It is Nokia’s global policy not to discriminate against potential employees with chronic conditions that do not prevent them from working. Our global recruitment policy states that the objective of medical evaluations is to ensure that candidates will be able to cope with the demands of their work according to the following principles:

• the candidate should be able to successfully cope with the health and safety demands of the work
• the work or the working conditions should not constitute a risk to the candidate’s health
• the candidate’s health should not constitute a health or safety risk to co-workers.

Disabilities, medical conditions or chronic illnesses that are not relevant when performing the planned work, or pregnancy, are not acceptable reasons for rejection.

Recent incidents at our local operations have brought to our attention some incidences where local laws and practices conflict with our global policy:

Hepatitis B testing in China: People who have hepatitis B can usually lead normal lives but are often discriminated against in China. In April 2007, a case was brought against Nokia by someone who claimed our operation in Dongguan decided not to hire him after a medical evaluation ordered by the company revealed he had hepatitis B. Nokia investigated the case to establish whether the Dongguan unit was in breach of our global policy. After this incident we reviewed the whole blood testing procedure in China and stopped testing for hepatitis B as part of the pre-employment medical evaluation. Instead, we now offer awareness training that provides accurate information on the disease and its contagiousness to help end discrimination against people with hepatitis B. We also offer voluntary hepatitis B vaccinations to our employees in China.

Pregnancy tests in Mexico: According to the Mexican Labor Law, pregnant women are not allowed to work night shifts or overtime. To comply with this law, our site in Reynosa required pregnancy tests as part of the pre-employment medical evaluation. As this was a breach of our global policy not to screen potential employees for pregnancy, we stopped the practice as soon as the conflict with our policy was identified. Our new process relies on women reporting their pregnancy voluntarily so that appropriate changes in their shift structure can be made. We also have a health program for pregnant women and communicate the benefits we offer through a bulletin board. In addition, we invite women to update their medical records regularly.

We are in the process of reviewing our pre-employment medical evaluation practices at our operations around the world, to ensure compliance with local laws and international standards, as well as our own global policies. The medical evaluation practices will be developed so they do not include tests that are not directly related to work related risks or working ability.