2023

Human Rights and Environment

Due Diligence Report
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 2

Foreword
I am pleased to share that during 2023 and the first half of 2024, Fyffes maintained its sector leadership in human rights
and environmental due diligence. We began our formal independent due diligence in human rights in 2019 because our
internal and external stakeholders identified human rights as our most material issue. We started our first Human Rights
Impact Assessment (HRIA) in 2019 and published the results in 2020, using the UN Guiding Principles for Business and
Human Rights.

Since then, we have conducted in-depth independent HRIAs in many of our owned farms as well as with our suppliers.
We have also undertaken independent community needs assessments at all the communities near our owned farms in
Latin America, interviewing 2,200 people in 50 communities in five countries. Since the publication of our last report, we
have worked with an external human rights expert to undertake HRIAs at two of our Costa Rican suppliers and our farms
in Belize. With every HRIA, we learn more, and we adjust our practices. We agree a Human Rights and Environmental
Mitigation Plan, and we hold our farms and suppliers accountable for delivering against that plan.

On 1 January 2023, the German Supply Chain Act came into effect. Although we are not in scope for this legislation,
many of our customers are. For that reason, we have accelerated our readiness for the European Union’s Corporate
Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), which will be transposed into member state law and replace the German
Act in Germany.

The experience of working with the German Act over the past year has provided three key lessons that we believe are
central to successful human rights and environmental due diligence:

STAKEHOLDER SUPPORTING, NOT RISING COSTS OF HUMAN

CENTRICITY DROPPING, SUPPLIERS RIGHTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL
IN DIFFICULTY PERFORMANCE
The importance of the worker,
community member or rightsholder’s The importance of maintaining The escalating cost of human rights
voice. It is essential to understand commercial relationships with and environmental mitigation actions
the actual and potential impact on suppliers, unless in the most extreme on our farms and supplier farms is
people and to gather their viewpoints circumstances and as a last resort, significant. We welcome the clause
through independent surveys with to protect the workers whose embedded in CSDDD on shared
human rights experts, including rights are further harmed by responsibility, and we anticipate that
offsite interviews with workers ceasing those relationships the continued downward trajectory
and community members of fruit prices (in real terms)
is unsustainable.

At Fyffes, our vision is Shaping Wellbeing for the World. Our approach to human rights and environmental due diligence,
mitigation and performance sets us up to achieve that vision. I hope you enjoy reading this report and find useful the
transparency we provide on the challenges we face and the progress we have made since last year.

Caoimhe Buckley
Chief Corporate Affairs Officer
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 3

Commitment to Human
Rights and Environment
• Global Human Rights and Environment Policies
• Fyffes Principles and Supplier Code of Conduct
• Human rights target: 100% of Fyffes workers and supply chain
workers to be trained on human rights by 2023; 100% of managers
and employeers by 2025
• Environment target: reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to
achieve the Science-Based Target in line with the 1.5˚C scenario by
2025, representing a 25% reduction for scope 1 and 2 in CO2 eq./kg
of fruit harvested, and a 10% reduction for scope 3* in CO2 eq./kg
of fruit harvested and distributed by Fyffes and its suppliers, from a
2020 base year
• All global policies available on Fyffes website

Supply Chain
Due Diligence
• Due Diligence Policy outlines our Human Rights and Environment
Due Diligence approach
• Independent company-wide HRIA, including an evaluation of the
impact of environmental degradation on human rights, conducted
every three years
• Published salient human rights and environmental risks
• Risk Prevention and Mitigation Plan
• Human Rights and Environment Due Diligence Committee
• Site-level due diligence self-assessment tool

Access to Remedy
• Responsibility of the Fyffes ethics Committee
• Fyffes Ethics Hotline: independent, confidential, anonymous
grievance mechanism for all stakeholders
• Grievance Procedures that outline remedy, investigation
and resolution of human rights issues
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 4

