Tell Me

The following local law amendments apply:

BELGIUM

Pursuant to the Belgian Whistleblowing Protection Act of 28 November 2022 transposing Directive (EU) 2019/1937, the text of the "Kia Compliance: Tell Me" policy is amended as follows:

The following paragraphs are added to Section 2 “Scope”:
The scope is also applicable to combating tax fraud and combating social fraud.

In addition, the law also provides protection for whistleblowing in the event of infringements affecting the financial interests of the European Union, as well as protection for whistleblowing in the event of infringements relating to the internal market, including infringements of EU competition and state aid rules.

Section 3 “Addressees” is replaced with the following:
This policy applies to all current and former Kia employees, jobseekers/job applicants in negotiations with Kia Belgium, managers, board members, temporary workers, expatriate coordinators and trainees within Kia Europe GmbH (“Kia EU ”) and other Kia companies within Kia Group operating in the EU and UK (except for Kia’s production plant - Kia Slovakia s.r.o.), as well as self-employed contractors, persons working under the supervision and direction of contractors, subcontractors and suppliers of Kia EU or Kia Belgium who acquired information on (potential) violations or breaches in a work-related context (each a “Reporting person ”).

This policy also applies to any individual who assists a reporter during the reporting process, and whose assistance should be confidential (a “Facilitator ”), to third parties who are in contact with a Reporting Person and who are at risk of retaliation in a professional context, such as colleagues or relatives of the Reporting Persons, legal entities belonging to or working for the Reporting Person, or with which they are connected in a professional context (“Other Protected persons ”).

The following paragraphs are added to Section 5 “‎How can I submit a report?‎”:

When you, or any Other Protected person, would like a meeting with the staff of Kia EU or Kia Belgium, the Whistleblower manager ‎will, with consent, ensure that complete and accurate records of the meeting are kept in the case management system (CMS) either by making a recording of the conversation, or by a precise record of the meeting drawn up by the member of staff responsible for handling the report. In any case, you or any Other Protected person will have the possibility to check, correct, and sign for approval the minutes of the meeting.

The following paragraphs are added to Section 8 “What protection do I have as a Reporting Person?‎”:

It is important for Kia Belgium to create an environment in which the Reporting Person feels safe to report violations. That is why, in accordance with the Belgian Whistleblowing Protection Act, the following protective measures are taken:

• Prohibition of retaliation: Prohibition of any form of retaliation, including attempted or threatened retaliation against the Reporting Person and persons connected with the Reporting Person, where retaliation may include suspension, layoff or termination, demotion or denial of promotion, transfer of duties, change of workplace, reduction in pay or change in working hours; suspension of training; negative evaluation of performance or professional references; imposition or application of a disciplinary measure, reprimand or other sanction, such as a financial penalty; coercion, intimidation, harassment or exclusion; and discrimination, unfavorable or unequal treatment.
If a Reporting Person nevertheless encounters retaliatory behavior, Kia Belgium asks him to report it immediately, if necessary through Kia Compliance: Tell Me. Kia EU will investigate each report – with or without support from Kia Belgium – and, if necessary, take appropriate action. In addition, any Reporting Person who feels that he or she has been the victim of reprisals or threatened with reprisals may lodge a substantiated complaint with the Federal Ombudsman (See Section 12).

• Support measures: Reporting Persons have, as appropriate, access to support measures under article 24, §1 of the Belgian Whistleblower Act. Depending on the needs of the Reporting Person, these support measures include (i) comprehensive and independent information and advice on available remedies and procedures that protect against retaliation, (ii) technical advice in respect of any authority involved in the protection of the reporting person; (iii) legal assistance in cross-border criminal and civil proceedings in accordance with the Belgian Whistleblowing Protection Act, (iv) technical, psychological, media-related and social support, and (v) other support measures such as financial assistance to Reporting Persons in legal proceedings. The Belgian Federal Institute for the protection and promotion of Human Rights is responsible for the application and supervision of these support measures in accordance with the provisions of the Belgian Whistleblowing Act. You can contact the Belgian Federal Institute for the protection and promotion of Human Rights for more information about these support measures (https://institutfederaldroitshumains.be/en/apply-for-support ).

