Compliance in SOS International
In SOS International quality, information security, data protection and compliance comprise some of the most important parameters for the success of our business. Our focus on compliance and quality is an integrated part of our quality management system, which is underlined by our numerous accreditations and certifications, such as our certifications in ISO27001 (information security) and the extension in ISO27701 (privacy information), in ISO9001 (quality management) and in ISO14001 on environmental management.
SOS International is one of the few companies with this particular combination of ISO certifications.
Our focus on protecting personal data and information security is underlined by various policies and internal guidelines with associated actions and initiatives. Access control for systems and buildings, network security and confidential handling of personal data are examples of initiatives regarding information security and the management of personal information. Our ISO27001 and ISO27701 certifications are an assurance of our continuous efforts to safely handle sensitive information.
Our work with quality management and our certification in ISO9001 focuses on process optimisation of internal routines and risk management. Our internal audit function supports the continual improvement of our quality management.
Sustainability
At SOS International, we work actively to take social responsibility across environmental, social and governance issues to create a positive effect for customers, employees and the society around us.
Every year, we prepare a sustainability report, which – which is part of management's evaluation in SOS International's annual reports – puts words and figures on our sustainability efforts.
In SOS International quality, information security, data protection and compliance comprise some of the most important parameters for the success of our business
Company Code of Conduct
To achieve our vision –
We want to be perceived as the most trusted assistance partner
– we must be committed to the highest ethical standards of business conduct.
Our Code of Conduct (the "Code") describes the compliance and ethical principles that guide our company, our employees and the interactions we have with our stakeholders. Our Code ensures that our values are reflected in our daily work and that we enhance the transparency of our activities for all stakeholder groups. Our Code reflects the business conduct that our customers will expect in the market that we operate in. It directs business practices as outlined by our corporate compliance programme and highlights potential areas of risk and conflict, prescribing guidelines of conduct for these areas.
In addition to this Code, SOS International will comply with all applicable laws, conventions and regulations.
The Code governs the business conduct of SOS International and every SOS International employee including the Directors Board, managers and each individual staff member (“employees”). When SOS International engages with outside business partners such as vendors or other service providers, they must adhere to this Code or a supplier code of conduct based on the principles of this Code.
All employees of SOS International are expected to adhere to and act according to the principles enclosed in this Code.
Non-compliance with this Code, company policies, laws, conventions and regulations and/or contractual obligations may not only have potential legal and regulatory consequences, but may also compromise SOS International's reputation. Unethical or illegal acts can never be justified. Violation of the Code may result in disciplinary actions and further employment law consequences, e.g. in the form of warning, employment termination or summary dismissal.
Compliance concerns and suspected violation of our Code can be reported to GroupGRC@sos.eu.
Inspired by the ten general principles contained in the UN Global Compact our Code includes principles regarding respect for the environment, anti-corruption and universally recognised principles on human rights, including labour rights.
HUMAN RIGHTS INCLUDING LABOUR RIGHTS
SOS International is committed to respect human rights as recognised by the applicable laws, conventions and labour standards. SOS International employees shall abstain from any involvement in breaching human rights and if relevant promote human rights when working in countries where respecting human rights is not self-evident. The following standards demand respect for all individuals and consideration of the interests of all of those affected by and involved in our business
In all of our operations we
- Condemn the use of forced labour and exploitative child labour
- Comply with applicable laws, conventions, agreements and generally used industry standards on compensation and working hours
- Respect employees' lawful freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining
- Provide equal opportunity for all employees and we do not discriminate at any level of the organisation on the basis of race, skin colour, gender, age, religion, beliefs, national, ethnic and/or social origin, disability, sexual orientation, political views or any other legally protected characteristic
- Pay workers a fair wage and uphold work hours and paid holiday leave according to national legislation and industry standards generally used
- Provide a safe and healthy work environment. All employees shall have actual influence in matters concerning Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) and we encourage our employees to actively contribute to the development of the EHS culture in SOS International
ENVIRONMENT
SOS International is committed to enhancing sustainable development and our employees are expected to support and act according to our environmental strategy.