Commitment to Human
Rights and the Environment
Respect for human rights within our operations and supply business and engage with our people and other
chain is at the core of how we do business. People should stakeholders. Our Environmental Policy also addresses
be treated with dignity, honesty, and fairness, which is environmental due diligence. Our Global Human Rights
why social performance within the supply chain forms an and Environment Policies are supplemented by other
integral part of our brand, culture, and strategy. important policies which provide more detail on our
approach to human rights and other risks:
We want a working environment that promotes diversity,
inclusion, and equal opportunity and where there is • Principles of Responsible Business Conduct
mutual trust and respect for human rights. We believe • Global Anti-Violence and Harassment Policy
no employee should ever be afraid or embarrassed to • Global Donation Policy
come to work. We do not tolerate discrimination in the • Global Health and Safety Policy
workplace or any form of bullying or harassment — • Global Environmental Policy
whether psychological, verbal, physical or sexual. • Global Stakeholder Engagement Policy
• Global Diversity and Inclusion Policy
We respect the right of all workers to freedom of asso- • Global Child Labour and Remediation Protocol
ciation and collective bargaining. We are committed to • Global Anti-Corruption Policy
keeping our business free of modern slavery, including
child labour, debt bondage and human trafficking. Our Our approach to human rights is grounded in
fifth Modern Slavery Statement describes how we manage international standards, including the United Nations
slavery and human trafficking risks in our operations and Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
supply chain. (the UN Guiding Principles) and the Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and Development’s Guidelines
Our commitment to human rights is described in our for Multinational Enterprises (the OECD Guidelines),
Global Human Rights Policy. This policy sets out our and enshrined in our Principles of Responsible Business
approach to protecting the human rights of all stakehold- Conduct (the Fyffes Principles). We welcome the
ers, including our employees (all our people, whether Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, which we
contractors, seasonal or permanent workers). The policy hope will create a level playing field and reward companies
ensures that wherever local regulations may be less genuinely committed to improving human rights and
stringent than international human rights standards we environmental management in their supply chains.
will apply international standards in how we conduct
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 5

Supply Chain Due Diligence

We continually assess the actual and potential impact of our actions on human rights and the environment along
our value chain, on both a scheduled and ad-hoc basis. Our Due Diligence Policy outlines this process in more detail.
We developed our approach to human rights due diligence in line with the UN Guiding Principles and the OECD
Guidelines, with stakeholder engagement at its core (see Figure 2).

Figure 2
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 6

Every three years, we conduct an independent corporate-wide impact assessment with an experienced external business
and human rights specialist. The assessment includes interviews with internal and external stakeholders as well as a review
of external reports and media articles and a detailed review of our policies and management systems (Figure 3).

Figure 3

Human Rights
Impact Assessment:
• Evaluates our progress against mitigation and • Focuses on affected stakeholders and
prevention actions identified in the previous vulnerable groups
company-wide impact assessment
• Prioritises risks in terms of urgency
• Re-examines our salient human rights risks and the
potential and actual adverse impacts of our business • Assesses our management of potential risks
activities on rightsholders and impacts

• Assesses the potential severity and likelihood of those • Includes stakeholder consultation as an integral
impacts across our value chain in line with the criteria component
outlined in the UN Guiding Principles
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 7

This assessment defines and updates our salient human rights and environmental risks, which are:

Figure 4

Our risk assessments also evaluate how environmental degradation and/or adverse impacts on the environment affect
the human rights of people (affected stakeholders) in order to better identify and more effectively address these
interconnected impacts.

We have a greenhouse gas emissions reduction target and are working on a transition plan to mitigate our impact on
climate change. We have undertaken a Climate Change Risk Assessment to understand the impact of climate change on
our operations and surrounding communities and develop adaptation plans.

For a detailed description of each risk and why they are an issue,
please refer to our 2022 Human Rights Report
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 8

Our risk-based approach dictates the level of due diligence to be applied to Fyffes-owned farms and suppliers, detailed in
our Due Diligence Policy and summarised in Figure 5.

