BIC_REGISTRATION_DOCUMENT_2017

OUR ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND SOCIETAL RESPONSIBILITY The BIC Sustainable Development Program

The BIC Panel 2.1.5.3. Challenges and approach ♦

improvements that could contribute to the action plans, express expectations for the future and formulate opinions on the Group’s Sustainable Development Program. BIC Group wants to seize the opportunity offered by the new commitment program “Writing the Future, Together” to reassess the way it interacts with stakeholders. Reflection in this direction was initiated in 2017 and will continue in 2018. The panel members were therefore not consulted on this point in 2017.

To have an outside point of view on its entire sustainable development approach, BIC has organized a panel of four stakeholders since 2005, including two customers, one investor analyst and one supplier. Each year, individual interviews were held to enable members of the panel to comment on the Company’s strategy and practices, suggest

CUSTOMER EVALUATION OF THE CSR APPROACH AND OF THE PRODUCTS’ ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL D PERFORMANCE

BIC Group distinguishes its “customers” ( i.e. companies, administrations and office supply distributors, as well as major mass-market retailers) from its “consumers,” the end-users of its products. (The consumers’ expectations are discussed in section 2.2.2.). Customers are becoming increasingly demanding in terms of the environmental and social performance of the products they buy, as well as the evaluation of their suppliers’ sustainable development Policies. They submit many questionnaires addressing increasingly specific and diversified topics. Their questions concern environmental management policies, systems for collecting and recycling waste, environmental advantages and product labeling, compliance with product quality and safety regulations, the local origin of products, respect for human rights, etc. Retailers and wholesalers also want their collaborators in the distribution chain to show how they are helping reduce the global environmental and social impact of their operations. BIC Group has participated in Walmart’s Sustainability Index (for shavers and writing instruments), which assesses suppliers’ sustainability performance according to indicators established by the Sustainability Consortium. BIC also carries out specific reporting for Walmart every year through the CDP Supply Chain. In addition to responding to its customers’ specific questionnaires on its CSR approach, BIC discusses all pertinent topics with them, including sustainable development issues, as part of its commercial relations. In certain cases these relations can take the form of partnerships. All the professional functions involved (marketing, communication, sales) are equipped with the tools they need to explain BIC’s Sustainable Development Program. BIC Group’s eco-design approach (see page 55) and stringent product safety standards (see page 60) give its products an advantage to meet the current societal trends.

Responsible lobbying and 2.1.5.4.

BIC has no tradition of making public statements on major industrial or societal topics. However, the Group does participate in sector dialog and seeks to exert its influence in four key areas that are directly related to its commitments as a responsible corporation: product safety, the fight against counterfeiting, the fight against unfair competition and environmental protection. BIC carries out its lobbying primarily as a member of various organizations, participating as needed in their working groups: French, European and American professional federations; ● Standardization committees for toys, lighters and writing ● instruments; French watchdog groups, intra-sector associations. ● BIC is a member of the executive committees of the main industry associations, and in some cases, has been for many years. Lobbying activities can also take the form of direct contacts with the pertinent authorities. The Group’s subsidiaries also cultivate direct relations with the national authorities in their countries of operation. However, the Group has no professional lobbyists on its payroll.

participation in sector working groups

Challenges ♦ BIC Group considers lobbying to be a positive action, making good use of its industrial expertise and knowledge of the market in its relationships with the public authorities. For the Group, lobbying is quite simply the communication, targeted towards decision-makers and important players on key issues, of the lessons learned from its experience to help establish the necessary balances. Its purpose is to help improve the effectiveness of the authorities’ regulatory actions, to improve the safety of the products available on the market, thus improving consumer safety and ensuring fair competition. In this way, BIC seeks to be recognized and consulted as a stakeholder in all decisions and actions that affect its operations. Approach ♦ Participation in sector dialog BIC Group pursues its lobbying activities in a responsible, ethical way to ensure that the legal and regulatory decisions, as well as the actions undertaken to enforce the rules, have realistic and effective technical and economic consequences, maintaining or restoring fair and honest relations among all the market players.

51

BIC GROUP - 2017 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT