Burger King 2012 Annual Report Download - page 27

Table of Contents
The Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in public accommodations and employment. We have,
in the past, been required to make certain modifications to our restaurants pursuant to the ADA. In addition, future mandated modifications to our facilities to
make different accommodations for disabled persons and modifications required under the ADA could result in material unanticipated expense to us and our
franchisees.
If we fail to comply with existing or future laws and regulations, we may be subject to governmental or judicial fines or sanctions. In addition, our and
our franchisees’ capital expenditures could increase due to remediation measures that may be required if we are found to be noncompliant with any of these
laws or regulations.
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In the ordinary course of our business, we collect, process, transmit and retain personal information regarding our employees and their families,
franchisees, vendors and consumers, including social security numbers, banking and tax ID information, health care information and credit card
information. Some of this personal information is held and managed by certain of our vendors. Although we use security and business controls to limit access
and use of personal information, a third party may be able to circumvent those security and business controls, which could result in a breach of employee,
consumer or franchisee privacy. A major breach, theft or loss of personal information regarding our employees and their families, our franchisees, vendors or
consumers that is held by us or our vendors could result in substantial fines, penalties and potential litigation against us which could negatively impact our
results of operations and financial condition. Furthermore, as a result of legislative and regulatory rules, we may be required to notify the owners of the
personal information of any data breaches, which could harm our reputation and financial results, as well as subject us to litigation or actions by regulatory
authorities.
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
We rely heavily on our computer systems and network infrastructure across our operations including, but not limited to, point-of-sale processing at our
restaurants. Despite our implementation of security measures, all of our technology systems are vulnerable to damage, disability or failures due to physical
theft, fire, power loss, telecommunications failure or other catastrophic events, as well as from internal and external security breaches, denial of service
attacks, viruses, worms and other disruptive problems caused by hackers. If our technology systems were to fail, and we were unable to recover in a timely
way, we could experience an interruption in our operations which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
Furthermore, to the extent that some of our worldwide reporting systems require or rely on manual processes, it could increase the risk of a breach. Although
our Twitter account was compromised in February 2013, our systems have never been breached and we have not experienced a cyber attack in the past.
In addition, a number of our systems and processes are not fully integrated worldwide and, as a result, require us to manually estimate and consolidate
certain information that we use to manage our business. To the extent that we are not able to obtain transparency into our operations from our systems, it could
impair the ability of our management to react quickly to changes in the business or economic environment.
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We are subject to various federal, state, local and foreign environmental laws and regulations. These laws and regulations govern, among other things,
discharges of pollutants into the air and water as well as the presence, handling, release and disposal of and exposure to, hazardous substances. These laws
and regulations provide for significant fines and penalties for noncompliance. If we fail to comply with these laws or regulations, we could be fined or
otherwise sanctioned by regulators. Third parties may also make personal injury, property damage or other claims against us associated with releases of, or
actual or alleged exposure to, hazardous substances at, on or from our properties.
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Source: Burger King Worldwide, Inc., 10-K, February 22, 2013 Powered by Morningstar® Document Research℠
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