The Code of Ethics and Conduct (Code) is a document that encompasses a set of principles governing IHT’s activities and a set of ethical and deontological rules to be observed by the respective members of the Corporate Bodies and all Employees in their relations with Clients, Suppliers, and other Stakeholders.
It is also intended for third parties contracted by or acting on behalf of IHT, in cases where IHT may be held responsible for their actions.
The Code was created with the fundamental objective of:
- a) Sharing the principles that guide IHT’s activities and the ethical and deontological rules that should guide the behaviour of all Employees and Corporate Bodies, and promoting the adoption of ethical and deontological principles and rules by our partners;
- b) Promoting and encouraging the adoption of the principles of conduct and behavioural rules defined in this Code, particularly the Company’s values in the relationships of employees, Corporate Bodies, and other Stakeholders;
- c) Consolidating IHT’s institutional image.
MONITORING THE APPLICATION OF THE CODE
Monitoring the application of this Code shall be carried out by the Ethics and Conduct Committee, or another body that it may appoint for this purpose. The presentation of any case or complaint to the Ethics and Conduct Committee will be protected by strict confidentiality and should be made through the email:
VISION, MISSION, VALUES, AND PRINCIPLES OF CONDUCT
To be an excellent company in the field of construction solutions, recognised by society for always being on the side of the solution and for diligently contributing to a better world.
o accelerate the restoration of harmony between the human species and nature through the design, production, and marketing of innovative construction solutions.
… cultivating a team spirit based on motivation, respect, and training, ensuring the happiness of employees and their commitment to the goal of creating a better world …
… ensuring the sustainability of natural resources and promoting environmental awareness while guaranteeing products compatible with quality of life …
… engaging in a daily fight against all types of waste …
… ensuring the best quality-price ratio for customers and exceeding their expectations in terms of usability, durability, and service …
Ethics, Honesty, and Seriousness.
Rigour, Competence, and Fulfilment of commitments.
Simplicity, Humility, and Creativity – “What is simple is genius.”
Tenacity and Resilience – “We cannot control the wind, but we can adjust the sails.”
Dynamism and Adaptability.
The customer is the reason for our existence.
Do it right the first time.
Continuously improve the organisation’s performance.
Comply with applicable legislation and other legal requirements.
Prevent pollution by ensuring the control and monitoring of environmental aspects.
Prevent injuries and health impairments by ensuring the control of occupational risks.
These values should be evidenced through the following principles of conduct:
LEGISLATION
Ensure strict compliance with all national and international legal, regulatory, and normative provisions in the regions where it operates. Respect the trade union rights of its employees and all applicable collective bargaining guidelines.
Provide all required cooperation or requested information to supervisory and inspection authorities, within its reach.
STAKEHOLDERS
Respect market rules, promote fair competition, and avoid any practice that may significantly prevent, distort, or restrict competition. Relate to competitors in a healthy and cordial manner and promote mutual respect.
Always ensure integrity and maintain prevention and control systems regarding fraud and irregularities, particularly in financial, property, conflict of interest, appropriation, or misuse of information matters.
Treat clients with professionalism, efficiency, respect, loyalty, good faith, and dedication. Ensure equal treatment for all clients, without any unjustified discrimination. Provide products and services to meet clients’ needs, fulfilling agreed conditions and commitments according to their expectations.
All Employees and Corporate Bodies of IHT, regardless of their hierarchical level, should focus their actions on developing empathy and trust with clients, based on the best value proposition, to ensure their satisfaction.
In contact with Clients, Employees must perform their activities in line with the commitments made by IHT:
- Earning the Client’s trust.
- Informing transparently and truthfully, especially in advertising and communication.
- Adopting an attitude befitting a service-oriented organisation.
- Treating Clients with professionalism, respect, and loyalty.
- Providing Clients with excellent products and services.
- Providing Clients with the necessary information for an informed decision and ensuring the scrupulous fulfilment of agreed conditions.
- Respecting the privacy of Clients’ information and complying with applicable legislation.
Choose suppliers based on impartial, fair, and transparent criteria, without granting privileges or favoritism. Selection should be based not only on commercial conditions and quality of proposed products or services but also on their ethical behavior as perceived by IHT. Act with loyalty and good faith in relations with business partners, establishing clear and objective communication to build long-term trust.
IHT adopts procedures guided by principles of economic rationality and efficiency. Its business practices are transparent and equitable, not tolerating any form of abuse, bribery, corruption, or money laundering.
Act with loyalty towards Partners, considering their interests with the primary objective of creating value and controlling risk.
