Modern Slavery Act Statement
INTRODUCTION FROM CHER WANG
HTC Corporation aims to bring brilliance to life. As a global
innovator in smart mobile and virtual reality devices and technology,
HTC has produced award-winning products and industry firsts since its
inception in 1997 and is now leading the VR industry with the HTC VIVE
line of products, content and platforms. Our mission to combine
technology with our humanity to unleash the imagination is at the
heart of everything we do, inspiring best-in-class design and
game-changing mobile and virtual reality experiences to make life
better for consumers around the world.
This statement is made on behalf of HTC Corporation and its group of
companies (“HTC”) pursuant to s.54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and
sets out the steps that HTC has taken and continues to take to combat
modern slavery, encompassing slavery, servitude, forced labour and
human trafficking, within the business or supply chain.
HTC respects human rights and workplace rights and has a
zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery. Through our integrated
Environment, Social and Governance (“ESG”) program, we are fully
committed to acting ethically and with integrity and transparency in
all business dealings, and to putting effective systems and controls
in place to safeguard against illegal or unethical activity taking
place across our business.
ORGANISATION STRUCTURE
HTC is based and listed in Taiwan, and has business operation centres
in Taipei, Taiwan; Taoyuan, Taiwan; Berkeley, USA; Slough, UK;
Beijing, China and Shanghai, China. Further details on the structure
and performance of HTC Corporation can be found in the Company’s
Annual Report 2024, quarterly earnings, events and presentations,
which are available on the HTC website
here.
OUR SUPPLY CHAIN
Our supply chains include the sourcing of service providers including
but not limited to manufacturing, sales, marketing and aftersales. We
operate a comprehensive supplier policy and maintain an approved
supplier list. We conduct due diligence on all suppliers before
accepting them as an approved supplier. This due diligence includes an
online search to ensure that the particular organisation has never
been convicted of offenses relating to modern slavery, and regular
on-site audits, which include a review of working conditions.
We introduced the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) Risk Assessment
Platform in 2023 to assess high-risk suppliers through information
such as supplier country risks, manufacturing processes and product
categories, as well as the RBA Self-Assessment Questionnaire. We also
encourage suppliers to actively implement the Validated Assessment
Program to expand the usage scope of audit results and enhance overall
industry responsibility and compliance.
In addition to the above, as part of our contract with suppliers, we
endeavour to require that they confirm to us that:
-
They have taken steps to eradicate modern slavery within their
business.
- They hold their own suppliers to account over modern slavery.
-
For UK based suppliers. They pay their employees at least the
national minimum wage / national living wage (as appropriate).
-
For international suppliers. They pay their employees any prevailing
minimum wage applicable within their country of operations.
-
We may terminate the contract at any time should any instances of
modern slavery come to light.
-
All first tier approved suppliers are required to sign and comply
with our HTC Supplier Code of Conduct.
OUR POLICIES ON SLAVERY AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING
As a member of the RBA, HTC follows RBA guidelines in formulating the
“HTC Supplier Code of Conduct”, which is designed to protect workers’
human rights, health and safety, and the environment, including the
prohibition of any form of forced labour, slavery or trafficking of
people. We are committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery
or human trafficking in our supply chains or in any part of our
business. We are working towards implementing policies that will
reflect our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all
our business relationships and to implementing and enforcing effective
systems and controls to ensure modern slavery and human trafficking is
not taking place anywhere in our supply chains.
STAFF MANAGEMENT
We attach great importance to the human rights of our global
workforce, and the principles of equality and anti-discrimination are
at HTC’s core. We provide equal and fair employment opportunities for
all employees. We adhere to all applicable laws, and there is zero
tolerance for any form of discrimination.
NO CHILD LABOUR
HTC strictly prohibits the use of child labour in our own facilities
as well as those of our manufacturing suppliers. We mandate proof of
age for employment to ensure we meet all local labour laws and the
legal requirements of the countries where we operate.
DUE DILIGENCE PROCESSES FOR SLAVERY AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING
As part of our initiative to identify and mitigate risk, we have in
place systems to:
-
Identify and assess potential risk areas in our supply chains.
-
Mitigate the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our
supply chains.
- Monitor potential risk areas in our supply chains.
- Protect whistle-blowers.
SUPPLIER ADHERENCE TO OUR VALUES AND ETHICS
We have zero tolerance for slavery and human trafficking. To ensure
all those in our supply chain and contractors comply with our values,
we have in place a supply chain compliance programme. This consists of
the HTC Supplier Code of Conduct that all our suppliers must agree to
and observe. We conduct annual supplier review compliance audits on
our suppliers according to the HTC Supplier Code of Conduct, to ensure
our suppliers conform to their ESG responsibilities. Labour rights
comprise the main part of the audit. In addition to the on-site audit,
our auditing team also offers coaching and consultation and provides
the suppliers with all the latest information during the audit
process, to give them every opportunity for growth. This process also
applies to the new suppliers’ approval process.
TRAINING
HTC’s Code of Conduct is a guideline to provide high ethical standards
for all employees in conducting HTC’s business activities. To ensure a
thorough understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human
trafficking in our supply chains and our business, we maintain a
training programme in place that will provide training to our
procurement staff. We also require our business partners to provide
training to their staff, suppliers, and providers.
We offer the RBA e-Learning Academy training system to encourage
suppliers to learn synchronously. At the same time, we continue to
follow up on the changes and updates to the terms of the RBA Code of
Conduct, and release them to suppliers in an appropriate manner,
providing interpretation of relevant content and consulting services
for the implementation of improvement plans.
OUR EFFECTIVENESS IN COMBATTING SLAVERY AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING
By using HTC audit tools, we can assess how effective we have been in
ensuring that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in any
part of our business or supply chains. Audits of suppliers are ongoing
to ensure none use any type of forced, prison, indentured or bonded
(including debt bondage) labour. Except as required by their contracts
of employment, the suppliers’ employees are free to enter and exit the
manufacturing facilities and the accommodation provided by the
suppliers.
FURTHER STEPS
Following a review of the effectiveness of the steps we have taken
this year, we intend to take the following further steps to combat
slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains:
-
HTC’s Supplier Code of Conduct describes our corporate ESG
responsibility requirements for our suppliers. HTC will assess
compliance to these requirements and will consider the suppliers’
progress in meeting these requirements and their ongoing performance
in making supplier selections;
- Enhance supply chain management;
-
Continue to carry out Supply Chain ESG compliance audits on all our
supply chain partners where possible; and
-
Introduce the RBA risk assessment tool to further improve the risk
assessment of our suppliers and effectively reduce risks.
This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery
Act 2015 and constitutes our slavery and human trafficking statement
for the financial year ending 31st December 2025.
You can view signed PDF version of this statement
here.
Cher Wang
Chairwoman
HTC Corporation
