CSR Information

Putting Smiles on the Faces of Everyone Nintendo Touches

CSR Factory Verification conducted in 2018

Supply Chain

Promoting CSR activities throughout
our entire supply chain.

We work to create positive relationships with our various business partners, striving to create an environment that can provide our consumers with better products.

CSR Factory Verification conducted in 2018

Nintendo’s CSR Procurement

Nintendo employs a fabless production model for our main products, including gaming systems and accessories, which means that we do not own the facilities that manufacture those products. We work with our numerous production partners^*1 in Japan and around the world to improve quality and technical capability, ensure safety and achieve production efficiency.

Nintendo also has established the basic procurement and business partner selection policies to promote production that complies with laws, regulations and social standards, while taking into account human rights and the global environment. We have also created these policies to build trust with our business partners so that we can fulfill our social responsibilities collaboratively.

Advancing CSR activities throughout our entire supply chain is a way for Nintendo to not only improve the working environment for those employed at the production sites, but to also lead to worker retention and enhanced productivity. This provides a foundation for the production of high-quality products, is connected to environmental considerations, and, ultimately, leads to more smiles for our consumers and everyone Nintendo touches. We continue to work together with our production partners on the promotion of CSR activities, with a focus on communication and mutual understanding.

*1 Production partners: Business partners involved in the production of Nintendo products, including first-tier suppliers with whom we contract directly, as well as upstream factories subcontracted for product assembly and our component suppliers.

Basic Procurement Philosophy

Nintendo has formulated Procurement Standards both to clarify procurement criteria and to work on various areas such as improvements in product quality. Within these standards, our basic procurement and business partner selection policies are defined as follows:

Basic Procurement Policy

Conduct procurement by providing an equal opportunity to all suppliers, both inside and outside Japan, based on fair evaluations
Strive to give careful consideration to human rights and the global environment in all procurement activities, while complying with laws and social standards
Purchase suitable goods at fair prices from production partners that are in good standing and that provide appropriate delivery times
Work to build cooperation and mutual trust with our suppliers to fulfill our corporate social responsibility together through procurement
Comply with the Nintendo Responsible Mineral Procurement Policy in the procurement of products and component parts

Business Partner Selection Policy

When selecting suppliers or extending existing transactions for the procurement of products and components, priority will be given to companies that satisfy the following criteria:

Comply with laws and social standards, with an emphasis on human rights and environmental considerations
Engage in sound business operations
Meet appropriate standards for quality, price and delivery times
Possess the capability to provide stable supply and to adapt flexibly to fluctuations in supply and demand
Possess advanced technological capabilities that contribute to Nintendo products
Have strong information management systems in place
Are capable of resuming supply as quickly as possible, even in the event of a disaster or other unforeseen event

CSR Procurement Policy

With our basic procurement policy, throughout all of our procurement-related activities, Nintendo is committed to complying with laws, regulations and social standards, as well as to advancing the consideration of human rights and the global environment. Under this policy, we also work with our business partners for their understanding of and cooperation with our policies. To facilitate these efforts, we have established the Nintendo CSR Procurement Guidelines and promote CSR procurement activities.

The division in charge of procurement created the Nintendo CSR Procurement Guidelines (in Japanese, English and Chinese) to further ensure that we fulfill our social responsibility throughout the supply chain, with an emphasis on deepening mutual understanding and building trust with our production partners.

These guidelines, created with the advice of external specialists, adopt the standards of the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) ^*2. They provide specific guidance based on relevant international laws, regulations and standards that address topics such as human rights, sustainability and ethical procurement, including the prohibition of forced labor, respect for workers’ rights and occupational health and safety.

*2 Responsible Business Alliance (RBA): An organization that promotes the creation of a safe working environment, treatment of workers with respect and dignity, and sustainability improvements in the electronics industry.