Figure 5

• Audit by Fyffes Responsible Sourcing

Path A: Team and verification of Supplier Code of
Enhanced
Conduct compliance
Due Diligence*
• In-depth independent HRIA every 3 years
• Loan of Fyffes UN Guiding Principles
grievance mechanism

Path B: • Additional certification

Standard • HREDD self-assessment tool
Due Diligence

• GLOBALG.A.P. certification
Path C:
• Food safety
Supplier • Sign Fyffes Supplier Code of Conduct
Due Diligence or have equivalent
• Traceability

*Enhanced due diligence will apply to all Fyffes-owned farms, regardless of risk
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 9

Prevention and Mitigation Plan Progress

In our 2022 Human Rights Report we committed to a number of actions to prevent, mitigate or remediate our
salient human rights risks. The table below highlights our action plan and any progress made. The Human Rights and
Environmental Due Diligence Committee meets quarterly to review the progress towards our plan.

Current management level:

Risk:
Occupational Health and Safety

Commitment By When Progress Details

Latin • Global Director Health, Safety and Security

America: appointed in April 2024
Develop and implement Fyffes H&S
May 2025 • Gap analysis and strategic plan to achieve
Management System Base on ISO
Other ISO 45001 standard to be completed in
45001
regions: 2024
2026

• Global Director Health, Safety and Security

Deploy behaviour based safety appointed in April 2024
February
programme for Latin America • Gap analysis and strategic plan to achieve
2025
operations ISO 45001 standard to be completed in
2024

Continue road safety campaign across

February • Continued road safety campaigns in Costa
our operations and supply chain in
2025 Rica
Latin America

• Supplier meeting to be held in 2024

Support suppliers with health and December
on health and safety with Fyffes Global
safety training 2024
Director Health, Safety and Security

• We identified mental health as a topic of

concern during our 2024 Employee
Engagement Survey
• Human Resources is developing a mental
health programme
• In 2024, we began offering office-based
Develop mental health support
March employees one day off per year for
measures as part of our health and
2025 volunteering. Volunteering has a positive
wellness philosophy
impact on employee mental health
by providing a purpose and sense of
belonging1
• We are piloting a Latin American employee
assistance programme in Costa Rica during
2024
1
https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesnonprofitcouncil/2024/03/06/volunteering-a-proven-way-to-improve-employee-well-being/
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 10

Risk:
Security and Safety in Conflict-affected Areas and High-risk Areas
(CAHRAs)

Commitment By When Progress Details

• During 2023, we provided training to

sustainability, legal, compliance, health and
safety and security staff on security and
human rights and the Voluntary Principles
on Security and Human Rights
Ensure security guards are trained in • We are developing protocols for the roles
March
line with the Voluntary Principles on and responsibilities of security personnel
2025
Security and Human Rights at the farm level and practices on the
appropriate use of force
• In 2024, all security personnel will be
trained in these protocols as well as the
Voluntary Principles on Security and
Human Rights

• We identified CAHRAs
Enhance our due diligence
• In accordance with Due Diligence Policy,
assessments in CAHRAs
we will conduct enhanced due diligence

• Evaluating employees at risk and potential

mitigation plans during 2024
Ensure at-risk workers have access to March
• Expecting to implement mitigation actions
safe transportation 2025
during 2025

• Evaluating employees at risk and potential

Propose a “safety buddy” system mitigation plans during 2024
March
for workers travelling at times of • Expecting to implement mitigation actions
2025
heightened safety risks during 2025
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 11

Risk:
Working Conditions Including Working Hours, Living Wages
and Benefits

Commitment By When Progress Details

• We reviewed overtime management

Engage and train supervisors on on our farms and identified excess
owned farms to prevent excessive overtime as an ongoing concern and non-
working hours and overtime beyond conformance against several standards
limits in line with international and certifications
standards (60 hours) • We implemented a new system of control
to ensure compliance

• Our banana and pineapple farms and

Enhance assessment processes to
suppliers completed the annual IDH Living
ensure they effectively capture living
Wage Salary Matrix, comparing workers’
wage and employment conditions
average wage and in-kind benefits against
risks throughout our supply chain
their country’s living wage benchmark

• We review the IDH Living Wage Salary

Matrix every year and are working with
several customers to help them close
Work with customers to roll out a the living wage gap in their supply
road map to living wage solutions for chains via voluntary contributions, and
workers in our supply chain more sustainable practices via retailer
commitment deadlines. For example, our
Fairtrade agreement with Sainsbury’s in
2024

Work with suppliers to better

understand working conditions December
at ports, terminals and shipping 2025
operations
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 12

