VOCENTO has a vocation to serve its audiences and society in general, and has a responsibility to society mainly through the publishing and media brands that represent the mission of its business: to provide information, opinion and entertainment.
In 2013, the Board of Directors of Vocento SA approved the Code of Ethics for VOCENTO and its subsidiaries. The initiative forms part of the efforts being made in corporate responsibility, sustainability and good governance, and is in line with the principles of the Global Compact of the United Nations which Vocento joined in 2009 and renews every year.
The Code of Ethics explains the mission, vision and values of VOCENTO and the Vocento Group as a media company with specific commitments to audiences, advertisers, employees and shareholders, which form the foundations for the responsibility strategy of the company.
The mission of Vocento and Grupo Vocento, based on the freedom of expression and the support for fundamental human rights and public liberties, is to contribute to improving society by obtaining and publishing accurate information and free, plural and independent opinions, and other activities directly or indirectly related to these.
To be a leading media group in Spain, a group that is profitable and is committed, among others, to our:
The Code of Ethics provides an explicit definition of the principles that guide VOCENTO’s activities and the behaviour that the Group has applied since its beginning and has developed since then.
The document also establishes behavioural norms in five areas: relations with employees and stakeholders, situations of a conflict of interest, treatment of information, relations with the community, and the assets and rights of VOCENTO and the Group.
The Code of Ethics includes specific references to recording transactions and preparing financial information, so that all transactions must be recorded in accounts at the appropriate time, in accordance with the accounting legislation in force, so that all the financial information is accurate and faithfully reflects the rights and liabilities of VOCENTO and its subsidiaries.
The Code of Ethics establishes as part of the management of ethics an Ethics Channel which reports to the Internal Audit department at VOCENTO. Using the email address canaletico@vocento.com or by post to the company’s residence (Calle Luca de Tena 7, 28027 Madrid), people can send confidentially consultations about the Code and possible cases of non-compliance or conflict, so that the Ethics Committee can investigate and resolve them.
So that interested stakeholders may access the Code of Ethics, the content is public on the VOCENTO web site and a series of initiatives has disclosed its content to employees, advertisers, audiences and other interested parties. In terms of monitoring, the Ethics Committee, which reports to the Audit and Compliance Committee, will have the responsibility for formulating, monitoring, implementing and developing the internal control system for the prevention of crimes, which all other companies of the VOCENTO group must sign up, under the responsibility of various bodies, without prejudice to the instances of cooperation that the Ethics Committee may decide on a case by case basis.
As part of its responsibilities, the Board of Directors of the company approved on 13 November 2014 a Crime Prevention Policy which aims to inform all managers and staff that VOCENTO intends to ensure that its activity is based on principles that result in behaviour which complies with the law, with good governance, transparency, responsibility, independence and reputation, in terms of socially accepted ethical standards.
To implement this Crime Prevention Policy, in 2015 the competent organisms of the company will establish a specific and effective system of internal control for crime prevention, including a series of measures aimed at assessing, preventing and detecting risks and reacting to any non-compliance with the Code of Ethics or possible crimes, and which documents the practices that VOCENTO has been carrying out over the years.
This internal control system will consist of protocols for monitoring and acting to assess and reduce the risk of acts that are illegal, irregular or contrary to the Code of Ethics, complemented by establishing effective, continuous monitoring that can be updated and reviewed.
The focus of our management of corporate responsibility is based on identifying and organising the material issues of sustainability for a media company, and on the importance of each of these issues for us internally and externally. Our strategy is based on this analysis of the material issues for what we do, who we do it for, and with whom we do it.
In 2014, VOCENTO prepared a map of risks for the business and its plans. One of the areas identified in this process was the risk of not meeting the expectations of stakeholders in material issues and the risk of the impact to reputation and brands as a result.
The Department of Communications and Institutional Relations, which coordinates responsibility and sustainability, is working on plan to respond to the various reputational risks, which will be completed in 2015.
