BT 2014 Annual Report Download - page 51

48 The Strategic Report
Delivering our strategy
Human rights
BTs human rights policy is set out in The Way
We Work, our statement of business practices.
It applies to all BT employees, our suppliers and
anyone working on behalf of BT.
To cover the most likely areas where BT could negatively impact on
human rights, we have clear global policies which cascade from our
statement of business practices. These include Anti-Corruption 
Bribery our Data and Privacy policies the GS18 Sourcing with
Human Dignity standard (which applies to all of BTs suppliers) our Conict
Minerals Policy various security policies and a number of our Human
Resources policies (covering diversity, inclusion, and health,
safety and wellbeing).
We monitor the eectiveness of these policies on a regular basis with the
appropriate Board committee oversight. During the year, the Compliance
Programme Panel, a committee of senior commercial representatives
from across the business, reviewed our compliance framework for human
rights and in March 2014 we reported on our progress to the
Operating
Committee
, Nominating  Governance Committee and Audit  Risk
Committee
. We also conducted an initial impact assessment to clarify
the areas where our operations are most likely to impact human rights.
The main ones relate to workers in our supply chain how we safeguard
data about our customers and employees and the way our products and
services are used. We will continue with and expand on this work.
We have in place, and have used, escalation processes for issues or
non-compliance with these policies. We also have our condential hotline,
for reporting certain types of malpractice or wrongdoing in the work
place. We act upon instances of ethical or compliance misconduct and
include some information on this area in our Better Future report.
<ou can Ƭnd our Better Future report at
www.bt.combetterfuturereport
Our aims for 201415 include further developing our compliance
framework in consideration of human rights, including a Board level
review of our overarching human rights policy. We will continue to work
with our suppliers, customers and partners, along with industry, sector
and government bodies to reinforce the message around respect of
human rights. Our Better Future strategy and our involvement in local
communities drives forward our objective to promote and support
human rights.
Regulation
In nearly all our markets, communications services
are subject to regulation by governmental and
non-governmental bodies. This is to make sure that
CPs abide by common standards and rules and that
nobody is disadvantaged by those CPs with strong
positions in their markets. In this section we explain
some of the recent and upcoming decisions taken
by regulators and how they aect us.
European Union (EU) regulation
In EU countries, electronic communications networks and services
are governed by a number of European directives and regulations.
These create a Europe-wide framework covering services including
xed and mobile voice, broadband, cable and satellite TV.
The directives include rules covering access and interconnection,
universal service obligations, and a requirement for national regulators
to review markets for signicant market power (SMP) every three years.
They also cover how regulators set price controls. They require regulators
to consult with the European Commission (EC) on any price control
decisions before they are nalised to make sure they are consistent with
European regulations.
In 201415 telecoms legislation will be revised to further harmonise
rules across member states on access, spectrum and mobile roaming.
The EC is also expected to review which markets should be covered by
telecoms regulation.
UK regulation
The telecoms industry is regulated primarily by Ofcom (the UKs
independent regulator), through various European directives, the
Communications Act 2003 (the Communications Act), as well as
other regulations and recommendations.
The Communications Act
The Communications Act gives Ofcom legal powers and sets out the
requirements for how electronic communications services should be
regulated in the UK. It includes the conditions imposed by the
European directives.
In July 2013, the UK Government set out its plans (Connectivity,
Content and Consumers) to make sure that people and businesses
are able to make the most of the digital age. These include a review
of broadcasting and pay-TV regulation and aim to give Ofcom a duty
to ensure consumers can easily switch bundles of services between
suppliers. Any agreed changes may need to be incorporated into the
Communications Act.