At Cisco, we invest significant time and resources to help ensure that our activities and policies are consistent with and promote our goals, initiatives, and business values.

Our Sustainable Business Practices (SBP) team, in partnership with functional Cisco business leaders, endeavors to continuously improve our CSR practices and programs. In particular, the SBP team engages with our global stakeholders to identify emerging issues and then evaluates our CSR performance by assessing our social, ethical, and environmental practices and policies.

Each quarter, the SBP team and Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs report on CSR issues and performance to the Executive Vice President of Operations and his direct staff. Unaddressed issues may be assigned directly to the appropriate business leader or cross-functional team for further recommendation and resolution. Broader issues and recommendations affecting Cisco’s long-term strategic plan may be escalated to peers on Cisco’s Operating Committee for further discussion and resolution.

We believe that our Board of Directors is able to effectively oversee the impact Cisco’s policies and activities have on our responsible business management and overall CSR performance through the SBP team, as well as through various CSR issue-related councils, project teams, and embedded businesses processes.

Ethical guidelines for all Cisco employees and our subsidiaries, as well as members of the Cisco Board of Directors, are developed by the Cisco Ethics Program Office, presented through the Cisco Code of Business Conduct, and annually affirmed by employees.

The Code of Business Conduct has been designed to deter wrongdoing and to promote:

• Honest and ethical conduct, including the ethical handling of actual or apparent conflicts of interest between personal and professional relationships
• Full, fair, accurate, timely, and understandable disclosure in reports and documents that Cisco files with, or submits to, government agencies and in other public communications
• The protection of Cisco's confidential and proprietary information and that of our customers and vendors
• Compliance with applicable governmental laws, rules and regulations
• The prompt internal reporting of violations of this code
• Accountability for adherence to this code