Product Quality and Safety

It is critically important to us that the products and pharmaceuticals we sell are safe, reliable and of high quality. We are also committed to working with suppliers who meet our standards and are responsible corporate citizens. Thus, we maintain stringent product and pharmaceutical supplier standards and a robust product quality assurance, safety and testing program.

Supplier Ethics Policy

We seek suppliers that share our values, our promise to deliver outstanding service and our commitment to uphold the highest standard and level of integrity. CVS Caremark suppliers are required to adhere to our company’s ethical standards, supplier requirements, and business processes, which are published on www.cvssuppliers.com and communicated in our Supplier Ethics Policy. As defined by this policy, suppliers must:

• Comply with our product quality and safety standards and requirements.
• Adhere to standards that restrict child labor and ensure a safe workplace for their workers.
• Pay workers a fair and legal wage and not withhold wages for coercive purposes.
• Conduct business in accordance with established legal and ethical standards.
• Adhere to import requirements of the United States Customs and Border Protection, and other government or regulatory agencies and programs.

Our Code of Conduct also addresses the procurement process, and requires employees to purchase only from reputable suppliers who meet our standards and comply with our Supplier Ethics Policy.

Supplier Diversity Program

We are dedicated to developing procurement opportunities with a diverse community of suppliers. Our Supplier Diversity Program is founded on the principles of fair and equitable business practices. The goal of the program is to ensure that all suppliers have equal access to participate in our supplier programs. In order to qualify for our Supplier Diversity Program, the supplier should meet Minority Women Enterprise and Small Business Administration criteria or be certified by authorized governing bodies such as the National Minority Supplier Development Council or Women’s Business Enterprise National Council.

Quality Assurance, Safety and Testing Process

CVS/pharmacy follows a standard process to ensure product quality and safety. We utilize a third-party company to provide the technical expertise and day-to-day management of our quality assurance testing program at all levels – from production to use.

We take customer complaints very seriously and conduct return testing on products that do not meet our customers’ expectations for quality or CVS Caremark’s performance and safety standards. If we discover a product is unsafe, we remove the product from our store shelves and discontinue sale. Moving forward, we will work with our Product Development Managers to establish a continuous process improvement program based on customer and employee feedback.

CVS Brand Products

The manufacturing of CVS Brand products is contracted through third-party vendors who are required to comply with all applicable laws and regulations. All CVS Brand products are evaluated annually and reviewed for their ingredients and performance.

CVS Brand personal care products are not tested on animals and do not use any ingredients in their formulations that are considered by the FDA to make a product “adulterated,” such as: bithionol, mercury compounds, vinyl chloride, zirconium, chloroform, or unapproved coloring agents.

Imported Products

All imported products, in the form of final production samples, are tested for quality, safety and performance prior to our purchase.

To ensure our global supply chain partners are in compliance with our Supplier Ethics Policy and abide by social, legal and trade security standards, CVS Caremark utilizes a third party auditing firm to monitor supplier adherence and conduct audits of foreign factories from which we directly purchase imports. We believe that our social accountability standards are consistent with standards set by the International Labour Organization and our security standards reflect guidelines established by Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism.

Overseas CVS Caremark suppliers are subject to random factory audits that assess compliance with ethical, security and legal standards, including:

• Monitoring & Documentation
• Management Systems
• Child Labor
• Forced or Compulsory Labor
• Health & Safety
• Right to Collective Bargaining
• Non-Discrimination
• Disciplinary Practices
• Harassment or Abuse
• Compensation & Benefits
• Hours of Work
• Sub-Contracting
• Environmental
• Home Work
• Access Control
• Procedural Security
• Personnel Security
• Education & Training
• Container Security