In all our operations, we strive to improve SOS International's carbon footprint by, e.g.:
- Buying eco-friendly equipment and products
- Reducing waste and the use of water
- Limiting travel for the purpose of meetings and prioritising usage of video conferences
- Promoting to our business partners, where relevant, the importance of considering the environment
- Considering the environmental impacts of our services and where relevant communicating them to our customers and business partners
ANTI-CORRUPTION
SOS International will not tolerate any form of, and will not engage in any form of, corruption or bribery for the purpose of influencing decision making in violation of law.
We expect our employees to
- Comply with applicable laws, conventions and regulations relating to anti-corruption and refrain from engaging in any form of bribery, corruption or extortion
- Refrain from offering or receiving any gifts, donations or sponsorships in order to make the recipient buy SOS International’s product or services
- To ensure that courtesies offered or provided by SOS International employees, such as gifts or entertainment, are properly reflected on our books and records
- Observe neutrality with regard to political parties and candidates for public office. Neither the names nor the assets of SOS International shall be used to promote the interests of political parties or candidates
- Abstain from deliberate or inadvertent involvement in money laundering which may be a reason for serious penalties for everyone involved. All financial transactions and payments must be authorised and recorded
Donations and sponsorships
We do not make any direct or indirect donations to political organisations, parties or individual politicians. We may occasionally grant donations and sponsorships to support a good cause and promote the knowledge of SOS International. Sponsoring and donations must not be used to circumvent the rules of this Code. All sponsorships are granted in a transparent manner and in accordance with our sponsorship policy.
Conducting fair business practices and maintaining respectful customer relations is an essential part of the way we do business. We do not tolerate any dishonest behaviour and seek to always act with dignity and integrity.
CORRECT INFORMATION, ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING
We make decisions based on information recorded at every level of SOS International. We must record all information honestly and accurately. This includes, but is not limited to, expenses, revenues, case data and any other corporate information. All financial transactions and payments must be authorized and recorded.
SOS International business information will be communicated accurately and fully, both internally and externally. All accounting information must be correct, registered and reproduced in accordance with laws, conventions and regulations. Strict compliance with corporate accounting methods is required, as is cooperation with internal and external auditors.
Any intentional act that results in a material misstatement in financial statements will be treated as fraud.
FAIR COMPETITION
SOS International believes that customers and society as a whole benefit from fair, free and open markets. We do not make agreements with competitors to fix prices or otherwise restrain free trade.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
We have a responsibility to make decisions strictly on the basis of SOS International’s best interests. Business decisions and the provision of services may never be influenced by personal concerns and personal relations of our employees.
The key to addressing conflicts of interest is full disclosure. Employees have the responsibility to disclose any potential conflict of interest to SOS International.
USE OF SUBSTANCES
Use of illegal drugs, alcohol abuse and the misuse of legal drugs create serious health and safety risks in the workplace. The possession, sale or use of illegal drugs or being under the influence of such drugs, on company time or property, or at company-sponsored events, is prohibited. Similarly, impairment from alcohol when conducting company business is also prohibited. It is important that cases regarding drug and alcohol abuse be brought to management’s attention immediately.
COMMUNICATION
SOS International is committed to providing accurate and trustworthy information to the media and the public. To ensure consistent communication and compliance with SOS International’s policies, employees are prohibited from making statements to the media regarding or on behalf of SOS International unless in accordance with SOS International’s communication policy or approval has been granted by the manager of the communications department. If employees are contacted by the media they should kindly forward the request to the manager of the communications department.
CONFIDENTIALITY
Information is an important company asset which must be carefully protected. Handling sensitive information including company, customer and health information is part of our core business and all employees are obliged to keep sensitive information confidential.
