Compliance with Modern Slavery Legislation

Modern slavery is a crime and a serious violation of human rights. Ekco is committed to ethical conduct across all business dealings and relationships, and to implementing robust systems and controls that ensure modern slavery does not occur within our organisation or supply chains.

We support transparency, collaboration, and continuous improvement to eliminate the risks of modern slavery. This policy outlines Ekco’s approach to compliance with the Modern Slavery Act (UK) and related legislation in all our territories, including the EU Directive 2011/36/EU.

Principles

Ekco is Europe’s fastest-growing, security-first managed cloud provider, operating in Ireland, the UK, the Netherlands, Malaysia, and South Africa. We have built close partnerships with customers across these regions, driven by personalised support and proactive management.

Our commitment to ethical practices extends to our customer, supplier, and partner relationships. Ekco is dedicated to enforcing effective controls to prevent modern slavery across our operations and supply chains. We believe that ethical conduct and transparency are crucial to building trust and ensuring sustainable, fair practices across our supply chains. This policy is informed by legislation relevant to each territory in which we operate.

Recruitment and Vetting

As part of Ekco’s commitment, the business has implemented recruitment and right-to-work procedures, which serve as crucial safeguards to detect potential exploitative situations. These procedures ensure that all employees have the legal right to work and that employment terms meet or exceed local labour laws. Background checks and identity verification are conducted to help prevent situations that could lead to forced labour or human trafficking.

Training and Awareness

Ekco is committed to equipping our staff with the knowledge and skills necessary to recognise and address modern slavery risks. All new employees complete onboarding training that covers this policy and the identification of potential indicators of slavery and human trafficking. Refresher training is provided annually to ensure ongoing awareness and to support the ability of employees to act upon suspected cases effectively.

Freedom of association & collective bargaining

Ekco is not a unionised environment, but we ensure that our People Operations team manages all changes to employee terms and conditions through a structured, documented, and monitored process. We respect local labour laws, including the rights of employee representation under the Dutch Works Councils Act, and facilitate constructive engagement with employee representatives where required.

Our Supply Chain

We recognise that addressing modern slavery is a complex supply chain challenge. Ekco works with customers, suppliers, and partners to identify and mitigate risks. As part of our Third-Party Governance process, we assess whether our suppliers have adequate policies to prevent human trafficking and slavery within their own organisations and supply chains.

Ekco operates a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chain. Any identified instances of non-compliance with our standards will result in appropriate action, which includes terminating the relationship with the offending supplier.

Raising Concerns

If you have any questions about this policy or concerns about human trafficking, slavery, or related exploitation within the Ekco organisation or supply chain, please contact the People Operations Team.

Applicable Legislation

• Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) (Amendment) Act 2013 (Ireland)
• Article 273f of the Penal Code (Wetboek van Strafrecht) (Netherlands)
• Modern Slavery Act 2015 (UK)
• Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 (ATIPSOM) (Malaysia)
• Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act 2013 (South Africa)

Exceptions

There are no exceptions to this policy statement.

Last Updated: November 2024