BIC_REGISTRATION_DOCUMENT_2017

OUR ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND SOCIETAL RESPONSIBILITY Responsibility concerning our products

Perspectives ♦ In 2018, the Group will launch three inclusive distribution pilot projects in different countries. Goals will be defined for each project in terms of both economic viability and social impact, in order to implement a system for marketing profitable, and therefore long-term, products.

supplies millions of products while maintaining consistent quality, checked through a vast array of tests and in compliance with national and international safety requirements. The policies for product safety The Product Safety Policy, introduced in 2001, specifies the 10 commitments adopted to ensure that the products developed and manufactured by BIC are safe for human health and the environment. They include: a systematic program of pre-market product qualification testing; ● a global approach, resulting in products that often exceed the ● safety requirements of local markets; expecting BIC suppliers to comply with safety standards; ● 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. ●

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PRODUCT SAFETY

Challenges ♦ BIC Group seeks to offer safe products that meet all standards and consumer expectations. This entails the integration of consumers’ health and safety concerns in the design and production of its products. Consumers want to be assured that the products they buy are free of certain substances and safe for their health and the environment. BIC Group also strives to strictly comply with all regulations and the increasingly stringent, constantly evolving restrictions concerning product usage and chemical substances. Approach ♦ The topics of product safety and the protection of consumer health are of strategic importance for the Group. With the primary goal of offering safe, standard-compliant products, BIC Group integrates regulatory compliance and risk management concerning product safety into its strategy through a body of documents defining its commitment, and through strict processes conceived to ensure that it markets only safe, compliant products. As a result, each day, BIC

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: D

All BIC® lighter plants are ISO 9001 certified production plants. BIC® lighter products meet or exceed the ISO 9994 international safety 1. standard requirements; BIC is an active member of various organizations (such as the European Federation of Lighter Manufacturers, working groups and 2. 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; Each BIC® lighter undergoes more than 50 separate automatic quality checks. Additionally, BIC conducts regular post-market product tests 3. of its lighters; BIC continuously develops exclusive technology to ensure the quality and safety of all BIC® lighters, including factors like flame height and 4. stability, extinction time, and a reservoir that can resist extreme drop tests and exposure to elevated temperatures; BIC has an integrated production process, designs and develops much of its own machinery and uses all the latest manufacturing 5. technologies, from basic materials right down to the packaged product; BIC employees are all guided by three principles: Method-Precision-Discipline. Each employee in the lighter plants spends nearly 25% of 6.

his or her time checking product conformity and proper operation of the control equipment; BIC has been committed to sustainable, long-term safety programs for over 30 years. 7.

Regulatory monitoring and compliance

lists defined by NGOs. The means of interaction between the product safety teams and other teams were also expanded to improve the category teams’ knowledge of regulatory developments in the medium term (two to five years), as well as potential consequences, substitutions to be made, marketing plans, etc. The BIC Group, as a member or Executive Committee member of numerous sectoral

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 2017, the monitoring system was extended to include non-official

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BIC GROUP - 2017 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT