JBS held their first compliance meeting, in partnership with J&F, at the Company’s headquarters in São Paulo. The event was attended by around 150 participants, including team members from JBS and from other group companies, in addition to market professionals, who gathered to debate challenges and trends of compliance in Brazil. The Global CEO of JBS, Gilberto Tomazoni, and the Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors, Jeremiah O’Callaghan, were also in attendance. Some of the Brazil’s top compliance professionals exchanged ideas and experiences over eight hours, in an effort to enhance their knowledge of compliance programs and good corporate governance practices. Another topic discussed was the role of compliance in fighting corruption.
The Company also focused its activities on training and education for team members, aimed at reinforcing guidelines and ratifying a culture of compliance. A series of training sessions on the Code of Conduct and Ethics were held, with 116,645people participating, which accounts for 98.4% of JBS team in Brazil and 37,432 training hours.
Anti-corruption training was held in Brazil for administrative staff, with 16,075 people, or 94% staff participation, taking part in 8,084 training hours. Single-topic training for specific teams was also developed, such as competition compliance for those working directly with public sales.
To build on existing policies, JBS revised the Promotional Items, Gifts, Travel and Entertainment Policy and a new policy, the Third Party Due Diligence Policy, was launched.
Throughout the year, over 9,000 reputational analyses were done on suppliers, including not only a historical assessment of partners, but also of their respective associates, making contracts more reliable. This was done using a tool developed by JBS in partnership with an international consulting firm, allowing for a comprehensive analysis of partners’ reputations.
The Company also invests in the Supplier Training Program. The 10 largest carriers with whom the Company holds contracts for transportation went through a pilot program in 2019. With this training, they understand and are committed to the rules and policies of JBS in Brazil, as well as what is expected of them as suppliers. The goal of the initiative, which is still under development, is to continue in 2020 with the entire value chain to encourage transparency and integrity as strategic elements of the business.
The Company has also adopted internal policies, which must be adopted at every Company unit. The Global Policy on Conflicts of Interest was approved and implemented worldwide. The Anti- Corruption Policy is in the approval phase and should be implemented in 2020. The Company also carried out a review of existing controls and created new controls to verify compliance with internal rules and scenarios for any breach of rules.
