FOCUS AREA #3

Corporate Citizenship and Sustainable Business Practices

Bittium operates as a responsible corporate citizen within the surrounding society. The company is a reliable local partner and employer. It engages in active and open dialogue with its stakeholders, acts in accordance with its harmonized operating principles, creates added value for its shareholders and seeks working methods and solutions that promote sustainable development.

Goals	Action	Performance Measures	Examples of Results
Anti-corruption	Internal anti-corruption training	Rate of participation in training	The new mandatory digital self- study module accomplished by 39 new employees.
	Incorporating anti-corruption principles into cooperation agreements	Percentage of agreements	The requirements for cooperation were published on Bittium´s website.
	Using an external background evaluation tool to identify corruption or other ambiguities among business partners	Observations of ambiguities or anti-corruption activities, Number of observations per year	No observations during 2020.
Responsible corporate citizenship	Bittium actively involves in the development of local business and supporting schools and educational institutions	Participation in various working groups, supporting non-profit organizations	8 cooperation projects in progress with educational and research institutes in 2020.
		Number of visits to educational institutions	Visits not organized in 2020 due to Covid-19 pandemic.
	The export control system observed on perspective of internal processes´ development	Change in the export control application	Functional and transparent export control application process with improved efficiency and scoping of applications.
	Compliance with laws and regulations and their implementation	Monitoring laws and regulations that are of relevance to Bittium	In 2020, dozens of new and updated laws and regulations implemented.
Developing stakeholder cooperation	Further improving Bittium´s understanding of stakeholder views and expectations	Developing even more open dialogue between stakeholders	Stakeholder cooperation methods reformed to meet pandemic needs, e.g. by organizing webinars.

Bittium continuously monitors the impacts of its operations and the added value it creates for different stakeholders. The company´s key stakeholders include shareholders, customers, employees, partners and other suppliers as well as the public sector. More information on Bittium´s stakeholder cooperation is provided under ‘Sustainability management´.

Good Corporate Governance Guides Sustainability

The management of Bittium Corporation is governed by the Articles of Association, Finnish law and Bittium´s governance guidelines. Bittium observes the Finnish Corporate Governance Code 2020 published by the Securities Market Association, which entered into force on 1 January 2020. Bittium´s Corporate Governance Statement is available at www.bittium.com.

GRC (governance, risk management and compliance) refers to the skills and abilities that enable an organization to meet its targets, address uncertainties and operate with integrity. Bittium´s GRC measures also include the framework for internal control, which begins with the company´s core values and extends all the way to the principles set by the Board of Directors.

Export Control

With respect to customers, export control constitutes an important part of Bittium´s operations. Effective export control is a precondition for successful cooperation with the authorities as well as the customers. Bittium is one of the first companies to include an export control system as part of its management system. The company monitors closely the changing legislation in different market areas. In 2020, the company´s export control-related internal processes were developed further. For instance, Bittium cooperates with the authorities in prior declarations, which has resulted in smoother processing of the company´s applications.

Corporate governance, risk management and compliance at Bittium

Alignment between the Focus Area and the UN´s Sustainable Development Goals

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

12.6 Encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle.

12.7 Promote public procurement practices that are sustainable, in accordance with national policies and priorities.

We set an example by reporting on the planning, implementation and results of our sustainability actions in our annual sustainability report. We take a systematic approach to the development of our sustainability efforts and the reliability of our reporting.
We cooperate with our customers to ensure that we can take sustainability into consideration in our products and operations to the greatest possible extent, including environmental responsibility.
We publish more detailed quality, environmental and data security requirements for our partners on our public website.

Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.

16.5 Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms.

We are committed to the prevention of corruption in accordance with our anti-corruption statement and we report corruption incidents as part of our sustainability reporting.

Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

17.17 Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships.

We engage in dialogue with our customers and partners regarding the solutions we develop so that we can produce appropriate and resource-efficient products that benefit our customers and society while reducing waste.