Modern Slavery Transparency Statement

Hitachi Vantara recognizesthe importance of identifying and preventing modern slavery in our business and supply chain. This Statement sets out the steps we have taken to reduce the risk of modern slavery and human trafficking in our global business operations and supply chain as of September 30, 2023 as well as our future plans for the current year and beyond.

Our Business

Hitachi Vantara is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd, a company headquartered in Japan and listed on the Tokyo stock exchange. As part of the global Digital Systems & Services division of Hitachi, Ltd., we focus on delivering Information Technology infrastructure as well as digital and data solutions in order to enable social innovation and allow companies to deliver data-driven solutions for commercial and industrial enterprises.

Our Operations and Supply Chain

Hitachi Vantara’s global business operations focus on product and service offerings.

Working alongside each customer, we apply our industrial and digital capabilities to their data and applications to benefit both business and society. Our customers trust Hitachi Vantara to help them develop new revenue streams, unlock competitive advantages, lower costs, enhance customer experiences and deliver social and environmental value.

A significant portion of the products supplied by Hitachi Vantara are manufactured by Hitachi Group companies, and Hitachi Vantara also sources third-party products from partners.

Hitachi Vantara aims to establish a relationship of trust and integrity with all our suppliers. Our supplier selection and on-boarding procedures include supplier due diligence checks and compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Hitachi takes every effort to act with the utmost respect for human rights by fostering a common awareness of social responsibility in the global business market. In undertaking responsible partnerships with business partners, our qualification process requires suppliers to disclose their external sustainability rating as verified by organizations such as EcoVadis and the Responsible Business Alliance.

Our Approach

We are committed to conducting business ethically and to minimizing the risk of modern slavery or human trafficking in our own business and within our supply chain.

Our commitment and work is strongly supported by Hitachi, Ltd. In 2019, Hitachi, Ltd.’s President and CEO, Toshiaki Higashihara, signed the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s CEO Guide to Human Rights calling for CEOs to go beyond compliance to drive transformative change in corporate respect for human rights.

Our Policies

We continue to apply our company policies:

• The Hitachi Vantara Code of Ethics and Business Conduct: https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/pdf/legal/code-of-ethics-businessconduct.pdf.
• The Hitachi Vantara Whistleblowing and Non-retaliation Policy.
• Hitachi Vantara Partner Code of Ethics and Business Conduct: https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/pdf/other/partner-code-of-ethics-businessconduct.pdf.
• Our written employment practices and procedures support fair recruitment and treatment of employees, a commitment to providing equal opportunities throughout employment, including in the recruitment, training and promotion of employees and eliminating discrimination in the workplace whether on grounds of disability, age, gender, religion, sexual orientation, marriage, race, color, national or ethnic origins.

Risks of Modern Slavery in the Supply Chain

According to the International Labor Organization (2021), the Global Estimates indicated there are 49.6 million victims living in modern slavery on any given day. Hitachi believes that upholding human rights is our responsibility as a global company and essential to conducting business. We refuse to engage in activities that have potential impairments on individual dignity and make continuous efforts to respond to human rights impacts effectively.

Hitachi Vantara’s commitment to the identification and prevention of modern slavery covers various exploitative activities such as forced labor, slavery, child labor, and human trafficking. By promoting awareness and understanding of the risks within our own sector, improving collaboration across our organization, and strengthening supply chain transparency, Hitachi Vantara continues to combat the risk of human trafficking or modern slavery from entering our supply chain.

Our Progress to Date

Over the last year, Hitachi Vantara has:

• Incorporated social practice questionnaires into our RFP process.
• Raised questions regarding sustainability rating by external organizations (e.g. EcoVadis) during the onboarding process of our suppliers. 
• Reiterated current business standard policies through online correspondence with existing suppliers. For new suppliers, Hitachi Vantara provides current business standard policies and requires a registration completion email. 
• Improved our due diligence process for assessing and addressing risks in supply chain using a risk-based approach and identifying high-risk suppliers as appropriate.
• Reviewed the Hitachi Vantara Code of Ethics and Business Conduct, Hitachi Vantara Partner Code of Ethics and Business Conduct, and Hitachi Vantara contract templates and revised these documents where we saw opportunities to enhance the modern slavery compliance of our suppliers and partners. 
• Continue to integrate our acquired companies’ supply chain operations into Hitachi Vantara’s global process to increase procurement governance.
• Using a risk-based approach, we have continued to incorporate learnings related to modern slavery, unfair labor practices, and the identification of any association with trafficking into our updated partner due diligence reports.
• Continue to enhance our processes to evaluate supplier compliance with Hitachi Vantara standards for preventing trafficking and modern slavery.
• Continue to enhance our staff and wider training to address sourcing procedures and supplier due diligence processes, equipping our staff with greater knowledge and ability to identify the risk of modern slavery and how to address it through the supply chain transparency requirements. Training supports the effective implementation of our enhanced sourcing procedures by equipping our employees who work within supply chain at Hitachi Vantara with the skills and knowledge to undertake a risk-based assessment aimed at identifying and mitigating the risk of modern slavery within our supply chain.

Our Future Plans

Over the coming year and beyond Hitachi Vantara will focus on: 

• Implementing an advanced technology system to enhance our due diligence process and to identify high risk suppliers throughout the Supplier Life Cycle Program.
• Requiring suppliers to certify that materials incorporated into their products comply with laws regarding modern slavery and human trafficking of the country or countries in which they are doing business.
• Finalizing a supplier audit program to monitor indications of modern slavery.

Review

The above constitutes Hitachi Vantara’s modern slavery and human trafficking Statement. The term “Hitachi Vantara” as used herein refers to Hitachi Vantara LLC and its wholly owned subsidiaries including, without limitation, Hitachi Vantara Limited (a UK based subsidiary) as well as Hitachi Vantara Asia Pacific Pty Limited and Hitachi Vantara Australia Pty Limited (Australian based subsidiaries and reporting entities) and Hitachi Vantara New Zealand Limited (a New Zealand subsidiary which is wholly owned by Hitachi Vantara Australia Pty Limited). This Statement is made pursuant to the requirements of section 54(1) of the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015, Part 2 of the Australian Modern Slavery Act 2018, and The California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, and has been approved by the relevant board of directors of Hitachi Vantara and its subsidiaries as applicable. All necessary consultation related to this Statement has taken place between Hitachi Vantara and its subsidiaries.

Signed by:

Sheila Rohra
Chief Executive Officer, Hitachi Vantara