• Protection against retaliation: Finally, the Belgian Whistleblowing Protection Act provides for a number of specific protection mechanisms. For example, a Reporting Person who reports information about a violation in accordance with the Belgian Whistleblowing Protection Act cannot be considered to have breached any restriction on disclosure of information imposed by contract or by any legal or regulatory article, and cannot be held liable in any way for such reporting or disclosure, provided that the Reporting Person has reasonable grounds for believing that the information was necessary to disclose the violation. Under the same conditions, no civil, criminal or disciplinary action, nor any professional sanction, may be brought against the Reporting Person as a result of his or her reporting or disclosure.
Furthermore, a Reporting Person who reports or discloses a violation cannot be held responsible for acquiring or gaining access to the reported or disclosed information, unless such acquisition or access in itself constitutes an offence.

It is essential to emphasize that Reporting Persons who report violations are not immune from corrective action because of their own potential misconduct. The Reporting Person may still be subject to action for actions unrelated to the report.

The following paragraphs are added to Section 9 “Submissions handling”:

The following paragraph is added under the first sentence of the third paragraph:
If the relevant report relates to Kia entities in the EU and UK (without a pan-European impact), the handling of the report will be assigned to the Local Compliance Responsible. The Local Compliance Responsible shall be designated as the Whistleblower manager who will maintain communication with the Reporting Person, request additional information if necessary and provide feedback, and who will also ensure diligent follow-up of anonymous reports in coordination with the Kia EU Compliance Section. Under justifiable circumstances, a case assigned to the Local Compliance Responsible can be re-assigned to the Kia EU level.

The following paragraph is added under the third paragraph:
Kia Belgium will maintain a register with all the made reports, under the strict respect of the confidentiality obligation as set out in Section 11 of the Kia Compliance: Tell Me policy. Regardless of Section 8 of the Tell Me Privacy Policy, the reports will be kept for the duration of the contractual relationship between Kia and the Reporting Persons.

The following paragraphs are added to Section 12 “Other Channels”:

In addition to the reporting channel described in this policy (“Internal Disclosure ”), in Belgium, a Reporting Person can also make a report (whether or not following an internal report) via an external reporting channel (“External Disclosure "). To do so, the Reporting Person can contact the Federal Ombudsman (www.federaalombudsman.be/fr/lanceurs-alerte ) or the competent authorities designated for this purpose by Royal Decree (which have been designated in the Royal Decree designating the competent authorities for the implementation of the law of November 28, 2022 on the protection of persons who report violations found within a legal entity of Union law or national law found within a legal entity of the private sector) or, where applicable, the institutions, bodies, organizations, and agencies of the European Union.

A last possible channel is to make information on violations public (“Public Disclosure ”). Public Disclosure should be considered as a last resort. Reporting Persons who choose to disclose violations will only be able to benefit from the legal protection for Reporting Persons in a certain number of cases. This is the case when the Reporting Persons have first made an Internal Disclosure and then an External Disclosure, or immediately made an External Disclosure, and no appropriate action has been taken in response to this disclosure within the normal timeframe set. This is also the case when the Reporting Persons (at the time of reporting) have reasonable grounds to believe that the violation may represent an imminent or real danger to the public interest, or that there is a risk of reprisals in the case of an External Disclosure, or that it is unlikely that the violation will be dealt with effectively given the particular circumstances of the case. The latter may be the case, for example, where evidence may be withheld or destroyed, or where an authority is suspected of colluding with or otherwise being involved in the violation.

HUNGARY

Section 3 is amended with the eligible reporting persons defined in the related Hungarian regulation, the "2023. évi XXV. törvény a panaszokról, a közérdekű bejelentésekről, valamint a visszaélések bejelentésével összefüggő szabályokról", listed in 20 §.