Risk:
Environmental Footprint
(Including Communities’ Environment and Health)

Commitment By When Progress Details

• We conducted an assessment of key

Encourage and support suppliers suppliers in Nicaragua
to conduct community needs December • We plan to conduct an assessment in
assessments in their neighbouring 2025 Guatemala in 2024
communities • We intend to conduct an assessment in the
Dominican Republic in 2025

• Conducted community needs assessments

Achieve target of 100% of in 100% of our neighbouring communities
neighbouring communities • 2,200 people in 50 communities in five
2030
engaged in resilient socio-economic countries took part
programmes • Nearly 40% engaged in resilient socio-
economic projects

Encourage and support suppliers to • Our revised site-level due diligence

March
conduct site-level Human Rights and self-assessment tool will be launched at
2025
Environment Impact Assessments our Supplier Summit in October 2024

• We are reviewing all our farms’

environmental aspect lists to define
Conduct localised third-party
potential risks and potential need
environmental impact assessments
April for a localised environmental impact
to enhance Fyffes understanding
2026 assessment. An environmental aspect list
of its environmental impacts on
sets out elements of an organisation’s
surrounding communities
activities, products or services that interact
or can interact with the environment
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 13

Risk:
Responsible Recruitment and Forced Labour

Commitment By When Progress Details

• We identified where workers in our

operations incur costs
Review workers’ application process • We are assessing how to minimise these
and associated costs in our own farms December costs for workers
and develop an adequate mitigation 2025 • We introduced a Supplier Code of Conduct
plan and updated our Human Rights Policy to
include a section on the Employer Pays
Principle during 2024

• We mapped recruitment agencies and

the migrant workforce
• Risk analysis was developed, and
Enhance monitoring of suppliers
mitigation actions were identified. Based
and contractors and engage with
on this mapping, we started a risk analysis
recruitment agencies to improve September
and identified mitigation actions where
visibility over migrant workers’ 2024
needed. We mainly use labour agencies
working conditions in our supply
in the UK and Ireland ripening operations
chain
and audit the agencies using SMETA
guidelines, including a review of records/
payslips and right to work

Continue engaging in multi-

stakeholder engagement initiatives • Stronger Together (https://www.
to address unethical recruitment Ongoing Ongoing stronger2gether.org/) is implemented in
practices and forced labour and raise our UK ripening centres
awareness in high-risk supply chains
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 14

Risk:
Workplace Discrimination

Commitment By When Progress Details

• Completed job architecture and grading

Perform gender pay gap analysis in
down to supervisor level.
all our owned operations and achieve 2027
• On track for EU Pay Transparency
our gender pay equality target
Reporting in 2027

• We are tracking the quantity of minority

union representation
Continue to track our recruitment of
• During 2023, 100% of managers
workers belonging to minority unions
completed freedom of association training
https://www.youtube.com/@FyffesGlobal

• Our December 2023 Employee

Engagement Survey included questions
on diversity characteristics, including
Survey all employees on their
2026 sexual orientation, gender, race/ethnicity,
diversity characteristics
disability and belonging to a minority
group. The survey did not include all farm
or ripening centre employees

• Published updated hiring policy for melon

operations
• Recruitment fairs explain the policy to
Ensure hiring policy in melon potential workers
operations is understood by seasonal • Elimination of “caporal” recruitment
and permanent workers process
• Our hiring policy outlines non-
discrimination, including trade union
affiliation

Extend diversity and inclusion

2026
beyond gender
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 15

Risk:
Violence and Harassment at Work (Including Gender-based Violence)

Commitment By When Progress Details

• Training given in Belize, Costa Rica and

Guatemala during 2023 and 2024
• Our local policy on sexual harassment in
Costa Rica has been published
Establish dedicated training for • Email address established for cases of
gender-based violence and End of sexual harassment in Costa Rica
harassment, and roll it out to Latin 2025 • A local ethics committee was established
America in Costa Rica, initially focusing on sexual
harassment
• From 2025 all employees will be
required to disclose familial and intimate
relationships within reporting lines

