiative aimed at enhancing ethical business practices in the areas of Human Rights, Labour Standards, Environment, and Anti-corruption.

We, the members, encourage our peers to join the initiative by signing up to the Code together with its Rules & Procedures. It does not replace, but complements individual company’s Codes of Ethics and other existing national and international level codes.

Our commitment to these ethical standards, guides our interaction with our stakeholders, that is, our employees; our shareholders and investors; users of our products and services; our suppliers, contractors and agents; our societies; our competitors and our national states and governments; the East African Community; and the environment.

We reaffirm that the private sector is the engine of growth and socio-economic development for the EAC. This Code provides common values to support regional economic integration and trade for prosperity in the EAC.

The Code

By committing to this Code, we pledge to treat our stakeholders with respect, to run our businesses responsibly, to act in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and to be actively involved in promoting integrity and corruption prevention.

East African Community

• Respect: We respect the EAC, all its organs, and the common vision and values it represents.

• Responsibility: We commit to promoting the East African Community’s goals by applying the highest ethical standards to our business operations and relations.

• Compliance: We comply with all laws and regulations of the EAC and its individual member states, whether doing business at national level or across the EAC.

• Integrity and anti-corruption: We do not participate in, or induce any unethical practice while doing business in the member states and across the region. We collaborate and support the EAC in promoting ethics and anti-corruption.

Our Workplace

• Respect: We respect the human rights and dignity of all our employees and do not tolerate unfair discrimination, exploitation or favoritism.

• Responsibility: We take responsibility for providing decent, safe and healthy work environments for our employees, and for developing their talent.

• Compliance: We commit to complying with prevailing legislation, good governance, industrial guidelines and international standards.

• Integrity and anti-corruption: We uphold ethical behavior and commit to institute internal control systems and build a culture of corruption-free business practices.

Our Shareholders and Investors

• Respect: We hold our shareholders and investors in high esteem and value their contribution to our business.

• Responsibility: We strive to give our shareholders and investors a fair return on their investments and protect their investments as entrusted to us. We will avoid using insider information in a manner that is detrimental to other stakeholders.

• Compliance: We comply with principles of good corporate governance.

• Integrity and anti-corruption: We uphold integrity and refrain from unethical practices that compromise the investments made by our shareholders and other investors.

Our Consumers

• Respect: We recognise our consumers as stakeholders, value their feedback and refrain from misleading or exploiting them.

• Responsibility: We aim to provide products and services that meet high standards of safety, quality and reliability, and build trust in our brands. We take full responsibility for products that fail to meet the required standards.

• Compliance: We comply with consumer protection laws and standards applicable in the EAC member states, and ensure that our products and services observe health, environmental and safety requirements.

• Integrity and anti-corruption: We strive to uphold the highest standards of ethics and professionalism in the provision of goods and services.

Our Suppliers, Contractors and Agents

• Respect: We value our suppliers, contractors and agents as partners and will engage in fair operating practices that will promote mutual respect.

• Responsibility: We uphold good corporate governance to promote equity and fair competition. We will ensure that the securing of services is done with high ethical standard and results to good quality end products/services

• Compliance: We comply with all legal and contractual obligations and uphold high ethical standards in procurement and other processes. We insist on the same commitment from our suppliers and agents.

• Integrity and anti-corruption: We commit to refrain from corrupt practices that can harm relationships with our business partners. We actively encourage our suppliers, contractors and agents to adopt ethical business practices.

Our Competitors

• Respect: We treat our competitors respectfully recognising their contribution to the industry.

• Responsibility: We commit to engage in fair competition practices within our particular industries and sectors.

• Compliance: We comply with competition laws and regulations.

• Integrity and anti-corruption: We commit to avoid behavior that undermines fair competition rules.

Our Community

• Respect: We recognise and respect cultural and social norms of the communities in which we operate and embrace diversity.

• Responsibility: We strive to serve in the public’s best interest and hold ourselves accountable for the impact of our operations on local communities.

• Compliance: We observe the ethical norms of the communities affected by our operations.

• Integrity and anti-corruption: We engage with communities and other stakeholders in creating a corruption-free society.

Our Governments

• Respect: We respect our elected governments, all organs of the member states and the rule of law.

• Responsibility: We do not participate in, or induce public officers to engage in any unethical practice.

• Compliance: We comply with all laws and regulations within the EAC and in the individual member states.

• Integrity and anti-corruption: We collaborate and support our governments in promoting ethics and anti-corruption.

Environment

• Respect: We respect our natural environment, ecosystems and biodiversity and acknowledge their importance for society and their value to our businesses.

• Responsibility: We make responsible use of natural resources and strive to minimize the adverse ecological impacts of all business activities to achieve environmental sustainability.

• Compliance: We comply with environmental laws and regulations and implement environmentally sustainable practices. We commit to sustainable development and full life cycle responsibility for our products/services.

• Integrity and anti-corruption: We refrain from unethical practices that can degrade our natural environment and promote environmental protection throughout our value chain.

Implementation

We demonstrate our commitment by creating policies, procedures and structures to implement the values and obligations of this Code in our companies, and by reporting annually on our implementation of this Code. It is the company management’s responsibility to ensure that employees understand and comply with the Code.