Section 9 is amended as the following:

The timeframe to provide feedback should not exceed thirty days, but could be extended to three months where necessary due to the specific circumstances of the case.

ITALY

Pursuant to Legislative Decree 24/2023 transposing Directive (EU) 2019/1937, the text of the "Kia Compliance: Tell Me" policy has been amended as follows.

Section 3 is amended as the following:

A footnote to “Kia employees” is added: 1) Those who, while not falling within the category of employees, work for the Company and/or are under the control and direction of the Company (e.g.: self-employed workers, including those indicated in Chapter I of Law 81/2017, as well as holders of a collaboration relationship, collaborators who supply goods or services or perform works on behalf of third parties, volunteers and paid and unpaid trainees); 2) those who, while external to the Company, work, directly or indirectly, for the Company or with the Company (e.g.: consultants); 3) any other person dealing with the Company in order to make the report; 4) financial promoters, trainees, contract/project workers, temporary workers; 5) facilitators; 6) people in the same work environment as the reporting person; 7) work colleagues of the reporting person or of the person who has reported the matter to the Judicial Authority.

The protection of whistleblowers also applies if the whistleblowing, report to the judicial authorities or public disclosure of information occurs in the following cases: o when the legal employment relationship has not yet started, if information on breaches has been acquired during the selection process or in other pre-contractual phases;
o during the probationary period;
o after termination of the relationship if the information was acquired in the course of the relationship.

Section 6 is amended as the following:

Reports made - also with the help of the facilitator - must be based on precise factual elements (not susceptible to different interpretation) and concordant elements (several pieces of evidence pointing in the same direction), of which the reporter has become aware by virtue of his or her duties. Reports must not be aimed at denouncing situations of an exclusively personal nature (personal complaints, claims or demands).

Section 8 is amended as the following:

Retaliations, such as threats, harassment or discrimination against Reporting Persons from other employees of Kia will not be tolerated, nor will Kia itself downgrade, suspend or dismiss Reporting Persons. For Italian whistleblowers who believe they have suffered retaliatory conduct, it is possible to report directly to ANAC, an authority that will be required to inform the National Labour Inspectorate for measures within its competence.

Whistleblowers who have been dismissed as a result of the whistleblowing, public disclosure or complaint to the judicial or accounting authorities are entitled to be reinstated in their jobs. Anyone who notices or observes such actions should report them to the Kia EU Compliance Section immediately at: complianceEU@kia.eu .

It is the Whistleblower's responsibility to make reports in good faith and in line with the declared spirit of the legislation. This procedure is without prejudice to the criminal and disciplinary liability of the Whistleblower in the event of a slanderous or defamatory report.

Section 9 is amended as the following:

If, at the outcome of the verification, the report is wholly or partially grounded, the Kia EU Compliance Department will, depending on the nature of the violation:
a) summon the reported persons to carry out the appropriate investigations/ interviews;

b) inform the head office management of the outcome of the investigation;

c) inform the Management of the relevant corporate office of the content of the report for the adoption of any measures in this respect (except in cases where a conflict of interest arises);

d) communicate the outcome of the investigation to any persons concerned or involved, so that they may adopt or implement any further remedies and actions that may be necessary to protect the Company.

If, as a result of the investigations and checks carried out, the report proves to be unfounded, the Kia EU Compliance Department orders it to be closed in writing.

If the investigations carried out reveal serious violations, the Kia EU Compliance department, having ascertained a well-founded suspicion that a criminal offence has been committed, will promptly forward the report and its findings to the management of the relevant corporate office.

If the report is found to be well-founded, the management of the relevant corporate office shall take any measures deemed appropriate and actions to protect the same, also through the activation of any disciplinary and sanctioning initiatives as a result of what has been ascertained.

Additional section 13 “Definitions” :

Definitions have been included for the terms used within the policy, in particular those of:
• Facilitator: a natural person assisting the reporter in the reporting process and operating within the same work context;
• Whistleblower: the natural person making the report or public disclosure of information about violations acquired in the context of his or her work;
• Receiver or addressee: a person who, in whatever capacity, is the addressee of a whistleblowing report;
• Feedback: communication to the reporting person of information on the follow-up given or intended to be given to the report;
• Retaliation: any conduct, act or omission, even if only attempted or threatened, carried out by reason of the report, the complaint to the judicial or accounting authorities or public disclosure, and which causes or may cause, directly or indirectly, unjust damage to the whistleblower or to the person making the report. The following constitute acts of a retaliatory nature:
- dismissal, suspension or equivalent measures;
- demotion or non-promotion;
- change of duties, change of workplace, reduction of salary, change of working hours;
- suspension of training or any restriction of access thereto;
- negative merit notes or negative references;
- the adoption of disciplinary measures or other sanctions, including fines;
- coercion, intimidation, harassment or ostracism;
- discrimination or otherwise unfavourable treatment;
- the failure to convert a fixed-term employment contract into a full-time permanent employment contract, where the employee had a legitimate expectation of such conversion;
- non-renewal or early termination of a fixed-term employment contract;
- damage, including to a person’s reputation, particularly on social media, or economic or financial harm, including loss of economic opportunities and loss of income;
- inclusion on improper lists on the basis of a formal or informal sectoral or industry agreement, which may result in the person being unable to find employment in the sector or industry in the future;
- early termination or cancellation of the contract for the supply of goods or services;
- cancellation of a licence or permit;
- the request to undergo psychiatric or medical examinations.
• Report: the written communication of information on violations;
• Internal report: the communication, written, of information on violations, submitted through the internal reporting channel;
• External reporting: the communication, written or oral, of information on violations, submitted through the external reporting channel (activated by ANAC);
• Disciplinary system: a document prepared by the Company containing provisions aimed at preventing and sanctioning (in compliance with the applicable national collective bargaining agreement), from a contractual point of view, conduct that is contrary to Company regulations, procedures and instructions, including the whistleblowing management procedure;
• Violations: conduct, acts or omissions that harm the public interest or the integrity of the government body or private entity and that consist of:
1) administrative, accounting, civil or criminal offences that do not fall under 3), 4), 5) and 6) below;
2) unlawful conduct within the meaning of Legislative Decree No. 231/2001, or violations of the organization and management models provided for therein, which are not covered by numbers 3), 4), 5) and 6) below;
3) offences falling within the scope of the European Union or national acts indicated in the annex to Legislative Decree No. 24/2023 or of national acts constituting the implementation of acts of the European Union set out in the Annex to Directive (EU) 2019/1937, although not set out in the Annex to the Decree just mentioned, relating to the following areas: public procurement; financial services, products and markets and prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing; product safety and compliance; transport safety; environmental protection; radiation protection and nuclear safety; food and feed safety and animal health and welfare; public health; consumer protection; privacy and Personal Data protection and security of networks and information systems;
4) acts or omissions affecting the financial interests of the European Union as referred to in Article 325 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union specified in the relevant secondary law of the European Union;
5) acts or omissions relating to the internal market, as referred to in Article 26(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, including infringements of EU competition and State aid rules, as well as infringements relating to the internal market related to acts in breach of corporate tax rules or mechanisms the purpose of which is to obtain a tax advantage that frustrates the object or purpose of the applicable corporate tax law;
6) acts or conduct that frustrate the object or purpose of the provisions of acts of the European Union in the areas indicated in 3), 4) and 5) above.


POLAND

Distinguishing characteristics arising from the Polish Act of 14/06/2024 on the protection of whistleblowers effective from 25/09/2024 – hereinafter referred to as the “Act”:

The following is added to section 2:
According to the Act, the scope of violations also includes violations concerning:
• corruption;
• financial interests of the State Treasury of the Republic of Poland, a local government unit, and the European Union;
• the internal market of the European Union, including public law competition and state aid rules and corporate taxation;
• constitutional freedoms and rights of a human being and a citizen – occurring in the relations of an individual with public authorities and not related to other areas indicated in the Act, which may be affected by violations.

Note: the catalogue of violations which must be reported does not include labour law.

The following is added to section 3:
According to the Act, the catalogue of notifiers also includes, among others:
• a person providing work on a basis other than employment relationship, including under a civil law contract;
• entrepreneurs;
• proxies;
• trainees;
• volunteers;
• shareholders or associates;
• members of the bodies (i.e., also other than the management board);

and, in addition, allows for the reporting of information obtained also before the employment or other relationship giving rise to the cooperation and after the termination of any such relationship.

The following is added to section 6:
According to the Act, the notifier should also provide his/her correspondence address or e-mail address (the so-called contact address).

SLOVAKIA

The following provision is added to the end of the Section 2:

This policy also applies to the reporting of anti-social activity as defined in the Whistleblower Act. Anti-social activity means (i) crime (i.e., conduct that constitutes a criminal offence) or (ii) other anti-social activity (i.e., conduct that constitutes a misdemeanor or other administrative offence). Other anti-social activity is also considered to be conduct which is not a misdemeanor or other administrative offence, but which has a negative impact on society.

Section 3 is replaced with the following:

This policy applies to all current and former Kia employees, jobseekers, including managers, board members, temporary workers, expatriate coordinators and trainees within Kia Europe GmbH (“Kia EU” ) and other Kia companies within Kia Group operating in the EU and UK (except for Kia’s production plant - Kia Slovakia s.r.o.), as well as persons working under the supervision and direction of contractors, subcontractors and suppliers of Kia EU or other Kia entities in the EU and UK who acquired information on (potential) violations or breaches in a work-related context (each a “Reporting Person” ).

Section 11 is replaced with the following:

Kia and its employees will treat all reports in a sensitive manner. The identity of the Reporting Person will be kept confidential to the extent that it does not hinder or frustrate any diligent follow up, such as investigations. Disclosure of the identity of the Reporting Persons is only possible based on their consent for the disclosure of their identity. This does not apply if the disclosure of the identity of the Reporting Persons is a necessary and proportionate obligation imposed by applicable EU law or applicable national law such as in the context of investigations by national authorities or judicial proceedings, namely criminal or administrative offence proceedings.

Please note that this confidentiality commitment will not apply where wrong or misleading information has been provided to us negligently or in bad faith.

In addition, reporting persons can also remain anonymous while reporting via Kia Compliance: Tell Me.

SWEDEN

The following paragraph shall be added to Section 2 as a final paragraph:

If a report relating to Kia Sweden AB (“Kia Sweden” ) contains information that could identify a person, the identified person must be an individual who is in a leading position or who is considered key personnel within Kia. Such individuals include board members, persons in management, and other persons that act with a high degree of autonomous decision power and have a strong influence in the organisation. A report that identifies such person must concern serious irregularities relating to accounting, internal accounting controls, auditing, anti-bribery, banking and financial crime, or other serious irregularities affecting the vital interests of the organisation or the life and health of individuals.

The following paragraph shall be added to Section 12 as a final paragraph: In addition to the reporting channel described in this policy, Kia Sweden has established a parallel and local reporting channel (the "Swedish Channel" ). By reporting in the Swedish Channel, you are covered by the protection under the Act (2021:890) on the Protection of Persons Reporting Misconduct (the ”Swedish Whistleblower Act” ) (Sw. lagen om skydd för personer som rapporterar om missförhållanden ). What can be reported, who can report and how to report in the Swedish Channel is described in more detail in Annex 2A. Annex 2A also contains a description of how Kia Sweden handles reports submitted in the Swedish Channel and of the protection and rights you have under the Swedish Whistleblower Act, as well as information about your possibilities to report misconduct to Swedish authorities.