Reynolds American Operational Standards: Our Responsibility to Shape A Better Tomorrow™

Message from our President & CEO

Consumers choose us for our great products, brands they can trust and an organization they can believe in. As a leader in our industry, we have a responsibility to be principled and transparent, with our regulators, our partners, our consumers, as well as the communities within which we operate. Our Standards of Business Conduct (SoBC) helps to guide us and set out what we expect of ourselves and our colleagues.

As CEO, I expect that all employees of Reynolds American Inc. and its subsidiaries (Reynolds) champion the highest ethical standards – which are articulated in our Reynolds American group Standards of Business Conduct (SoBC).

Employees of Reynolds are encouraged to speak up and raise concerns about wrongdoing without feat or reprisals, and should feel confident that they will be supported, and that their voice will be heard.

In addition to the SoBC, this page includes links to information regarding the Speak Up hotline and portal – an employee resource to report violations of the SoBC with the option to remain anonymous.

Delivering business results responsibly, in compliance with laws and regulations, and treating each other and our stakeholders with respect, is non-negotiable. Reynolds American and its subsidiaries will maintain an unwavering commitment to integrity as we work together to transform our business and build A Better Tomorrow™.

– David Waterfield, President and CEO of Reynolds American Inc.

Tobacco Use and Health

• Cigarette smoking is a leading preventable cause of death. Quitting cigarette smoking significantly decreases the risk for lung cancer, heart disease, chronic bronchitis, emphysema and other serious diseases and conditions.
• Cigarette smokers who want to quit should do so, and all smokers should have access to information about the benefits of quitting and effective cessation products that may help them.
• No tobacco product has been shown to be safe or risk-free, but the type of tobacco product used, how long it is used, and the frequency and amount of use significantly affect the risk of serious diseases.
• Nicotine in tobacco products is addictive.
• Long-term studies (epidemiology) have established that smoking is the highest-risk form of tobacco use, and that smokeless tobacco products, including moist snuff and snus, present significantly less risk of serious diseases, including oral cancer, than smoking cigarettes.
• We believe that vapor products and other noncombustible tobacco products may present less risk to adult tobacco consumers than smoking cigarettes. Although these products have not been used by consumers for a sufficient period of time to develop definitive scientific conclusions about their level of risk reduction, there is a growing body of scientific evidence that these products may present less risk than smoking. While some studies report that there may be health risks associated with these products, those risks appear to be lower than the risks of smoking cigarettes.
• Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products approved for smoking cessation present less risk than smoking. We believe that similar noncombustible tobacco products also present less risk than smoking.
• Governments, public health officials and tobacco manufacturers share a responsibility to provide accurate, useful information to adult tobacco consumers about the differing levels of risk between different types of tobacco and nicotine products.

Tobacco harm reduction

• Reducing disease and death associated with cigarette smoking is in the best interest of not only adult tobacco consumers, but society as well. The best way for smokers to achieve these risk reductions is to quit. Smokers who don’t want to quit tobacco altogether should consider switching to tobacco products that may present less risk to their health.
• Policies that encourage cigarette smokers to switch to products that are or may be less risky should be added to the traditional public-health efforts aimed at reducing the number of people who smoke.
• There is a growing body of scientific evidence that vapor and other noncombustible tobacco products may present significantly less risk than smoking. While some studies report that there may be health risks associated with these products, we believe those risks are lower than the risks of smoking cigarettes.
• Manufacturers of cigarettes, smokeless tobacco products, vapor products and other noncombustible tobacco products should be encouraged to research and develop innovative products that may present less risk than smoking cigarettes.

Tobacco regulation and communication

• Tobacco products should be regulated in a way that is designed to achieve significant and measurable reductions in the health risks associated with cigarette smoking.
• The level of regulation should be proportional to the level of risk a tobacco product presents. Preferential treatment (taxation, marketing, consumer communication, labeling, etc.) should be given to tobacco products that may present less risk than cigarettes.
• Regulations should require that adult tobacco consumers be given accurate information so that they can make informed choices about the type of product they choose to use, and ways they could lower risks to their health.
• Communication and interaction with adult tobacco consumers regarding their brand and product choices is essential for effective competition, but the marketing of tobacco products should not target youth, or adults who don’t currently use tobacco or nicotine products.

Tobacco consumers

• The best course of action for tobacco consumers concerned about their health is to quit.
  Cigarette smokers who don’t quit altogether should have access to a range of tobacco and nicotine products that may lower their health risks.
• Individuals should rely on the U.S. Surgeon General, government agencies and the public health community for information about the risks of tobacco use, the benefits of quitting, and the potential benefits of switching to products that are or may be less risky than cigarettes.
• Governments and public health officials should be required to communicate accurate, useful information about the comparative health risks between smoking and the use of vapor and other noncombustible tobacco products so that adult tobacco consumers can make informed decisions.
• Cigarette smokers should avoid exposing youth and nonsmokers to secondhand smoke.
  Youth should never use tobacco products, and adults who don’t use tobacco or have quit tobacco should not start.

