BIC - 2018 Registration document

OUR ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND SOCIETAL RESPONSIBILITY

Responsibility concerning our products [NFPS]

incorporating safety considerations from the earliest stages ● of product design, including toxicological evaluations and tests to assess the products’ potential physical and chemical hazards; the anticipation of product safety requirements through active ● regulatory monitoring at national and international levels, in close cooperation with industry associations that share their members’ expertise with the appropriate authorities; the integration of innovations in product safety processes; ●

building awareness among all stakeholders about safety and ● the appropriate use of BIC® products; carefully reviewing all incidents involving the safety of BIC® ● products; appropriate measures for product recall in the case of an ● incident; the implementation of this Policy by a Product Safety ● Department. BIC has also adopted seven specific commitments to ensure the quality and safety of its lighters (see below).

THE BIC GROUP’S SEVEN COMMITMENTS TO ENSURE THE QUALITY AND SAFETY OF ITS LIGHTERS

1. All BIC ® lighter plants are ISO 9001 certified production plants. BIC ® lighter products meet or exceed the ISO 9994 international safety standard requirements. 2. BIC is an active member of various organizations (such as the European Federation of Lighter Manufacturers, working groups and technical committees for ISO and CEN and numerous other national standardization bodies) to provide the latest and most reliable quality and safety information to its customers. 3. Each BIC ® lighter undergoes more than 50 separate automatic quality checks. Additionally, BIC conducts regular post-market product tests of its lighters. 4. BIC continuously develops exclusive technology to ensure the quality and safety of all BIC ® lighters, including factors like flame height and stability, extinction time, and a reservoir that can resist extreme drop tests and exposure to elevated temperatures. 5. BIC has an integrated production process, designs and develops much of its own machinery and uses all the latest manufacturing technologies, from basic materials right down to the packaged product. 6. BIC employees are all guided by three principles: Method-Precision-Discipline. Each employee in the lighter plants spends nearly 25% of his or her time checking product conformity and proper operation of the control equipment. 7. BIC has been committed to sustainable, long-term safety programs for over 30 years.

Regulatory monitoring and compliance BIC Group has a comprehensive monitoring system based on formalized regulatory watch procedures in addition to internal and external resources – in particular, the product safety teams’ specific knowledge of BIC ® products, their components and the materials used. In 2018, a BIC Watch List was created. With this list, the Group is extending the monitoring system to include non-official lists defined by NGOs, future regulations and controversial substances that are not already banned. The Group always strives to anticipate the substitution of regulated substances. By its very nature open-ended, this Watch List will be expanded to include requirements and controversies reported from outside of Europe. The BIC Group, as a member or Executive Committee member of numerous sectoral organizations and industry associations  (1) , actively participates in regulatory watch and interactions with local regulatory authorities, an important activity for staying abreast of new requirements.

Marketing compliant products that are safe for human health and the environment To guarantee consumer safety, the BIC Group category Directors are responsible for marketing safe products that comply with regulations. To this end, they rely on: BIC Group’s commitment to ensure that its products comply ● with regulations and are safe for health and the environment (see above); monitoring by dedicated regulatory watch teams (see above); ● a product safety qualification process for all products before ● they are launched in the market (see below). This solid, longstanding organization is constantly being adapted and expanded to take changing regulations into account. The Leadership Team and management teams are systematically kept abreast of new developments in product safety and regulations.

In particular, the BIC Group is a member of EWIMA (European Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association), WIMA (Writing Instrument (1) Manufacturers Association), ACMI (Art & Creative Materials Institute), TIE (Toy Industries of Europe), EFLM (European Federation of Lighter Manufacturers), and the Fédération des Entreprises de la Beauté in France.

83

• BIC GROUP - 2018 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT •