Management systems

A complex internal rule system supervises the organisational system of corporate governance for the proper running of the Group’s activities, from the definition of the general guideline directives to the formal statement of the particular business aspects, according to the following criteria:

• the Group guidelines are the Principles, Policies and Management Regulations through which Acea SpA acts and exercises its role of direction, guidance, coordination and control with respect to the Companies of the Group and define the general guidelines to be followed; 
• procedures govern the way in which the operational phases of a process are implemented, identifying the roles and responsibilities in detail. The procedures also define the forms to be used and the records to be archived.

Each corporate structure responsible for the individual issues subject to internal standardisation (Process Owner) processes the documents – involving the structures concerned – in compliance with the defined organisational responsibilities.

In order to ensure general consistency of the documents and verification of regulatory compliance each document is subject to verification by:

• Company Planning and Organisation Unit, with regard to the consistency of the document with the organisational structure and with internal regulations; 
• Integrated Certification Systems Unit for document compliance with management systems; 
• Compliance Unit with regard to compliance with regulations of reference (Legislative Decree no. 231, antitrust regulations, etc.); 
• DPO Office Unit regarding compliance with privacy regulations; 
• Internal Control Systems of Financial Information Unit with regard to the consistency of the document with the management system of the Internal Control System of Financial Information.

Acea recognises the following values as a fundamental element for the sustainability of the managed activities: promoting the culture of quality, respect of the environment and protecting ecosystems, the valorisation of persons and safety at the workplace, efficient management of resources, risk assessments and the responsible management of impacts, economic, social and environmental, dialogue with the stakeholders and promoting sustainability in the value chain, involving the supply chain.

Consistently with such guideline, in Acea there is a Policy for sustainability and the quality, environment, safety and energy system ²¹, which breaks down the principles, values and commitments undertaken by the company, placing them in the framework of the pursuit of sustainable development and it is an integral part of the Management Systems conform to standards ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS18001 e ISO 50001.

21 - The Policy is available from the institutional website, www.gruppo.acea.it.

Each company that implements certified management systems carries out an annual review by its management with the aim of assessing the effectiveness of quality, environment, safety and energy management systems, proposing possible improvements and verifying the progress of activities. On these occasions, which are always attended by the Top Management and the first line of managers of the Companies in question, numerous elements are analysed, like: policy; context analysis and materiality analysis at a Group level; risk assessment; process performance; significant environmental and energy aspects; changes in legal requirements and those relating to health and safety, environment and energy; supplier performance; customer satisfaction levels; analysis of complaints; accidents and injuries; objectives.

The results of the review 2018, finding no criticalities, confirmed the adequacy and efficiency of the management Systems.

Finally, it should be noted that during the year, Acea – continuing the process of integration initialised and formalised with the adoption last year of the Sustainability Policy and the environmental, safety and energy quality system – decided to consider that the objectives required by the management system should coincide with the objectives of the 2018-2022 Sustainability Plan approved by the Board of Directors.