L’Oréal’s commitment to human rights is based in particular on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the Fundamental Conventions of the International Labour Organization.
The Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer, a member of the Executive Committee, is responsible for overseeing the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the Group. This mission has been entrusted to her by L’Oréal’s Chief Executive Officer, to whom she reports. She chairs the Group’s Human Rights Committee. She relies on a dedicated team of human rights experts and has a budget to carry out her work.
The Group’s human rights commitments are rolled out across all markets through a network of Human Rights Correspondents.
L’Oréal’s Human Rights Committee is composed of representatives from the various Zones, activities and departments (including Purchasing, HR, CSR, Safety, Security etc.). It is responsible for coordination and exchange on the implementation of the Group’s human rights policy. Its primary objective is to facilitate the emergence of a human rights culture within the Group.
In order to best address the human rights issues that relate to its operational activities and commercial relationships, L’Oréal has structured its human rights policy around the most salient human rights risks across its whole value chain. In order to achieve its human rights goals and deal with identified risks, L’Oréal has been a member of the United Nations Global Compact since 2003, and is committed to respecting all internationally recognised human rights. This commitment is supported each year at the highest level of the company by its Chief Executive Officer and by the Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer.
Aware of the scale of the challenge throughout its entire value chain, L’Oréal has set itself ambitious goals in respect of human rights, through the various internal or public documents described below. These policies enable it to respond to the main Human Rights risks set out in subsection 4.2.2.
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Code of Ethics |
L’Oréal is committed to respecting human rights, and especially refers to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 2011 United Nations Guidelines on Business and Human Rights. A new version of the Code of Ethics was launched in 2023, which includes, in particular, a commitment to respecting the prior, free and informed consent of indigenous peoples. |
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Human Rights Policy |
L’Oréal’s commitments to its stakeholders, particularly its consumers and civil society, describing the way in which these commitments are fulfilled in practice. |
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Employee Human Rights Policy |
A specific policy launched in 2020 by which the Group undertakes to respect a base of universal human and social rights for its employees, regardless of their position or location worldwide. |
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“The Way we work with our Suppliers” Guide |
A practical guide intended to specify the Group’s standards and to help employees handle situations that they might encounter in the performance of their duties in relationships with suppliers. This Guide was updated in 2022. |
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L’Oréal’s Influencer Value Charter |
L’Oréal does not work with influencers under the age of 16 or the legal contractual age. |
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Annual employee evaluation system |
Compliance with the Group’s Code of Ethics and ethical principles are taken into account when appraising employees’ overall performance. |
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Speak Up policy |
Since 2008, L’Oréal’s Speak Up policy has enabled employees to report serious violations of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, health and safety of people and respect for the environment, notably via the Group’s ethics whistleblowing channel www.lorealspeakup.com, which falls under the remit of the Chief Ethics, Risk and Compliance Officer. This has been available to all of the Group’s stakeholders since 2018. |
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Annual ethics and human rights reporting system |
The system is used to monitor the implementation of the Ethics and Human Rights programme. The subsidiaries are informed of their potential areas for improvement by the Global Ethics, Risk & Compliance Department. 100% of the subsidiaries completed their annual ethics and human rights reporting in 2023. |
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Procedures for prospective acquisitions |
When prospective acquisitions are being considered, L’Oréal submits an Ethics and Human Rights questionnaire to target companies. This procedure is intended to identify how they take into account risks related, amongst other things, to breaches of human rights (abolition of child labour and forced labour etc.). |
