Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement Pursuant to the Modern Slavery Act 2015

*Updated June 2023

Slavery and human trafficking are abhorrent crimes and as a global company, we must always strive to respect internationally recognized human rights. At Cemex, we are proud of the steps we have taken as a company to identify and mitigate slavery and human trafficking-related risks related to the company, as well as to conduct our business ethically and responsibly. The following shows our commitment designed to prevent modern slavery from taking place in Cemex’s business activities, operations, and supply chains.

Our business and organisational structure

Cemex, S.A.B. de C.V. (together with its affiliates, “Cemex”) is a multinational corporation engaged primarily in the production, distribution, marketing, and sale of cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates, clinker, and other construction materials and urbanization solutions throughout the world. Cemex also provides related services and reliable construction-related services to customers and communities and maintains business relationships in more than 50 countries around the world.

Cemex UK Operations Limited is a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Cemex España, S.A., which in turn is indirectly 99.86% owned by Cemex, S.A.B. de C.V. which has its head office in Monterrey, Mexico and is publicly listed in the New York Stock Exchange and the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores. Cemex UK Operations Limited is Cemex’s main operating company within the U.K. Further information about Cemex’s global operations can be found at www.cemex.com.

Our policies on slavery and human trafficking

As part of Cemex’s initiative to identify and mitigate slavery and human trafficking-related risks related to our business activities, operations, and supply chains:

Cemex maintains and complies with Cemex’s Code of Ethics and Business Conduct (“Our Code”), in which we set out Cemex’s commitment to never use or condone the use of child or forced labour and to respect internationally proclaimed human rights. Any violation to Our Code results in disciplinary action. For more information, please refer to Our Code.

All Cemex employees are part of our ETHOS Global Program, a worldwide Cemex initiative which embodies our ethics and compliance culture. ETHOS features on the Cemex intranet and provides information and assistance intended to enable employees to integrate ethics and compliance into their daily work. Amongst others, employees can call, email, or access the website for the “ETHOSLine”, which is a safe and confidential channel to ask questions and report violations related to ethics, compliance, and governance topics. All employees are required to undertake training to ensure that they understand Cemex’s ethics and standards. Our ETHOS Global Program has rooted local presence in the U.K., as employees from Cemex’s operations in the U.K. have active roles in our ETHOS’ overall program, which includes having a local ETHOS committee in the U.K. made up of employees from different departments (i.e., legal, human resources, etc.).

Cemex embraces the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, also referred to as the “Ruggie Framework”. In April 2018, Cemex released its updated Human Rights Policy where we express our commitment to comply with all applicable human rights-related laws and to support internationally recognized human rights standards, wherever we operate. For more information, please refer to our Human Rights Policy.

Since 2004, Cemex has been a signatory member of the United Nations Global Compact (“UNGC”), a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with 10 universally accepted principles in human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption matters. Additionally, since 2018, Cemex has been a participant of the UNGC. For more information, please refer to our latest Integrated Report.

Cemex abides by a Conflict Minerals Policy which sets out internal guidelines, criteria, and compliance processes for the identification of conflict minerals that are necessary, if any at all are to become necessary, to the functionality or production of products manufactured by Cemex or that are contracted to be manufactured for Cemex. For more information, please refer to our Conflict Minerals Policy.

As of 2017, Cemex follows the GRI Standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (“GRI”) to prepare Cemex’s Integrated Report. Through the GRI Reporting Framework, we are obliged to disclose any use of child, forced, or compulsory labour. Additionally, in 2019 we aligned our reporting to the Sustainability Accounting Standard Board’s (SASB) industry-specific requirements for the Construction Material Standard. For more information, please refer to our latest Integrated Report which includes Cemex’s GRI Content Index and SASB Index.

Due diligence processes for slavery and human trafficking

Cemex continues to work to establish a more comprehensive due diligence process that aligns with international guidelines and standards in all company areas to allow us to monitor respect for human rights throughout our operations.

Cemex has a Global Policy for Third Parties as well as a Code of Conduct When Doing Business With Us, for suppliers and vendors to adhere to Cemex values and standards, which reflect the UN Global Compact principles; we expect our suppliers and vendors to comply with them. For more information please refer to our Code of Conduct When Doing Business With Us and our Global Policy for Third Parties.

To procure that third parties in our supply chain are reputable and comply with our values and standards, we have a third party due diligence process in place for onboarding and contracting with third parties prior to entering into business relationships with them. The onboarding process must follow required Cemex internal guidelines and policies and requires relevant documentation from third parties. Among such required documentation, third parties must fill out and sign our Third Party Compliance Declaration, in which third parties must certify compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, as well as with either (i) the provisions of Our Code and other Cemex compliance policies or (ii) the third party’s own compliance policies and guidelines, in relation to their commercial relationship with Cemex. Cemex’s Corporate Legal Compliance Department, Cemex’s Regional Legal Departments, or Cemex’s Local Legal Departments, as applicable, assist in conducting the third party due diligence reviews and in documenting the relationships with the prospective third parties. If any of such departments, as applicable, determine that a third party is not able to provide Cemex with adequate and justifiable assurance as to their compliance with Cemex policies on, amongst other topics, slavery and human trafficking, the third party’s onboarding and registration shall not be authorized by such departments, unless, as determined in a case-by-case basis, the third party proves that its taking adequate and justifiable steps towards compliance in these matters.

In 2022, Cemex launched the Global Human Rights Taskforce integrated by a multidisciplinary team of Cemex employees to further assess our company’s capacity to respect human rights. During the year, the taskforce performed a benchmark on Cemex’s current practices against industry best practices on human rights and completed a gap analysis against certain EU regulations, some with the collaboration of third-party advisors. As an outcome, we designed a roadmap to further enhance Cemex’s human due diligence process on human rights. For more information, please refer to our latest Integrated Report.
Cemex’s Human Resources Department has measures in place to monitor the terms upon which employees are engaged and remunerated.

Training and support

In general, during 2022, we made significant progress in implementing preventive measures aimed at avoiding any human rights adverse impacts in relation to our business activities and operations. Our Human Rights Compliance Assessment enabled us to discuss and define action plans by country, including the U.K., to proactively anticipate any potential human rights adverse impacts. By identifying our operations top five human rights adverse impacts, we are developing a culture of awareness and accountability in Cemex. We also continue to work very closely with our operations to build their capabilities and continue to develop a robust mitigation and remediation model that enables us to prioritize and address human rights-related risks.

To procure a high level of understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains and business, we provide relevant training and support to procure compliance in these matters. All Cemex’s senior management has been briefed on these subjects. During 2022, 15,466 Cemex employees received training related to business ethics and compliance, including human rights and employee relations, dedicating more than 14,497 total hours for this purpose.

This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 31 December 2022 and is given by Cemex UK Operations Limited on behalf of itself and its associated UK group companies.