The 2005 Europe-wide equal opportunity agreement consolidates our commitment to encourage the hiring and training of the disabled. Actions involving associations will promote hiring, while awareness campaigns for managers will be conducted in-house.
Innovative initiatives in subsidiaries will be brought to the attention of the European Works Council. There are also plans in 2006 to begin talks in France to identify ways to enhance the integration of the disabled at work. The talks will leverage experience stemming from relevant collective agreements that have already been signed by the Upstream and Downstream businesses.

In 2006, Total signed a framework agreement with unions to support the employment of the disabled. The agreement sets out our policy for hiring disabled people in France and aims to involve everyone concerned by this issue.

A number of initiatives are planned, both at corporate level and in subsidiaries, to impart new momentum to the process of promoting employment for the disabled. They include employee awareness campaigns, a dedicated disabled section on the intranet, the implementation of partnerships and measures to encourage recruitment of the disabled, particularly an alliance with the Web site www.hanploi.com, greater support for relevant associations, funding for training centers aimed at the disabled and adapting work hours to meet the needs of disabled employees.

In addition to outlining the new measures to be undertaken, the agreement confirms the principles of equality of treatment for the disabled that must be applied by all employees and managers. These include equal access to training and career development opportunities and appropriate working conditions.