Initiatives in Key Areas

Following the results of its annual risk assessment, Panasonic has identified the possibility of violations of antitrust laws and export control regulations as critical risks that could potentially cause severe damage to Panasonic. Accordingly, Panasonic has embarked on initiatives to strengthen compliance with these laws throughout the Panasonic group.

We have steadily promoted "export control" activities for the past 20 years through our network of export control managers/coordinators, which functions like a nervous system throughout our businesses. However, due to the escalation of international tensions, expansion of our business in emerging countries, and the accelerated global restructuring of business operations, we now need to implement more effective and efficient initiatives on a worldwide basis. For this reason, the three following activities have been undertaken from the viewpoints of "fail-safe", "efficiency", and "expertise handover": 1) Standardize operational processes, such as determination of classification for controlled items and transaction screening, that have up to now been conducted by each business domain using its own method, and incorporate those processes into the company's IT systems, group wide; 2) train the responsible employees; and 3) strictly comply with the rules in accordance with the group-wide policy. Our slogan for this compliance initiative is "from 'Export Control' to 'Global Security and Export Control'".