- All employees are required to accept obligations of strict confidentiality during and after their employment with SOS International. This also includes substitutes, consultants, service personnel and visitors
- We take all reasonable precautions to ensure that we do not disclose confidential information, including confidential information belonging to our customers, to any third party without a valid business purpose and proper authorisation
- Employees shall protect SOS International’s intellectual property rights including trade secrets. Employees shall not unlawfully use or acquire trade secrets and other confidential and proprietary information of other companies
Information technology (IT) has become a strategic and competitive factor at SOS International while involving a large number of risks at the same time. This primarily includes impairment of data processing as a result of malicious programs (viruses), loss of data due to program errors or data disclosure and misuse (e.g. due to hackers). In order to ensure information security and proper safeguarding of personal data all employees shall adhere to our personal data policy and IT policies.
In terms of questions in regard to this Code please contact:
GroupGRC@sos.eu
SOS International
Nitivej 6
2000 Frederiksberg
Denmark
This document is valid, approved and requires full adherence from 1 May 2016.
Supplier Code of Conduct
SOS International is committed to economic, environmental and socially
sustainable development. This forms the basis of our approach to corporate social responsibility and our way of conducting our business with high integrity and ethical standards.
This Supplier Code of Conduct (the “Code”) is inspired by the ten general principles contained in the UN Global Compact. It includes respect for the environment, anti-corruption and universally recognised principles on human rights, including labour rights. SOS International wants to uphold this Code and the related instructions in a spirit of constructive dialogue and in partnership with our suppliers for the mutual benefit of both parties.
This Code governs the business relationship between SOS International and our suppliers regarding the themes corporate social responsibility and business ethics.
As a condition for doing business with SOS International, we require our suppliers to comply with the Code and its Appendices. In addition, suppliers shall ensure that their sub-contractors also comply with the provisions of the Code and its Appendices.
The provisions in this Code are minimum requirements to suppliers. In addition to meeting the minimum requirements in this Code, suppliers must comply with all applicable local laws and regulations. If there are differences between the provisions of the Code and applicable laws or regulations, suppliers shall adhere to the higher requirements.
The supplier shall at SOS International’s request provide sufficient information for SOS International to ensure that the supplier is compliant with the Code and
its Appendices. Such information may be disclosed to SOS International’s customers if relevant.
If this Code or its Appendices is not complied with, the supplier shall inform SOS International immediately and prepare an action plan to remedy the non-compliance.
SOS International reserves the right to consider any non-compliance by suppliers or sub-suppliers a material breach of the agreement between SOS International and the supplier.
Suppliers are expected to support the protection of internationally recognised human rights, including labour rights, as stated in the UN International Bill of Human Rights and the UN International Labour Organisation’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
As a minimum, SOS International expects our suppliers to:
- Condemn the use of forced labour and exploitative child labour
- Comply with applicable laws, agreements and industry standards on compensation and working hours
- Respect employees’ lawful freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining
- Provide equal opportunity for all employees and not discriminate at any level of the organisation on the basis of ethnicity, gender, age, religious beliefs, social origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other legally protected characteristic
- Provide a safe and healthy work environment
Suppliers must manage all significant potential and actual impacts on the environment and climate.
As a minimum, SOS International expects our suppliers to:
- Identify aspects of the supplier’s activities, products and services that have or may have significant impact on the environment
- Ensure legal compliance with applicable law or regulation relevant to the environmental impacts of the supplier’s activities, products and services
- Establish environmental objectives and targets relevant to the law and significant environmental affairs, and develop action plans to achieve the stated objectives and targets
- Ensure that activities related to the environment are conducted under specified conditions and continually monitored
- Ensure that any person performing tasks which have the potential to cause significant environmental impact is competent and has the proper education, training and experience to overcome the potential risk
SOS International will not tolerate any form of, and will not engage in any form of, corruption or bribery. Suppliers are required to work systematically and continually against corruption or other improper business practices.
