SEDAL PURCHASE POLICY

Description:
The term Purchase Policy refers to the criteria for any acquisition process, which reflect Sedal’s values, principles, and guidelines for conduct in any client, customer, or supplier relationship made in the company.
Aim:
The aim of the SEDAL Purchase Policy is to provide its collaborators with guidelines for purchasing products and services, in order to establish a management style that guarantees objectivity, transparency, and excellence in the purchase process, achieving optimal efficiency in management in satisfying the aim of the purchase itself.
  1. Purchase Conduct
All collaborators are expected to base their purchase decisions and conduct on SEDAL’s values and practices.
  1. Purchase Practices
All collaborators directly or indirectly involved in purchase activities, particularly direct supervisors, will be responsible for looking out for SEDAL’s good name at all times, establishing and preserving appropriate relations between the company and its corporate suppliers and guaranteeing the use of unobjectionable purchase practices.
The following practices must be considered in every purchase:
a) SEDAL’s interest must be considered first in all purchase decisions, over and above the particular interest of the departments.
b) The personnel in charge of dealing with the purchase of products and services for SEDAL must place purchase orders and prepare contracts with suppliers without any type of favouritism, taking only the overall interest of the company into account.
c) All purchases or agreements with suppliers must previously be approved by authorities with the necessary powers to authorise said purchase. Company resources should not be allotted, contracts signed, nor purchase orders generated without having received authorisation to do so. The practice of purchasing first and asking for authorisation afterwards is not acceptable at SEDAL.
d) Nor can money be promised or advanced without the guarantee of reliable fulfilment, when fitting.
f) Healthy competition should be promoted among suppliers in order to get the greatest added value for the company, without losing sight of SEDAL’s mission in terms of developing mutually beneficial, long-term relationships with suppliers with high standards of quality, reliability, and transparency.
g) Transparency, efficiency, and agility should continually be promoted and strengthened in purchase processes.
h) Indifference or passivity in the face of purchase practices observed to be inappropriate or in conflict with SEDAL’s code of conduct or purchase policy are not acceptable.
Conflicts of Interest
A collaborator mustn’t participate in any activity or decision that involves a real or potential conflict of interest for the company.
Collaborators who have any stake in a supplying company or a family relationship up the second degree with any of its main partners or executives making purchase decisions should abstain from participating in the purchase decisions related to this supplier.
In these cases or in any others that prevent the collaborator from having the necessary independence or neutrality, the collaborator should abstain from making any decision and inform his or her direct superior or corporate purchase manager in order to decide how the relationship with this supplier should be handled, if it is a supplier duly qualified to operate with SEDAL.
Gifts and Incentives
No collaborator involved in handling purchasing may use his or her authority or position in the organisation for personal benefit.
In order to protect the image and the integrity of the collaborator and the company, as a general rule, gifts or incentives should not be accepted from suppliers, except for small gifts or courtesy invitations of little intrinsic value, which may be given sporadically. In those cases when gifts or invitations which don’t fall into this category are received (such as, for example, trips or stays in hotels), the collaborator should courteously refuse, or inform the Manager of Corporate Purchasing and Suppliers to get advice about how to proceed.
In other words, the frequency and nature of gifts that may be accepted should not allow the receiver to seem, in the eyes of others, to be influenced in making business decisions as a result of accepting said gifts, nor should they in any case lead the receiver to think that there is any possibility of losing his or her independence.
Policy on Suppliers
The Supplier Administration Policy is based on SEDAL’s business mission, in terms of maintaining a business relationship with our suppliers that is mutually beneficial, loyal, and with high standards of quality, reliability, and transparency.
 
 
Principles for Relations with Suppliers:
a) Long-term, profitable relationships
In purchasing decisions, SEDAL gives priority to commercial and service relationships that are sustainable long-term and profitable for both SEDAL and its Suppliers over benefits that are merely short-term.
b) Fulfilment of commitments
Guaranteeing the fulfilment of commitments made to our suppliers is an intrinsic part of SEDAL’s business ethic. For this reason, the collaborators who make these commitments, whether verbally or in writing, must have sufficient powers to do so.
c) Transparency and objectivity in purchase processes
The purchase process should guarantee absolute transparency in the management of purchases and objectivity in decision-making.

d) Equal opportunities for suppliers
Suppliers should be guaranteed equal opportunities to offer their products or services to SEDAL for a certain purchase process.
e) Evaluation of suppliers
The performance of SEDAL’s suppliers must be evaluated as such, according to evaluation criteria defined by the company and applied in function of the characteristics of the product acquired or the service hired from the supplier. Those suppliers who obtain a negative evaluation should take steps to reach standards or their respective contracts should be terminated, as corresponds.
f) Formality in relations with suppliers
SEDAL’s business relationship with suppliers must always be formal and agreements must be made in writing. Suppliers should be answered quickly and courteously.
g) Suitable payments
Suppliers should be paid suitably, according to the conditions agreed upon in their respective contracts, without distinction as to the supplier, in order to facilitate and prioritise the payment process, which the supplier should know.
h) Listening to suppliers
The practice of listening systematically and professionally to suppliers should be firmly established, in order to attend to their concerns, suggestions, and requests, allowing us to continually improve our relationship with them. For this purpose, formal channels of communication will be established.
i) Limited base of suppliers
An optimal number of suppliers for purchasing items should be maintained in order to guarantee healthy competition and diversification of risk for the continuity of operations.