Strict observance of legal principles and equal treatment of partners, ensuring the availability of necessary information in an appropriate, truthful, transparent, and rigorous manner.
COOPERATION
IHT maintains a cooperative attitude with public authorities and local communities, guided by rules of transparency and independence, with full availability and openness to improving the legal framework of its businesses.
INDEPENDENCE
IHT maintains an independent stance towards public institutions and political parties, without prejudice to professional relationships, and does not fund political parties or organisations with a primarily political mission under any circumstances.
RESPECT/COMPLIANCE WITH OBLIGATIONS
Strictly observe applicable national and international legislation in the regions where it operates, and fulfil all legal or contractual obligations. Provide required information to public and supervisory entities in a rigorous, appropriate, and timely manner.
Define human resources policies that respect the dignity, diversity, and rights of each person, ensuring practices of equality and non-discrimination. Any forms of individual discrimination incompatible with human dignity, such as those based on origin, ethnicity, gender, political conviction, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, or physical disability, are not admissible, nor are any behaviors constituting sexual harassment, mobbing, or abuse of power.
Forced labor, slave labor, unpaid work, and work performed by minors or other forms not legally permitted are not admissible.
Treat each employee fairly and promote equal opportunities for personal and professional development, particularly through rigorous and constructive performance evaluation, participation in professional training programs, and encouragement to participate in extracurricular activities. Fairly remunerate all employees based on applicable legislation, their responsibilities, and their performance.
Respect and promote the balance between employees’ professional and personal lives, respecting their vacation, rest, and break times.
Provide a good working environment with appropriate safety and health conditions and promote team spirit, unity, and mutual help among employees. Ensure communication, sharing, and recording of information among employees. Ensure compliance with applicable safety, health, hygiene, and well-being regulations in the workplace, and employees must strictly observe the laws, regulations, and internal instructions on this matter.
Environmental protection, natural resource sustainability, biodiversity, climate change, and the relationship with nature are fundamental pillars of IHT’s daily actions. Through our products and actions, we strive to accelerate the restoration of harmony between the human species and nature. Act with a logic of sustainable development in economic, social, and environmental aspects. Assume social responsibility with the communities where it operates to contribute to their progress and well-being. Mitigate and/or minimize environmental impacts arising from activities and services, such as using raw materials from responsible sources, promoting, disseminating, and encouraging employees, customers, suppliers, and the general community to adopt best environmental practices, especially regarding waste prevention, correct segregation to enhance recycling, preventing air, water, and soil pollution, and efficient use of natural resources (water and energy).
EMPLOYEES
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND PROFESSIONAL PROGRESSION
IHT places high value on the professional and personal development of its Employees, promoting their continuous training as a key element for their best performance and motivation. Selection, remuneration, and professional progression policies are guided by merit criteria and market best practices.
RIGHTS PROTECTION
IHT observes the principles and values contained in national and international Human and Social Rights legislation. Discriminatory behaviors based on gender, race, ethnicity, religious conviction, political affiliation, or other are not admissible, and equality of opportunity is promoted, ensuring integrity and dignity in the workplace.
PRIVACY
IHT is committed to respecting the privacy and security in processing personal data and the other rights of its holders.
HYGIENE AND SAFETY
IHT provides a healthy, safe, pleasant working environment that promotes the well-being and productivity of Employees.
PARTICIPATION
IHT values and encourages employee participation, promoting effective communication, consultation, and sharing processes. In this sense, it respects and values the participation and presence of its Employees.
VALUE CREATION
IHT conducts its business with a long-term value creation vision, respecting sustainability and corporate and environmental social responsibility principles.
TRAINING DUTY
Employees commit to updating their knowledge and skills by attending training opportunities provided and recommended by the company.
INNOVATION AND INITIATIVE
To achieve collective goals, an individual committed and proactive attitude should be used, implementing innovative solutions that surpass the value created by traditional solutions.
INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
Observe the principles of loyalty, integrity, cooperation, civility, and respect for hierarchies, basing their reciprocal relations on cordial, respectful, and professional treatment. Promote the participation of knowledge or information and interdisciplinary or inter-departmental cooperation, prioritizing team spirit. Perform with high responsibility and cooperation, prioritizing a good environment and personal treatment with colleagues, superiors, and subordinates. Implement superiors’ decisions according to the company’s plans and encourage and support subordinates in their implementation. Do not implicate the company in their personal actions.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Employees must conduct themselves by scrupulously complying with laws and regulations applicable to their activity, according to their assigned responsibilities, always with impartiality, competence, rigour, diligence, and transparency. Use the delegated power non-abusively, oriented toward achieving the company’s objectives and never for personal gain. Respect IHT values and the principles outlined in this Code in both internal and external relations. Report any irregularities that may jeopardise business development or IHT’s good name.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Avoid situations likely to cause conflicts of interest, intervening in decision-making processes involving entities they have collaborated with or are collaborating with, or individuals related to them by any ties of kinship or affinity. If this is not possible, they must inform their respective supervisor of these relationships. Refrain from performing any outside functions that may interfere with their duties as IHT employees or in organisations with objectives that may conflict or interfere with those of IHT.