Vapor and other noncombustible tobacco products

• Youth should never use vapor or any other tobacco products. Adults who do not use tobacco products or who have quit using tobacco should not start using vapor or any other tobacco products.
• We believe that vapor products and other noncombustible tobacco products may present less risk to adult tobacco consumers than smoking cigarettes. Although these products have not been used by consumers for a sufficient period of time to develop definitive scientific conclusions about their level of risk reduction, there is a growing body of scientific evidence that these products may present less risk than smoking. While some studies report that there may be health risks associated with these products, those risks appear to be lower than the risks of smoking cigarettes.
• Because of their potentially lower health risks when compared to cigarettes, vapor products should be taxed and regulated differently than cigarettes.
• High taxes and severe restrictions on how vapor products are marketed and where they can be used may deter smokers from considering switching from cigarettes to vapor products. This may result in adult smokers continuing to smoke cigarettes, the highest-risk form of tobacco.
• Governments and public health officials should be required to communicate accurate, useful information about the comparative health risks between cigarettes and vapor products so that adult tobacco consumers can make informed decisions.
• Common-sense regulation of vapor products is prudent, including prohibiting the sale of vapor products to youth, appropriate child-resistant packaging requirements and workplace-safety standards for manufacturers.
  For adult smokers who don’t quit using tobacco altogether, the availability of a range of adult-oriented flavors may encourage them to consider switching to vapor products.

Responsible marketing is central to our values and is underscored by how we execute our mission to build A Better Tomorrow™.

We’re firmly committed to marketing our products responsibly and are continuously reviewing how we communicate with adult nicotine consumers ages 21 years and older to ensure we’re doing so in a responsible manner. To that end, our marketing must adhere to the following core principles:

• Our marketing must comply with applicable laws and regulations as well as “Reynolds Guiding Principles,” our voluntary marketing guidelines, and the International Marketing Principles
• Our marketing must be truthful and non-misleading
• The use of our products is a matter of adult choice; our marketing should not encourage non-nicotine consumers to start using our products nor discourage consumers of our products from quitting
• We do not make health claims about our products without specific FDA authorization
• We do not market “up the tobacco risk continuum”

To ensure our employees are familiar with our core marketing principles, we conduct mandatory training designed to provide an overview of our marketing policies and practices. We strive for 100 percent adherence to our marketing principles and guidelines.

Product Integrity

We take product integrity and quality seriously.

From product conception to development to responsible marketing, our teams implement the highest operational standards in the industry. We want to meet and exceed the standards available to us as our organization builds the broadest range of innovative products in the industry.

Our product integrity team evaluates ingredients and material that goes into our operating companies’ products with testing, manufacturing and packaging criteria to ensure they meet internal and regulatory requirements.

We are committed to doing the right thing and remain open to working with the rest of the industry and regulatory agencies to implement appropriate marketing principles.

Products manufactured by Reynolds operating companies are sold, taxed and regulated in all 50 U.S. states. As a result, the companies’ businesses can be affected both by laws and regulations that impact the business.

Reynolds operating companies’ advocacy is in line with the principles discussed more fully in our Guiding Principles. The policy positions discussed on this website, or otherwise are in the interest of the organization.

Reynolds operating companies participate in the political and public policy process in a manner consistent with the laws and the interests of our businesses, but our participation is not, as a matter of policy, based on any officer’s or employee’s personal political preferences. We are engaged and collaborative with a diverse group of legislators and stakeholders at the federal, state and local levels, even when we may not necessarily agree with all of the positions taken by each candidate or organization to which we contribute.

As with many organizations our size, we retain the services of government relations consultants at various levels, as appropriate. Contracted lobbyists and Reynolds staff members registered to lobby, engage with elected officials and their staff to communicate the companies’ viewpoints and perspectives on legislative and public policy matters. Such engagement is undertaken at the direction of the Law & External Affairs staff for Reynolds American Inc., under the supervision and approval of the Executive Vice President, Law & External Affairs and General Counsel. Lobbying expenses are disclosed in filings with appropriate federal and state agencies in accordance with applicable laws.

Political contribution policies and procedures

Proposed corporate political contributions are reviewed internally to ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, and to determine that they are in the best interests of Reynolds operating companies. For more details on our policy and procedures, click here.

Information on corporate political contributions is posted annually, during the first quarter of the year following the close of the reporting period.

Contributions

Information on corporate political contributions is posted annually, during the first quarter of the year following the close of the reporting period.

Click to access 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, or 2018 political contributions.

Download the Reynolds Standards of Business Conduct

Download the Professional Conduct Policy