Standards of Conduct
Compliance with Laws, Rules and Regulations
The Company requires that all employees, officers, directors and designated agents comply with all laws, rules and regulations applicable to the Company, including those relating to accounting and auditing matters and insider trading. You are expected to use good judgment and common sense in seeking to comply with all applicable laws, rules and regulations and to ask for advice when you are uncertain about them.
Employees, officers, directors and designated agents who have material non-public information about the Company or other companies, including our suppliers and customers, as a result of their relationship with the Company are prohibited by law and Company policy from trading in securities of the Company or such other companies, as well as from communicating such information to others who might trade on the basis of that information.
If you become aware of the violation of any law, rule or regulation by the Company, whether by its officers, employees, directors, designated agents or any third party doing business on behalf of the Company, it is your responsibility to promptly report the matter to your supervisor or to the Chief Executive Officer or Chief Financial Officer. While it is the Company’s desire to address matters internally, nothing in this Code should discourage you from reporting any illegal activity, including any violation of the securities laws, antitrust laws, environmental laws or any other federal, state or foreign law, rule or regulation, to the appropriate regulatory authority. Employees, officers and directors shall not discharge, demote, suspend, threaten, harass or in any other manner discriminate or retaliate against an employee because he or she reports any such violation, unless it is determined that the report was made with knowledge that it was false. This Code should not be construed to prohibit you from testifying, participating or otherwise assisting in any state or federal administrative, judicial or legislative proceeding or investigation.
Conflicts of Interest
The Company recognizes and respects the right of its directors, officers, employees and certain designated agents to engage in outside activities that they may deem proper and desirable; provided that these activities do not impair or interfere with the performance of their duties to the Company or their ability to act in the Company’s best interests. In most, if not all, cases this will mean that our directors, officers, employees and designated agents must avoid situations that present a potential or actual conflict between their own interests and the Company’s interests.
A “conflict of interest” occurs when a director’s, officer’s, employee’s or designated agent’s personal or business interest interferes with the Company’s interests. Conflicts of interest may arise in many situations. For example, conflicts of interest can arise when a director, officer, employee or designated agent takes an action or has an outside interest, responsibility or obligation that may make it difficult for him or her to perform the responsibilities of his or her position objectively and/or effectively in the Company’s best interests. Conflicts of interest may also occur when a director, officer, employee, designated agent or an immediate family member, receives some personal benefit (whether improper or not) as a result of the director’s, officer’s, employee’s or designated agent’s position with the Company. Each individual’s situation is different and in evaluating his or her own situation, a director, officer, employee or designated agent will have to consider many factors.
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