• Online anti-harassment training and

Extend anti-harassment and bullying bullying completed by 89% of eligible
training to farm and ripening centre participants
End of
employees • In-person training rolled out to UK ripening
2025
Ensure 100% completion of online centres only
anti-harassment and bullying training • In-person training not startes in other
locations

Extend gender equality training to End of

offices and ripening centres 2026
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 16

Risk:
Child Labour

Commitment By When Progress Details

• We enhanced our risk assessment to

Enhance the scope of risk assessment better capture child labour risk. For more
processes to ensure they effectively details on our process, please refer to our
capture child labour risks throughout report on Child Labour Due Diligence in
our supply chain the Supply Chain https://www.fyffes.com/
sustainability/reports-2/

• We are working with a plantain supplier

on an independent expert multi-faceted
programme to prevent and/or mitigate
child labour to be rolled out during 2025
Engage and support suppliers to raise • We signed an agreement in 2021 with
awareness about the risk of child Fairtrade International, the Latin American
labour in the countries of operations March and Caribbean Network of Fairtrade
and supply chains that are most 2025 Small Producers and Workers, and other
exposed, especially those relying on partners to develop the Migrant Roadmap
smallholdings towards equal rights, benefits, and decent
working conditions for Haitian migrant
workers in the Dominican Republic.
Roadmap actions address child labour root
causes

• We have completed this exercise, and

Apply UNICEF’s Children’s Rights and more details can be found in our report
Business Principles to assess risks to on Child Labour Due Diligence in the
child rights within our supply chain Supply Chain https://www.fyffes.com/
sustainability/reports-2/
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 17

Risk:
Community Engagement, Indigenous Peoples and Land Rights

Commitment By When Progress Details

Deepen our understanding of the

affected communities and indigenous
End of
and tribal peoples across our value
2025
chain and update our community and
stakeholder mapping

Extend community needs • We conducted an assessment of key

assessments to other Fyffes suppliers in Nicaragua
operations and support suppliers to December • We plan to conduct an assessment
conduct similar 2025 in Guatemala in 2024
assessments in their surrounding • We intend to conduct an assessment
communities in the Dominican Republic in 2025

Build on and enhance our approach

to community engagement and agree • Finalised three-year community
on our community investment engagement strategy
strategy

Reach our target of engaging our

• Nearly 40% of communities are engaged
priority communities in resilient 2030
in resilient socio-economic projects
socio-economic projects
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 18

Risk:
Right to Work and Adequate Standard of Living

Commitment By When Progress Details

• Our banana and pineapple farms and

suppliers are required to complete the
Continue calculating the living wage IDH Living Wage Salary Matrix, which
gaps and mapping suppliers’ gaps compares workers’ average wage and
in-kind benefits against the applicable
country living wage benchmark

Initiate a project to deepen our

understanding of living income for 2026
smallholders

Programmes to support livelihoods and

production of alternative crops:
• Honduran corn planting project for
Continue to support programmes employees, families and communities
supportive of livelihood generation • School garden projects in Guatemala
including the production and to improve access to fresh produce for
2027
processing of alternative crops in the students and their families
off-season and alternative livelihood • Livelihood generation projects being
generation developed with CARE (https://www.
care.com/) and GOAL (https://www.
goalglobal.org/) in Guatemala and Costa
Rica

• We review the IDH Living Wage Salary

Matrix every year. We are working with
several customers to help them work
Partnering with our customers to find
2027 toward closing the Living Wage gap in their
ways to close the living wage gap
supply chains via voluntary contributions.
We are also helping them develop more
sustainable practices
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 19

Risk:
Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining

Commitment By When Progress Details

• 100% of managers have completed

Ensure 100% completion of freedom freedom of association training since
of association and collective 2023. Freedom of Association included in
bargaining training for managers Fyffes Principles training, which has been
rolled out to 90% of employees

• We are a founding member of the World

Banana Forum and we participate in
Continue building collaborative Working Group 3 – Labour Rights
dialogues with union members, trade • Ad hoc engagement at corporate and farm
Ongoing Ongoing
union representatives and workers’ level with Latin American unions SITRAP
committees https://sitrap.net/, COLSIBA https://www.
colsiba.org/, ANEP https://www.anep.
or.cr/ and IUF https://www.iuf.org/

