— The Business Ethics Committee, an advisory body for the Mitsubishi Motors board of directors, held its 13th meeting at the Shinagawa Headquarters on Tuesday March 29. (Committee member Fujimoto was absent.)
After a briefing by the company that summarized the course of the investigations and their findings, the Committee discussed the following agenda from the standpoint of "external perspec-tive" and "observing compliance": (1) The company's final report submitted in response to the warning notice issued by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport; (2) The internal disci-plinary measures to be imposed and other action to be taken in connection with the past recall problems. The comments made by members of the Committee are summarized below.
- The Committee has, since its inauguration, viewed "the bringing together of all relevant data and material on the past recall problem" to be a matter of utmost importance and a precondi-tion for the revitalization of the company. The Committee welcomes the fact that the company has now completed a three-part package that comprises: the investigation into the facts by a panel of external lawyers, the announcement of internal disciplinary measures and the set of recurrence prevention measures.
- The Committee considered that the company needed to come up with the three-part package by the end of the current fiscal year (March 31) at latest because the situation demanded that action be taken at the earliest possible time.
- The Committee notes with approval that the appointment of a new management team has not resulted any deviation in Mitsubishi Motors' commitment to standards of regulatory and ethical compliance. In particular, the Committee commends the new chairman for announcing so soon a "Quality Policy" that places compliance first and foremost and the new president for his declaration that he will make the observance of corporate ethical standards a matter of the highest priority.
- Noting that the company is now ready to put them into practice, the Committee entreats the company to implement faithfully and with unwavering persistence the recurrence prevention measures contained in the final report to be submitted to the Ministry on March 30.
- The Committee reminds the company that the perceptions and views expressed in the report on the investigation by the panel of external lawyers are, of course, those of the reporter of the investigation.
- The Committee calls on the company to make public at the press conference the Committee's views on the internal disciplinary measures in the form of "Committee Chairman's Comments" in view of the nature of the affair and of the fact that the disciplinary action is, in the end, a management decision.
The Committee recently met four times — on March 15, 22, 24 and 28 — to hold discussions and exchange views from an "observing compliance" standpoint on the agenda topics 1.) and 2.) above. (The views expressed at those meetings are included in the comments given above.)
As the company starts to implement the recurrence prevention measures referred to above, it will expect more from the Committee in terms of formulation and monitoring of compliance policy for fiscal 2005 onward. We therefore welcome the appointment to the Committee of Professor No-buyuki Yamamoto from the Compliance Research Center, Toin Yokohama University, effective March 15 2005.
Noboru Matsuda
Business Ethics Committee Chairman