Nintendo CSR Procurement Guidelines

Guideline Sections	Examples of Section Contents
1. Promoting respect for and compliance with human rights	Respect human rights Prohibition of discrimination Prohibition of child/forced labor Comply with related laws (decent wages, working hours, right to organize)
2. Ensuring occupational health and safety	Comply with health and safety-related laws Prevent work-related accidents Create a safe, clean workplace environment Protection of young workers
3. Practicing corporate ethics and fair trade	Prohibition of bribery and inappropriate payoffs or receipts Prohibition of abuse of dominant bargaining position Prohibition of acts that restrict competition Appropriate export management Responsible mineral procurement Build a management system Prevention and early detection of illegal actions and misconduct Respect for intellectual property
4. Maintaining the global environment	Create an environmental management system Minimizing the environmental impact Advance Green Procurement
5. Product safety guarantee and quality assurance	Establish a quality management system Guarantee product safety
6. Complete information management	Establish an information management system Prevent disclosure of confidential client and third-party information
7. Establishing crisis management systems	Establish a risk management system Create a Business Continuity Plan (BCP)
8. Contributing to the community	Contribute to local communities

Nintendo CSR Procurement Guidelines (Full Text/PDF) (247KB)

Respect for Human Rights

Nintendo places great importance on respect for human rights and includes this as the first item in our CSR Procurement Guidelines. We prohibit the use of forced labor, child labor, prison labor, slave labor, human trafficking and other forms of involuntary labor in all parts of our supply chain. If forced labor were ever discovered, our policy is to require remediation and to discontinue the manufacturing or procurement relationship if the situation is not remedied.

In September 2018, we established the Nintendo Human Rights Policy based on the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

The Nintendo Human Rights Policy applies to everyone employed by Nintendo and also stipulates that we will continuously encourage our business partners to take socially responsible actions in the supply chain.

Our due diligence processes (including written surveys, CSR Factory Verifications and third-party audits) have not found any situations that would constitute a violation of human rights or forced labor.

Going forward, we will continue to pay careful attention to external trends, including applicable laws and regulations, and work to respect human rights in our procurement activities by engaging in necessary communication and confirmation with our business partners as appropriate.

CSR Procurement Management Structure

At Nintendo, the CSR Coordination Team and the division in charge of procurement work together to follow external trends and communicate with stakeholders as they work on CSR procurement. This team and division also report on the progress of these activities to executive management and discuss what measures to take to reduce the risks related to CSR procurement.

Employees of our division in charge of procurement keep these guidelines in mind as they conduct their procurement activities. We also continue to conduct seminars and other educational opportunities with outside experts to deepen our understanding of CSR procurement.

Coordination in the CSR Procurement Working Group

Nintendo established the internal CSR Procurement Working Group to globally share information related to each country’s CSR procurement activities in the supply chain. This working group brings together representatives of the Nintendo group from all around the world, each sharing the status of their CSR procurement activities, as well as discussing initiatives for the group as a whole.

CSR Procurement Program

In deciding to start new business relationships or continue existing ones with partners, Nintendo not only verifies factors such as their financial situation, but also evaluates these companies based on their CSR procurement policies and philosophy.

Production Partner Evaluation and Selection Process

CSR Procurement Program

Distribute and Ensure Awareness of Guidelines With Production Partners

We distribute the Nintendo CSR Procurement Guidelines to all first-tier suppliers and enter into basic business agreements that include a section on compliance with the Guidelines. We also require first-tier suppliers to disseminate these Guidelines on our behalf to second-tier suppliers and beyond, and to require their compliance.

Confirmation by Written Survey

We require all first-tier suppliers to report annually on their CSR efforts, as well as on their operation status, using the Business Status Survey. This ensures that we are aware of the CSR promotion status of our production partners. We receive these reports from all first-tier suppliers.

In the Business Status Survey, we also confirm that our production partners appropriately share the Nintendo CSR Procurement Guidelines or equivalent standards with their own production partners, and that this information is made known to their workers.

Additionally, to understand the status of CSR promotion at each factory of our production partners, we ask them to report on the status of CSR efforts at the factory level, using the Factory Status Survey.

The Factory Status Survey includes items related to human rights, such as whether management systems and checks are in place to prevent forced labor, child labor and discrimination. It also asks about working hours, wages, protection of pregnant and nursing workers and young workers, and other health and safety questions. We also check that there is an internal reporting mechanism that allows workers to file complaints.

