Regulatory Compliance
TSMC operates in many countries; in order to achieve compliance with governing legislation, applicable laws, regulations and regulatory expectations, we closely monitor domestic and foreign government policies and regulatory developments that could have a material impact on TSMC's business and financial operations.
In addition to TSMC's Code of Ethics and Business Conduct, TSMC has also established policies, guidelines and procedures in other policy areas, including: Anti-bribery/corruption, Anti-harassment/discrimination, Antitrust (unfair competition), Environment, Export Control, Financial Reporting/Internal controls, Insider Trading, Intellectual Property, PIP, Privacy, as well as procuring of raw materials from socially responsible sources and so forth. With respect to “PIP,” it is one of the six key strategies of TSMC as announced in June 2010.
TSMC and our employees are expected to comply with all laws and regulations that govern our business. Training is a major component of our compliance program and is conducted throughout the year to refresh employees' commitment to ethical conduct, and to get updated information on any changes to the law. Highlights of our compliance training program include the following:
- A wide range of on-line learning programs are designed to provide employees with an understanding of the law and key compliance issues. Topics available via on-line learning including competition law (antitrust), environmental protection, insider trading, export control management, PIP and more.
- Live seminars are offered for topics related to Anti-bribery/corruption, Anti-harassment and discrimination, Antitrust, PIP, Insider Trading, Export Control, Financial Reporting, Contract Management, Intellectual Property, and Privacy Law. The Privacy Protection course has been updated and reworked to reflect the newly adoption of Taiwan's Personal Information Protection Act. These courses are mandatory to managers and certain employees because of the nature of the business activities they perform.
- Members of our legal team regularly attend outside training in Taiwan and abroad to receive legal updates and new development in compliance and other areas.
- Inviting legal professionals and industry experts to lecture on new areas of knowledge and the latest developments on industry-specific compliance matters.
- To enhance compliance and risk management to our subsidiaries and affiliates, we regularly hold compliance meetings with them to ensure that all of our subsidiaries and affiliates (as appropriate) are aligned with the compliance standards at TSMC headquarters.
To increase awareness of all employees in relation to the various compliance topics, various trainings and resources are available through our intranet, including Company's latest internal policies. Furthermore, compliance education and articles are published regulatory on TSMC's Legal Organization website. Actively promoting the right behavior is our key focus. For example, through various promotion campaigns, we have raised awareness of behavior associated with anti-bribery in 2012.