Cisco’s response:

Thank you for contacting Cisco.  We appreciate the opportunity to share our view on and approach around the important issues of forced labor and human rights.

Cisco has a longstanding commitment to uphold and respect human rights for all people. We strive to identify and manage our human rights impacts, mitigate risks, and foster collaborative and transparent engagement with our stakeholders. We take human rights issues very seriously and our Global Human Rights Policy is consistent with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).

Cisco is committed to a global approach based on international labor and human rights standards as well as best practices across the global business community to help prevent forced labor and human trafficking. Cisco complies with the laws and regulations in the countries where we operate, and we have instituted internal processes and procedures to align with regulatory requirements.

Cisco requires suppliers to comply with the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) Code of Conduct as a condition of doing business with us. By adopting the RBA Code as our own Cisco Supplier Code of Conduct, we set standards and expectations for labor, health and safety, environment, ethics, and management systems that are consistent across the electronics industry supply chain. The Supplier Code of Conduct prohibits the use of forced labor and requires suppliers to cascade these prohibitions to their next-tier suppliers and within their supply chains.

Cisco regularly conducts due diligence of suppliers around the world to assess compliance with the Supplier Code of Conduct using audits and assessments. Audits are conducted onsite using certified independent third-party auditors specifically trained in social auditing to the Supplier Code of Conduct. We outline our due diligence processes in our Modern Slavery Statement and annually publish results of our actions to identify, mitigate and remediate forced labor issues in our ESG Hub. If we are not able to satisfactorily address an issue with a supplier, we may terminate the supplier relationship. Some concrete examples of actions we have taken are described in our latest Purpose Report.

In addition to working directly with our suppliers, we also collaborate with industry peers through the RBA and its Responsible Labor Initiative, a multi-industry, multi-stakeholder initiative focused on the rights of workers vulnerable to forced labor. Our participation in these industry initiatives helps drive consistent expectations for due diligence and remediation, as appropriate, across the industry.

For further details, our Global Human Rights Policy and Code of Business Conduct guide how Cisco operates while our Supplier Ethics Policy and Supplier Code of Conduct reflect our pledge to uphold the human rights of people who work in our supply chain.