CSR Factory Verifications

The division in charge of procurement at Nintendo conducts CSR Factory Verifications of our production partners selected on the basis of their responses to the Business Status Survey and Factory Status Survey, business criticality, changes in the environment and other such factors. During these CSR Factory Verifications, we examine relevant documents and inspect the production sites and dormitories. Sampling checks are conducted for the respect of human rights, labor contracts, prohibition of discrimination, child labor and forced labor, compliance with legal wages, management of working hours, health and safety of the work site, and the dissemination of this information to the workers. Through these efforts, we work to understand the state of the production sites and what improvements have been made. The CSR Factory Verifications not only serve to help us learn about the current situation, but they also offer a valuable opportunity to encourage a deeper understanding of the Nintendo CSR Procurement Guidelines, and to foster mutual understanding through direct conversation about our production partners' thoughts on CSR activities.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, related circumstances prevented us from conducting our usual factory visits. However, we have worked to understand the status of CSR activities through communication efforts, such as increasing the frequency of video conferences with our production partners.

In FY 2021, we also verified the CSR status at some production partners through written CSR Factory Verification Surveys, which incorporated details reviewed during our on-site CSR Factory Verifications in the past. We later conducted video conferences with production partners to confirm the content of the survey responses. During these video conferences, we asked about health and human rights, occupational health and safety, nursing rooms as well as other considerations for pregnant and nursing workers, internal reporting (hotline) systems, implementation of disaster drills, frequency of health checkups, the environment for waste disposal, security measures and other relevant initiatives.

Since FY 2022, we have been conducting CSR Factory Verifications that formally incorporate the CSR Factory Verification Survey and video conferences as part of our procedure. In addition, we conducted on-site visits to some production partners in-scope for the FY 2022 CSR Factory Verification cycle.

Third-Party Audits

In addition to the CSR Factory Verifications described above, we conduct third-party audits, focusing on further improving the transparency of our CSR procurement. With emphasis on the human rights and labor management aspects of the Nintendo CSR Procurement Guidelines, third-party auditors make visits to certain major production partners, who are selected on the basis of prior CSR Factory Verifications, past third-party audit records, our business transactions and other such factors. During third-party audits, the auditors interview managers and workers employed at the production site in their native language, review relevant documents and inspect production facilities and dormitories. The team uses a sampling method to validate compliance in areas including respect for human rights, employment contracts, prohibition of discrimination, child labor and forced labor, compliance with legal minimum wages, management of working hours and the health and safety of the work site.

In consideration of the impact of COVID-19, we implemented remote audits for our FY 2020 and FY 2021 audit cycles. We conducted on-site audits for the FY 2022 cycle.

Follow-Up for Improvement

We share the risks identified through the CSR Factory Verifications and third-party audits with our production partners and ask them to make improvements regarding essential matters. We cooperate with our production partners to make these improvements and verify them via on-site inspections.

CSR Procurement Program Improvements

We continuously improve our CSR procurement program through initiatives such as the following.

Review of the partner-evaluation procedure (including a revision of the Factory Status Survey to strengthen risk assessment)
Continuous improvements to the CSR Factory Verification procedures (including the creation of a manual)
Continuous training of members who conduct the CSR Factory Verifications (including a certification program for the relevant representatives)
Strengthening of the follow-up process (including a revision of the follow-up criteria)
Re-evaluation of the supply chain
Revision of the Nintendo CSR Procurement Guidelines

Responsible Mineral Procurement

Nintendo takes the following measures from the perspective of social responsibility to ensure that minerals that become a financial source for organizations associated with human rights violations, environmental destruction and the inhumane use of military force, as well as problematic minerals mined in connection with human rights violations or environmental destruction, are not used in our products.