Support our suppliers • We encourage suppliers to conduct

to ensure they respect their workers’ December freedom of association training using our
right to freedom of association and 2024 YouTube material https://www.youtube.
collective bargaining com/@FyffesGlobal

Risk:
Food Safety and Impact on Consumer Health

Commitment By When Progress Details

Maintain our strong food safety

March
standards and continued efforts to • We are developing a food safety policy
2025
improve consumer health

• Fyffes already has GFSI benchmarked

standards for field, harvest, packhouse and
Work with suppliers to improve their March transport (GLOBALG.A.P., BRC, IFS, Primus
food safety management systems 2025 GFS)
• Our Food Safety Policy will be rolled out to
suppliers
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 20

Risk:
Responsible Marketing Practices

Commitment By When Progress Details

Develop a responsible marketing December

policy 2024

Reinforce our ESG data collection • We are conducting our first external
and verification via external December limited assurance on a number of
assurance to substantiate all our 2024 sustainability-related metrics using an
sustainability-related claims expert consultancy

• We have reviewed the EU legislation on

Review all applicable legislation in
labelling and we are monitoring it
relation to responsible marketing,
• Through our membership of Freshfel and
labelling and communication and 2027
IBEC, we are monitoring the Green Claims
establish an action plan to ensure we
Directive to ensure compliance
comply with regulations

Continue to submit an annual • We report our statement each year to the

statement to the EU Code of Conduct EU Code of Conduct

• Through our membership of Freshfel and

Ensure compliance with EU Directive
2027 IBEC, we are monitoring the Green Claims
on Green Claims
Directive to make sure we comply
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 21

Risk:
Access to Effective Grievance Mechanisms and Remedy

Commitment By When Progress Details

Switch to a new hotline provider with

2023
better mobile access

Assess the effectiveness of our

existing operational-level grievance • We conducted an accessibility and
mechanisms to ensure they are December effectiveness assessment to test our Fyffes
accessible and effective for all 2024 Ethics Hotline against the UN Guiding
workers and affected communities Principles effectiveness criteria
throughout our supply chain

• We have trained more than 11,500

employees (over 90% of our employees) in
the Fyffes Principles and the Ethics Hotline
and have updated all posters in our offices,
Improve communication about the distribution ripening centres, farms and
Fyffes Ethics Hotline to enhance transportation buses with the new Ethics
Ongoing
workers’ and community members’ Hotline numbers
understanding and use of the service • We are developing a pamphlet which will
include Fyffes Ethics Hotline numbers to
distribute to members of communities
during our various engagement sessions
with them

Review our existing processes to

verify and provide, or cooperate
to provide, remediation in case of December
• We are finalising our Due Diligence Policy
adverse human rights impacts that 2024
we might have caused or contributed
to
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 22

Access to Effective Grievance

Mechanisms and Remedy
Why is this a salient What have we
issue for Fyffes? done so far?
The availability of a UN Guiding Principles-compliant Complaint and grievance
grievance mechanism is fundamental to the success
of human rights and environmental due diligence. mechanisms
An independent, confidential and anonymous ethics We provide legitimate, accessible, predictable, equitable
hotline provides complainants with the ability to report and transparent operational-level grievance mechanisms
misconduct by the company’s employees. aligned with the UN Guiding Principles as outlined in the
Fyffes Principles Grievance Procedures. This enables us
to understand and address challenges in our operations
and potential stakeholder dissatisfaction. To assist in the
effective receipt, retention, reporting, follow-up, and
resolution of concerns related to possible breaches of
the Fyffes Principles, we have implemented the following
communication reporting structure:

• Employees or stakeholders who believe misconduct, in

contradiction of the Fyffes Principles, has taken place
can report their concerns through existing grievance
mechanisms, including contacting the local manager,
in the case of employees their immediate supervisor
or line manager, their human resources representative
or workers’ representative, or anonymous suggestion
boxes where they exist
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 23

