The following statement is reviewed and signed annually in pursuant to section 54 of the UK’s Modern Slavery Act 2015.
Our business
SITA is the world's leading specialist in air transport communications and information technology. For more information about our products and corporate structure, see About SITA.
We recognise that modern slavery and human trafficking has devastating emotional, physical, and broader societal and economic impact for individuals and communities around the world. At SITA we are committed to doing business ethically – acting honestly, fairly, and with high standards of integrity.
We are proud to be signatories to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), a strategic policy initiative for businesses committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption. For more information on this, please refer to our 2023 Sustainability Report and Sustainability page on our website.
Our supply chain
We know that our responsibility goes beyond our own business operations and that our supply chain has an important part to play. We require our suppliers to ensure they act in an ethical and sustainable manner when carrying out business on behalf of SITA and to reinforce positive labour standards across their supply chains.
Our supply chain includes suppliers that provide IT software and hardware, professional and support services, and other services that enable our business. In 2023, 422 suppliers accounted for around 90% of our spend, but we work with many suppliers of different sizes around the world.
Our Codes of Conduct1 define our expectations in addressing the risk of modern slavery and human trafficking.
We are refreshing our supplier management framework and ways of making this important topic more visible and tangible in our day-to-day governance and in our regular dialogue with key suppliers.
Standards and controls
We expect our suppliers to follow the SITA Supplier Code of Conduct which is available on our website. For specific goods and services, SITA expects suppliers to complete a self-assessment that enables us to track their performance in a range of areas.
In addition, our Purchasing Policy governs the procurement of all goods and services, providing details on both the selection criteria and the due diligence requirements on new and existing suppliers. Amongst other steps – we perform supplier screening to ensure we do not engage suppliers whose ethical standards do not align with SITA’s.
Our standard Terms and Conditions set out the requirements for suppliers when supplying SITA, and they refer to the SITA Supplier Code of Conduct, the expected behaviors and ways of working.
Our Code of Conduct and relevant corporate policies are periodically reviewed and revised to reflect latest best practice of good corporate governance.
Risk assessment
Our exposure to the risk of modern slavery and human trafficking has been acknowledged and is monitored in SITA’s Enterprise Risk Register. The register is reviewed quarterly by SITA’s Audit and Risk Management Committee, which consists of SITA’s Board Members.
As part of our work to renew and refresh our supplier management framework, we are also implementing new ways to tier our suppliers, based on criticality, and then to elevate the dialogue with key suppliers on topics such as Modern Slavery and Trafficking in People risk.
Training and communication
We provide mandatory online training on responsible procurement and slavery and human trafficking for all SITA employees as part of our Code of Conduct training. It is required to be completed by all new joiners and to be retaken by all employees every year. Reports of completion are being monitored and shared with SITA’s Audit and Risk Management Committee on a yearly basis.
Beyond training, we regularly communicate to our employees on the subjects as ethics and compliance as key characteristics of our business conduct. We do so through internal webinars, global communications, websites, sales materials, and similar tools, all of which go together with a strong leadership tone.
Monitoring
The Procurement Team monitor our supply chain in cooperation with SITA’s Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility Office. Any areas of concern identified are addressed, working closely with the Ethics and Compliance Office.
A confidential and anonymous whistleblowing hotline Radar (RADAR/SITA Speak UP (convercent.com)) is available to all employees, stakeholders and third parties to raise any concerns they may have, including on issues related to modern slavery and human trafficking in our operations or our supply chain. SITA will not tolerate any form of retaliation against anyone who has raised a concern and/or assisted in an investigation in good faith.
Approval
This statement is made pursuant to section 54 of the UK’s Modern Slavery Act 2015 and has been signed by a Director. This statement constitutes SITA's slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending December 2023.
David Lavorel
CEO
1SITA's Code of Conduct, SITA's Supplier Code of Conduct