Teosto’s Code of Conduct
Approved by the Board of Directors on 16 Aug 2023
The Finnish Composers’ Copyright Society Teosto is a non-profit organisation that manages the copyrights of music authors and promotes Finnish creative musical art. Through our operations, we also bear responsibility for the diversity and future opportunities of the entire music culture. Our everyday work must meet the ethical expectations set for us by our stakeholders.
Teosto’s Code of Conduct is the backbone of our responsible operations. The Code of Conduct is based on our values: openness, boldness and goal-orientation. The Code of Conduct guides our everyday work, and following it is part of every Teosto employee’s duties. Teosto’s management and supervisors are responsible for personnel being thoroughly trained in the Code of Conduct. We also require our partners to operate responsibly.
The Code of Conduct has been approved by Teosto’s Board of Directors. In addition, Teosto is committed to the entire cultural sector’s ethical guidelines.
1. Our operations are based on following the law and official regulations
At Teosto, we follow the law in everything we do. We also require all our partners to follow the law. Our operations are guided by, for example, the legislation related to copyright and their collective management, competition law, the Associations Act and the legislation related to accounting, auditing and data protection.
2. We follow good governance practices
In our operations, we follow the industry’s good practices, the agreements we have made and the instructions we have approved. We ensure that the key decisions we make are documented and responsibility is assigned for them. At Teosto, the ultimate decision-making power is exercised by the General Meeting, which decides on the regulations and principles guiding Teosto’s operations. The steering of the operations and the financial matters are the responsibility of the Board of Directors, which is elected annually. At the international level, we are committed to complying with the good governance guidelines of our global umbrella organisation CISAC (Professional Rules for Musical Societies and Binding Resolutions for Musical Societies).
3. We listen to our members and customers
As a society founded by Finnish composers, we have the interests of our rightsholders at the heart of our operations. Our cooperation with our members and customers is based on customer insight and market demand, and we continuously develop our operations and products through listening to our stakeholders. We bear responsibility for the products and services we provide and help our members and customers make use of them as well as help them solve challenges related to their situation. We also ensure that our services are accessible enough for different groups.
4. We take care of our personnel
Our success is based on competent and healthy personnel. We make sure that our personnel’s competence is up to date and offer them development opportunities. We invest in good leadership and supervisory work that makes it possible for our employees to succeed in their work. Clear responsibilities, ensuring well-being at work and a culture that emphasises cooperation and openness support us in reaching our goals.
5. Our operations are open and transparent
The transparency and openness of our operations builds trust in us. We share information about our operations openly through the annual report, the transparency report, the sustainability report and the public financial statements, among other things. The statutes that regulate our operations as well as our price lists is publicly available on our website. We actively communicate about our everyday operations and answer questions about our operations directly and quickly. We also openly report on the targets and methods of our lobbying.
6. We do not allow corruption or misconduct
We do not accept bribery or corruption in any form. We do not receive, request or accept gifts that are valuable, extraordinary or exceed reasonable hospitality for ordinary business. We also do not promise or offer such gifts.
7. We foster equality and non-discrimination
We actively promote non-discrimination and equality and intervene when there are issues related them. We guarantee all our employees a safe environment that is free of discrimination and respects diversity. We follow the provisions of the Finnish Occupational Safety And Health Act, the Equality Act and the Non-Discrimination Act concerning harassment, discrimination and non-discriminatory treatment. We do not accept any kind of discrimination based on age, gender, ethnic origin, nationality, language, religion, belief, opinion, family relationships, state of health, disability, sexual orientation or other personal characteristics.
8. We promote sustainable development
Our operations are environmentally sustainable. Our goal is to prevent and reduce the harmful impact of our operations on the environment and promote the sustainable use of natural resources. We take care of the appropriate recycling of materials, we do not consume natural resources unnecessarily and we strive for energy efficiency in our operations. We aim to reduce our carbon footprint every year.
9. Information security and data protection are a key part of our reliability
Matters related to data protection and information security are also a key part of our reliability. In all of our operations, we strive to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data. We comply with the General Data Protection Regulation as well as other applicable data protection legislation. We describe the principles of our data processing in our privacy policies. Every one of our employees is responsible for information security and data protection and has also been trained in the responsible processing of data.