• If this is not an option, for any reason, stakeholders employees prefer the telephone system. In 2024, we
and employees can contact the Fyffes Ethics reviewed the effectiveness of the telephone hotline in all
Committee at [email protected] its operations with employees, testing for the operator’s
communication skills, connectivity and service quality.
• In addition, stakeholders can use the Fyffes Ethics
Hotline https://ethicshotline.fyffes.com/, an
independently run, confidential business reporting
Access to remedy
hotline available to internal and external stakeholders In line with the UN Guiding Principles, we are committed
where we have operations in their language. The to providing, or cooperating to provide, remediation
hotline complies with the UN Guiding Principles measures in cases of identified adverse human rights
impacts we might have caused or contributed to. The
• The Fyffes Ethics Hotline is confidential. Complainants goal of the remediation is to restore to rightsholders their
using the hotline who choose to remain anonymous rights as they existed before the company negatively
are provided with a unique identifying code so that impacted them, to the extent that it is possible. We will
the complaint can be assessed and investigated. If a not impede access to state-based judicial or non-judicial
complainant chooses to remain anonymous, this can mechanisms, and we cooperate with them in good faith.
reduce the speed and effectiveness of investigations

• All grievances are assessed by the Ethics Committee, Summary of cases received
which comprises senior management from the human via the Fyffes Ethics Hotline
resources, legal and compliance, and corporate affairs
departments The following paragraph has been drafted to ensure
confidentiality and avoid retaliation against complainants
• We do not tolerate any form of retaliatory action while providing transparency to stakeholders on the types
against anyone for reporting a concern or cooperating and locations of grievances in our business. To avoid
with an investigation. We will take all steps necessary compromising the outcome of live investigations, only
to protect employees expressing an honest concern. grievances raised during 2023 are shared.
It is a violation of the Fyffes Principles to make on
purpose a false accusation, lie to investigators, deny, During 2023, the Fyffes Ethics Committee investigated 13
or refuse to cooperate with an investigation related grievances raised by stakeholders, via various channels,
to these Principles. Doing so could lead to disciplinary including senior managers, directly to the Ethics
measures Committee email and the Fyffes Ethics Hotline. Three
allegations were not substantiated after thorough
• The Ethics Committee assesses, investigates, and investigation, and one allegation highlighted a significant
agrees on an action plan, and resolves and reports on cultural issue although there was insufficient evidence
complaints to the Board of Directors and our parent for the Ethics Committee to take action. However, a
company Sumitomo, as outlined in our grievance programme to address the cultural issue has been
procedures implemented.

• The time necessary to handle and resolve complaints Of the remaining substantiated issues, three allegations
may differ depending on the complaint’s scale, were related to Belize (sexual harassment/abuse of power,
complexity and geographical origin, and complaints discrimination and conflict of interest), three were related
will be resolved in the shortest possible time frame. to Honduras (disrespectful treatment) and one was related
The Ethics Committee will either investigate the nature to Guatemala (harassment, disrespectful treatment).
of the complaint or appoint a team to do so
In response to the allegations, we have developed and
• When the investigation is complete, the Ethics rolled out sexual harassment prevention training for
Committee will agree on an action plan to address the employees in Costa Rica, Belize and Guatemala. We have
grievance or, if the matter has been resolved, a final also trained our leaders and dismissed perpetrators of
summary of the case will be communicated to the misconduct.
complainant
The Ethics Committee investigates grievances as required
During 2023, we successfully introduced a new provider and meets monthly to review and assess the progress of
for the Fyffes Ethics Hotline with much better accessibility investigations, as well as any additional training, policies or
and mobile network coverage than the previous provider. other programmes to continue to enhance our culture in
While the internet-based hotline functions well, many line with our vision of Shaping Wellbeing for the World.
 FYFFES HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2023 24

Conclusion
It is more than five years since we set ourselves the goal of becoming the
leading company in our sector for human rights and environmental policies
and practices. We want to stay ahead of human rights and environmental
due diligence legislation, ensure the best possible working conditions for
our people, and support healthy and vibrant communities. We will continue
to help our growers meet rising regulatory requirements and customer
expectations by providing training and frameworks so they can fulfil our high
expectations.

In this report, we have tried to be as transparent as possible about our

progress over the past three years. We hope it provides consumers and
customers with the information they need to make an informed decision
about our company and the fresh produce we sell to countless people
across the globe.