Nintendo Responsible Mineral Procurement Policy

Nintendo is committed to implementing responsible raw material procurement and has established as a basic policy that minerals^*1 (including tin, tantalum, tungsten, gold, cobalt, etc.) that become a source of finances for organizations associated with human rights violations such as child labor, environmental destruction and the inhumane use of military force are not used in our products from the perspective of social responsibility. By describing the policy above in the Nintendo CSR Procurement Guidelines, we conduct the following initiatives in collaboration with our production partners:

We work to understand the supply chains of minerals used in our products, referring to guidelines such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's “OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas.”
Along with incorporating a section on compliance with the Nintendo CSR Procurement Guidelines into our basic supplier contract, we take additional opportunities to ensure that all production partners have a clear understanding of Nintendo policies. We conduct our business in accordance with these policies. In addition, we require production partners to establish a policy that prohibits the use of such minerals.
In the future, if more effective procurement methods are established that support eliminating the use of problematic minerals extracted in conflict-affected and high-risk areas, whether through the Responsible Minerals Assurance Process (RMAP) of the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) ^*2 or another program, we will work to actively adopt these in cooperation with our production partners.

*1: Minerals from areas designated as conflict-affected or high-risk in the “OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas,” as well as those determined by Nintendo to pose a high risk from the viewpoint of social responsibility.
*2 Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI): An initiative for promoting conflict-free sourcing of minerals through efforts such as the development of inspection tools for ensuring responsible mineral procurement.
https://www.responsiblemineralsinitiative.org

Responsible Mineral Procurement Management Structure

A cross-functional investigation team consisting of members from areas such as CSR promotion and procurement drive this initiative according to the Nintendo Responsible Mineral Procurement Policy. The responsible teams implement written surveys and interviews regarding responsible mineral procurement, report the findings to the responsible party (Senior General Manager of the General Affairs Division) and discuss the measures that Nintendo must take in responsibly procuring minerals. We also make continuous improvements by directly visiting our production partners to deepen understanding regarding the investigation into responsible mineral procurement through mutual communication.

Responsible Mineral Procurement Survey

Many electronic parts and circuits are used in Nintendo products, and these contain tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold. Nintendo conducts a survey of all our business partners that supply parts containing these minerals.

We started using our own format in 2012 for these surveys. In 2014, we adopted the Conflict Minerals Reporting Template, the international standard, and use it to investigate the supply chain upstream from our first-tier suppliers. The response rate to the FY 2022 written survey was 100%, and we have conducted due diligence, including performing risk analysis and evaluation for all the responses received and providing feedback.

Since FY 2019, we have also conducted investigations for the distribution process of our cobalt supply chain using the cobalt template created by RMI to better understand the current situation.

In our survey this year, we confirmed that our supply chain includes 335 smelters and refiners reported to use the minerals listed above. We then compared these companies against sources such as the RMI lists of smelters and refiners. By doing so, we found that 318 are RMI Standard Smelters and also Conformant Smelters (smelters and refiners that have passed an RMI audit, etc.)^*3.

If our surveys find that a business partner is using a smelter or refiner that is not a Conformant Smelter, Nintendo will approach that partner to request that they ask their applicable upstream smelter or refiner to participate in the RMAP (Responsible Minerals Assurance Process) audit program. If a problematic mineral is found, we will continue to conduct due diligence to prevent its use, such as changing the procurement source.

*3 Conformant Smelters (smelters and refiners that have passed an RMI audit, etc.): Smelters and refiners that are conformant to the RMI-led conflict-free smelter program evaluation protocol and have been recognized as having no relation to conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo or its neighboring countries, or those that have been recognized as having no relation to conflict by other independent third-party audit programs.

Survey Results

Number of Smelters and Refiners Identified in the RMI Standard Smelter List (FY 2022 Survey)

	Gold	Tantalum	Tin	Tungsten	Cobalt	Total
Standard Smelters	113	43	75	46	41	318
Conformant Smelters (smelters and refiners that have passed an RMI audit, etc.) (Including Active list^*4 Standard Smelters)	113	43	75	46	41	318

List of standard smelters identified in the Nintendo supply chain

*4 Active list: A list of smelters and refiners that are in the process of being audited by RMI or other certification programs.

CSR Information Home