As a minimum, SOS International requires our suppliers to:
- Comply with applicable laws and regulations relating to financial crimes, anti-corruption and refrain from engaging in any form of bribery, corruption or extortion
- Abstain from deliberate or inadvertent involvement in money laundering
- Establish and have in place adequate policies and processes to counter corrupt practices
- Refrain from offering disproportionate donations, funding, excessive gifts and extravagant entertainment and similar improper advantages to government officials, SOS International employees, agents, representatives of other business partners etc. Courtesies must be properly reflected as such in the supplier’s books or records
- Generally refrain from offering, promising or making facilitation payments
- Refrain from using the name or assets of SOS International to promote the interests of political parties or candidates
- Avoid conflict of interests and always make decisions without regard to personal concerns that could impair, or be perceived to impair, the supplier’s business judgment. Disclose conflict of interests if they occur
Suppliers are expected to adopt fair and respectful business practices towards all of its business relations.
As a minimum, SOS International expects our suppliers to:
- Provide and record all information honestly and accurately, including but not limited to expenses, revenues, data and any other corporate information. Compliance with applicable accounting methods is required, as is cooperation with internal and external auditors
- Safeguard any confidential information and personal data. Respect and protect the individual’s right to privacy by adhering to the agreement with SOS International and the Code of Conduct for the processing of Personal Data (for instructions, please see Appendix 1)
- Abstain from fixing prices or otherwise restraining trade
- Refrain from using illegal drugs, abuse alcohol or misuse legal drugs when conducting business with or on behalf of SOS International
- Make no public statements on behalf of SOS International. Always forward any requests from the media regarding SOS International to our Communications Department
Questions and observations including required reporting relating to this Code shall be directed to SOS International at:
Compliance@sos.eu
SOS International
Nitivej 6
2000 Frederiksberg
Denmark
Environmental Policy
Mobility Division: The purpose and scope of this policy is to ensure that SOS International continually strives to enhance the company's environmental management system and overall environmental performance for the Mobility Division.
The scope of the environmental management system therefore encompasses all activities and stakeholder interests (internal as well as external) related to SOS International's roadside assistance services.
Help on phone benefits the environment
At our Nordic roadside assistance alarm centres we support and help car owners over the phone, for example if a lamp is on in the car’s dashboard or the steering lock does not work. When we help on phone, we contribute to a time saving and convenient customer journey as the car owner can continue in his or her own car.
Help on phone also benefits the environment and we avoid CO2 emission as we do not dispatch a towing truck.
In 2021, our Nordic roadside assistance business helped end-users over the phone and thus saved as much CO2 equivalent to the emissions from a typical roadside assistance vehicle travelling around the earth more than 51 times.
Whistleblowing scheme
Our purpose is to help people in critical situations. Safety, trust, and honesty are non-negotiable in SOS International. We proactively manage rights and legislation and if matters against our commitments have occurred, please report via our normal business procedures or via our whistleblowing scheme.
For the whistleblower scheme you are directed to a platform outside SOS International to ensure full confidentiality.
Data Ethics in SOS International
SOS International is committed to handling data in an ethical manner to ensure that individuals and business relations are not harmed, and that privileged information is kept confidential.
As such, SOS International takes the responsibility of handling data seriously, both personal data as well as other business relevant information, including aggregated and statistical data.
Our data ethics policy is a continuation of our focus on protecting personal data and information security as already underlined by our ISO certifications, various policies and internal instructions with associated actions and initiatives.
Cookie Declaration
SOS International and SOS Dansk Autohjælp collects information about your visit on our website and any activity connected with this.
The websites are owned and managed by SOS International and SOS Dansk Autohjælp.
SOS International A/S
Nitivej 6, 2000 Frederiksberg,
Denmark
E-mail: sos@sos.eu
Telephone: +45 7010 5055
CVR No. 17013718
SOS International DK A/S
Olof Palmes Alle 18, 8200 Aarhus N,
Denmark
E-mail: aarhus@sos.eu
Telephone: + 45 7010 8092
CVR No. 17738739
Cookies are small text files that websites place on the computers and mobile devices of people who visit those websites.
