The nature of Total’s activities dictates strict adherence to ethical business practices. We are careful to monitor full compliance with all legislation and regulations, in particular those governing free competition. Our ethics commitments also apply to relations with our contractors.

Complying with the rules of free competition

The Code of Conduct reaffirms our obligation and commitment to uphold the rules of free competition. We raise awareness and educate Total employees by:

• Encouraging our operating units to adopt procedures to ensure compliance with competition laws and regulations.
• Distributing practical guides to each of our businesses to increase employee familiarity with competition laws.
• Taking steps to raise awareness about these laws and regulations, tailored to the businesses and the situation of employees, giving priority to employees with the greatest exposure.

For more information on antitrust investigations, see the Registration Document.

Ethics, central to our supplier relations

As stakeholders in Total’s business, teams, buyers, suppliers and contractors must all comply with our ethics commitments. The main risks and issues to which we pay close attention are:

• Purchases and supplier relations in countries in which the risk of bribery and corruption is high.
• Misuse of our power, especially when we are working with small companies.
• Monitoring of the supply chain, especially for products sold in service stations and Chemicals purchases.

We respect each party’s interests, with transparent and fairly negotiated contract terms, and expect suppliers and service providers to adhere to the values of respect, responsibility and exemplary behavior specified in the Fundamental Corporate Social Responsibility Principles for Purchasing. Issued in 2007, the Principles are derived from the Code of Conduct. They are deployed in-house by our teams in their day-to-day activities.

Responsible Purchasing Practices

Our purchases¹ amount to more than €20 billion in 2006.

Total is working on four main approaches to integrate corporate social responsibility requirements into our purchasing processes and educate our employees:

• Verify that the working conditions of suppliers and their contractors conform to International Labour Organization standards.
• Combine careful cost management and a partnership process that will support a sustainable, mutually beneficial relationship for both parties.
• Consider the source of the products purchased and analyze how they are produced, to ensure that the supplier has an accredited environmental management system in place.
• Analyze the shipment of goods to minimize distances traveled and give preference to rail shipment.

 ¹Excluding purchases of crude oil, petroleum products and feedstocks.