1. European Union Directive on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment ("RoHS") and Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment ("WEEE").
2. Under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, or CERCLA, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (collectively known as " Superfund") in the U.S.A.
3. Soil Pollution Prevention Law.
4. Law for Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources in Japan.
5. Law on Promoting Green Purchasing in Japan.
D. Societal Green.
Canon's success in its market depends in part on Canon's brand name and its value. In other words, publicity is the engine of our development of innovative products and services to a certain extent. Although the global economic environment is not as favorable as people expected, Canon still achieved record highs for the company in both consolidated net sales and net income, and the third consecutive year of sales and profit growth in fiscal 2002, mainly due to a significant rise in sales of digital cameras and other digital products. Net sales in fiscal 2002 increased in the Americans, Europe, and other areas, but decreased in Japan. While after accounting for the depreciation of the yen, net sales in Europe got the highest increase by 6.3% in fiscal 2002, comparing to sales in other regions, reflecting significant overall sales growth, particularly in digital cameras. .
This figure shows, at least in some sense, that the public show a lot of concerns about Canon's business and types of products produced by the company. They also pay attention to the company's role in pollution and conservation. In response to the customers, Canon always considers raising the environmental efficiency of not only our business activities, but also our products, and reducing energy usage per unit of sales as keys to management. We have been able to maintain high actual results versus goals regarding these aspects, and will be expected in the future to:.