These files are then read by the website each time you return to the site.
These text files allow a website to remember your device and how you interacted with the website, which is useful for a number of different purposes.
We use cookies to adapt and personalise our content and ads, and to analyze our traffic. We also share information about your use of our website with our advertising, analytics and social media partners. Our partners may combine this data with other information that you have provided to them or that they have collected from your use of their services.
SOS International can store cookies on your device if they are strictly necessary to ensure the delivery of the service you have explicitly requested to use. For all other types of cookies, we must obtain your consent.
You may change or withdraw your consent from the Cookie Declaration at any time. Click the red cookie-icon in the bottom left corner to change or withdraw your consent.
For more information about SOS International, how to contact us and how we process personal data see our privacy notice.
A cookie can always be deleted or changed.
This is done by clicking the red cookie-icon in the bottom left corner to change or delete the change of cookies.
The only cookie that can’t be deleted is the cookies that are strictly necessary for SOS International to ensure the delivery of services on SOS International's webpage. These are called “Necessary cookies".
Too see a description of all cookies that SOS International can use and what purposes we use the cookies for, click the red cookie-icon in the bottom left corner and select “show details”.
If you have any comments or questions regarding SOS International's cookie declaration or SOS International's use of cookies, please contact SOS International via email.
Policy for processing of personal data
SOS International works consistently to protect your personal data. We strive, among other things, to ensure that you are fully informed about and that you understand how we treat your personal data. In this privacy policy, you can read more about which personal data we typically collect in a case and what we use it for.
Personal data at SOS International is treated in accordance with the requirements of personal data legislation. In some cases, SOS International is data controller and in other cases - data processor on behalf of our customers who are often insurance companies. In both cases, we comply with regulatory requirements.
About phone call recordings
SOS International records phone conversations in some of its telephone lines. If you call to one of these lines, you will be informed of recording before the voice recording begins.
SOS International records phone conversations with various of purposes, and therefore we have different privacy notices for each service. Hence, the content in each privacy notice varies depending on the service provided to you or depending on your relationship with SOS International.
The links to the respective privacy notices can be found on the boxes below. In case you have been in contact with one of the divisions of SOS International that record phone calls on their telephone lines, the respective privacy notice will include a separate chapter concerning voice recording, including information on the purpose of voice recording, legal basis for voice recording, how long the recording is stored, your rights in connection with voice recording, etc.
SOS International collects and processes personal data about you, when we handle your cases and requests. The purpose of the processing of information about you, is to deliver assistance services to you under your travel insurance in connection with treatment abroad, home transportation etc.
SOS International’s privacy notice is made in different languages:
Click here for a Danish version
Click here for a Norwegian version
SOS International collects and processes personal data about you, when we handle your cases and requests.
The purpose of the processing of information about you, is to deliver roadside assistance services to you in relation to your roadside agreement.
Click here, if you have received assistance by SOS International DK in Denmark (version in Danish and version in English)
Click here, if you have received assistance by SOS Veihjelp in Norway (version in Norwegian)
Click here, if you have received assistance by SOS International AB in Sweden (version in Swedish)
Click here, if you have received assistance by SOS International OY in Finland (version in Finnish)
SOS International collects and processes personal data about you, when we handle your cases and requests. The purpose of the processing of information about you, is to provide advice and/or healthcare services to you under your healthcare scheme.
SOS International’s privacy notice is made in different languages:
Click here, if you have received services in Denmark (version in Danish)
Click here, if you have received services in Norway (version in Norwegian)
Click here, if you have received services in Sweden (version in Swedish)
SOS International collects and process information about you when you are a customer with us, a supplier acting on our behalf or if you in other ways are in contact with/visit SOS International's locations.
The purpose of processing information about you is, among other things, to be able to handle our common interests, maintain good partnership and ensure the physical security of SOS International’s locations.
Privacy notification – SOS International (Customers, Suppliers and other)
