Frequently Asked Questions

The Philips Speak Up program consists of a website and a toll-free telephone line through which — if desired and permitted under local law — you can report anonymously an incident relating to the violation of our General Business Principles and related policies. The toll-free telephone line is available 24 hours a day / 7 days a week / 365 days a year. You can also report an incident by filling out the form provided on this website. As long as you report an incident in good faith, you can use Philips Speak Up without any fear of retaliation or disciplinary action.

At Philips we strive to do business in a responsible manner and in line with local laws and regulations. We have a strong set of Business Principles and supporting policies which guide our decision-making at all times. Yet this does not always prevent situations from happening that do not comply with our organization's policies and procedures, or with the law. Therefore Philips maintains the Speak Up program for reporting possible misconduct. Philips Speak Up offers our employees, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders a point of contact to report their concerns. Speaking up will help Philips to live up to its aspiration to be a responsible employer and business partner. It will help Philips to identify and resolve any potential issues, ideally preventing incidents becoming a risk to people's health, security or safety.

Philips Speak Up is run by NAVEX, a third-party supplier that specializes in ethics & compliance programs. This set-up ensures maximum confidentiality, as reports are stored on a database outside the Philips environment. Furthermore, in order to ensure anonymity and confidentiality, the call center does not use any recording devices or simulated electronic voice greetings. Incoming calls are not subject to Caller ID screening.

NAVEX's principal responsibilities are to:

• provide telephone and web-based options through which people can report a concern about the business conduct of a Philips employee, customer, supplier or other stakeholder.
• protect the identity of reporters who wish to remain anonymous.
• provide language support for people who wish to report an incident by phone in their local language.
• send information about the concern to Philips so that it can be followed up effectively.
• enable Philips to communicate with an anonymous reporter by acting as an intermediary to relay follow-up questions and answers as well as information about the resolution of the case.

It is specifically not NAVEX's role to address the concern itself.

You can contact Philips Speak Up, either via the toll-free telephone line or via the website or, if you are a Philips employee, you can contact your local GBP Compliance Officer. Regardless of which option you choose, your complaint will be formally registered in the Philips GBP Complaints Database, and this will always trigger a thorough follow-up procedure. You are, of course, free to choose any of these options.

You can file a report about any concern you have regarding compliance with the Philips General Business Principles. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Environment, Health & Safety (e.g. substance abuse, unsafe working environment or disposal of hazardous materials)
• Potential fraudulent behavior (e.g. corruption, conflict of interest, false reporting or misappropriation of assets)
• Human Resources (e.g. forced labor, discrimination, harassment or employee development)
• IT (e.g. protection of information and use of information and communication assets, violation of e-mail code of conduct or abuse of IT assets)
• Legal (e.g. export control & sanctions, antitrust, healthcare compliance.
• Procurement (e.g. violation of the supply management code of ethics, improper behavior of suppliers).

In some countries, local regulations govern who is allowed to report an incident or the nature of the incident you can report. If this is the case in your country, you will be informed about this when you use Philips Speak Up. For an alternative way to raise your concerns, you will be given a mailing address where you can send a message to the Secretary of the Review Committee General Business Principles, as outlined in the GBP Reporting policy. If you are a Philips employee, you also have the option to contact your local GBP Compliance Officer.

No. Complaints to the Philips Speak Up program can be submitted on an anonymous basis, on condition this is permitted by local law, although this can make it more difficult to make a comprehensive assessment of the complaint.

If you report an incident, we record the following personal data and information:

• Your name, phone number, e-mail address, the best time to contact you, and your relationship with Philips (employee, former employee, vendor, customer or other), if you choose to supply this information.
• The name and other personal data of any persons you name in your report, if you are willing and able to supply this information.
• Details about the incident which you are reporting (time, place, location, circumstances, a description of what has happened, the possible effects on the Philips entity and whether the management is aware of this issue).

Reports are entered directly into the secure Philips GBP Complaints Database server in order to prevent any possible breach of security. The database is hosted and operated by NAVEX on behalf of Philips. The server is located in Germany, ensuring the application of all applicable EU laws regarding data and privacy protection.