INTEGRITY
Do not accept or propose to third parties offers, payments, or other benefits that may create in their interlocutors’ expectations of favoritism in their relations with the company. Gifts received from third parties that exceed mere courtesy or a symbolic and negligible commercial value should be communicated to the hierarchical superior and refused if they indicate expectations of special favor by the offerers.
HARASSMENT
IHT encourages respect and cooperation among all employees in a respectful and dignified working environment, rejecting any harassment practices. Any form of harassment is prohibited, whether during access to employment, at work, or in professional training. Harassment is any unwanted behavior that aims to or results in:
a) Disturbing or constraining any individual;
b) Violating any individual’s dignity, affecting their health and/or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or destabilizing environment;
c) Unreasonable disruption of an employee’s job performance;
d) Conditioning a hiring decision of an individual or their acceptance of it.
Sexual harassment is any unwanted behavior of a sexual nature, whether verbal or non-verbal, physical or otherwise, with the aims or effects described in the previous paragraph. In the case of a harassment allegation, which must be made in writing, a disciplinary procedure will be opened, following the procedure described in the Labour Code, culminating in the application of the appropriate disciplinary sanction. The complainant and witnesses named by them cannot be disciplined unless acting with intent, based on statements or facts in the process records, judicial or administrative, initiated by harassment until a final, unappealable decision, without prejudice to the exercise of the right to a defence.
CONFIDENTIALITY AND PROFESSIONAL SECRECY
IHT employees, even after ceasing their functions, are subject to professional secrecy, particularly on matters that, by their objective importance, by internal decision, or by force of current legislation, should not be publicly known. Use discretion within and outside IHT regarding facts and information known in the exercise of their functions and respect established confidentiality rules. All collected personal data must be processed impartially, legally, carefully, to protect each employee’s privacy and strictly comply with applicable legal norms.
LOYALTY
Adopt a loyal behavior towards IHT, striving to safeguard its credibility and good image in all situations, as well as promoting and guaranteeing its prestige.
PROTECTION AND USE OF ASSETS AND RESOURCES
Ensure the integrity, protection, and conservation of the company’s physical, financial, and intellectual assets. Available resources should be used efficiently to pursue the objectives defined within the companies, not using them, directly or indirectly, for personal or third-party gain.
GOOD GOVERNANCE
Administer the company with diligence, transparency, creating conditions for dialogue within the administration bodies on objectives, strategy, risk analysis, and performance evaluation, observing the highest standards of corporate governance.
PRIVATE TRANSACTIONS
Refrain from participating in or maintaining any contracts or transactions under conditions different from normal market conditions with entities with which IHT has commercial relations or controlled by its leaders, particularly in negotiating loans, obtaining discounts, negotiating payment terms, or selling goods or services that may interfere with institutional or commercial relations between entities and IHT or between employees benefiting from the transactions and those entities.
ANTI-BRIBERY AND ANTI-CORRUPTION PRINCIPLES AND STANDARDS
Do not allow any practice of bribery or corruption, in active or passive form, including facilitation payments or creating, maintaining, or promising irregular or favorable situations. Specifically, do not offer, make, or authorize an improper payment (in cash or otherwise) to anyone, including any local or foreign authority anywhere in the world. Do not offer or accept money or anything of value, such as gifts, tips, or commissions, related to business or awarding a contract, or to obtain or provide a level of service not normally entitled to.
RELATIONS WITH THE MEDIA AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Do not grant interviews or provide information on your own initiative or at the request of the media without prior communication to IHT Management. When using social media, respect the conduct rules outlined in this Code of Ethics and Conduct. Do not publish information about IHT that is confidential or internal, limiting information to public information and always considering the implications of publishing content related to the company. Protect IHT’s image by not publishing content that may be considered illegal, offensive, defamatory, or threatening, or that may harm IHT’s image and reputation.
Committee Composition
Guida Alexandra Freitas – Quality, Environment, and Safety Department
Jorge Humberto Morais – Marketing & Communication Department
IHT, LDA Ethics and Conduct Committee
Zona Industrial de Soure, Lote E
3130-551 Soure