For the purpose of processing your report, conducting investigations and, where necessary, initiating sanctions, the personal data and information will be transferred to the GBP Complaints database, from where it will be sent, on a strictly need-to-know basis, to the appropriate persons within Philips. Information relating to the alleged breach, including your identity or the identity of other persons involved in an inquiry or investigation, shall only be disclosed to those functions within the Philips Group (i.e. the investigator(s), the relevant GBP Compliance Officer(s), and members of Corporate Internal Audit as well as the Corporate Legal Department) or outside Philips (e.g. forensic auditors and legal counsel) who require this information to ensure compliance with this GBP Reporting Policy and legal or regulatory obligations, or as input for subsequent judicial proceedings.

NAVEX does not generate or maintain any internal connection logs with IP addresses. There is therefore no information available to link your PC to the use of the Philips Ethics Line. In fact, NAVEX is contractually bound not to try and identify a reporter.

If you feel uncomfortable reporting an incident from your work PC, you can use a PC outside the work environment (e.g. in an internet café, at a friend's house, etc.) to report an incident via Philips Speak Up secure website.

Any incident you report will remain secure and anonymous. An internet portal never identifies a visitor by screen name and the NAVEX system strips away internet addresses so that complete anonymity is always guaranteed. Furthermore, NAVEX is contractually obliged not to try and identify a reporter.

Yes. You will be asked to provide the same information that you would provide in an internet-based report and an interviewer will type your responses directly into the Philips GBP Complaints database. The same level of security and confidentiality will apply if you choose to report an incident in this way.

All complaints that are submitted (worldwide) via Philips Speak Up or through a GBP Compliance Officer are investigated with due care to establish whether or not the complaint is substantiated. Action will only be taken if an allegation proves to be justified; you do not need to worry about being personally at risk if the allegations are unfounded.

Please refer to the investigation guidelines for further information.

Please see the local toll-free numbers published on this website.

No. Philips Speak Up will have available a number of trained communications specialists who will conduct all interviews and prepare all reports. The call center does not utilize any recording devices or simulated electronic voice greetings. Incoming calls are not subject to Caller ID screening.

Incoming calls are identified only as originating from a specific country. This feature enables the communications specialists at the call center in question to answer the call with the appropriate greeting in your local language and to access the appropriate electronic reporting intake form. There are no caller identification systems connected to the call center telephone lines and your call will not be screened.

Prior to the end of an interview or when you report an incident online you will be given a unique code number for identification, callback and feedback purposes. All reporters are encouraged to call back or submit a follow-up report if they have additional information about the incident they have reported, if they observe any other incidents, or if they wish to check on the progress or the resolution of their complaint. This code number system further guarantees the anonymity of callers. Make sure you keep this number safe ‒ it is the only way you can check on the progress of the investigation relating to your complaint. If you want to follow up on your complaint, you can either call the telephone line and quote your personal number or enter the number on the applicable page on this website.

Philips will aim to complete all investigations relating to your report within two months. If you have not heard from us within that timeframe, please follow up on your complaint using the personal code number given to you.

If you file a report anonymously via Philips Speak Up, you will be given a unique user name and asked to choose a password. You can return to Philips Speak Up again either via the internet or by telephone to access the original report and add more details that will help resolve open issues or to answer questions posed by a company representative. We strongly recommend that you return to the site within the time specified to answer company questions. You and the company have now entered into an "anonymous dialogue", which will enable the matter to be resolved, no matter how complex it is.

All correspondence is held in the same strict confidence as the initial report, ensuring complete anonymity.

Philips Speak Up program offers a truly global service. English is used as the primary language and is available for all callers. Other modern language requirements are met with assistance from a professional translation service, which will be engaged shortly after your greeting. We have local language support for the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, El Salvador, Finland, France, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam.

The web-based portal will only be available in English. You can always choose to use the telephone line or contact your local GBP Compliance officer to file a complaint in your local language.