Item 1. BUSINESS
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Item 1. BUSINESS
General
Fortive Corporation is a provider of essential technologies for connected workflow solutions across a range of attractive end-markets. Our well-known brands hold leading positions in intelligent operating solutions, precision technologies, and advanced healthcare solutions. Our businesses design, develop, service, manufacture, and market professional and engineered products, software, and services for a variety of end markets, building upon leading brand names, innovative technologies, and significant market positions. Our research and development, manufacturing, sales, distribution, service, and administrative facilities are located in more than 50 countries across North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Latin America.
We are guided by our shared purpose to deliver essential technology for the people who accelerate progress, and we are united by our culture of continuous improvement and bias for action that embody the Fortive Business System (“FBS”). Through rigorous application of the proprietary set of growth, lean, and leadership tools and processes that comprise FBS, we continuously improve business performance in the critical areas of innovation, product development and commercialization, global supply chain, sales and marketing, and leadership development. Our commitment to FBS has enabled us to drive customer satisfaction and profitability, and generate significant improvements in innovation, growth, and core operating margins. Additionally, FBS has enabled us to execute a disciplined acquisition strategy and expand our portfolio into new and attractive markets furthering our goal of creating long-term shareholder value.
On October 9, 2020, we completed the separation of our former Industrial Technologies segment (the “Separation”) by distributing 80.1% of the outstanding shares of Vontier Corporation (“Vontier”), the entity we created to hold the corresponding businesses, to Fortive stockholders on a pro rata basis. To effect the Separation, the Company distributed to its stockholders two shares of Vontier common stock for every five shares of the Company’s common stock outstanding held on September 25, 2020, the record date for the distribution, with the Company retaining 19.9% of the shares of Vontier common stock immediately following the Separation (the “Retained Vontier Shares”). On January 19, 2021, we completed an exchange of all
of the Retained Vontier Shares as part of a non-cash debt-for-equity exchange that reduced outstanding indebtedness of Fortive by $1.1 billion.
On October 1, 2018, we completed the split-off of businesses in our automation and specialty platform (excluding our Hengstler and Dynapar businesses) (the “A&S Business”) to our shareholders who elected to exchange shares of our common stock for all issued and outstanding shares of Stevens Holding Company, Inc. (“Stevens”), the entity we incorporated to hold the A&S Business. The split-off was immediately followed by the merger of Stevens with a subsidiary of Altra Industrial Motion Corp. (“Altra”). Concurrently with the split-off, we sold directly to Altra the remainder of the assets and liabilities of the A&S Business that were not otherwise contributed to Stevens.
Fortive Corporation is a Delaware corporation and was incorporated in 2015 in connection with the separation of Fortive from Danaher Corporation (“Danaher” or “Former Parent”) on July 2, 2016 as an independent, publicly-traded company, listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
In this Annual Report, the terms “Fortive” or the “Company” refer to either Fortive Corporation or to Fortive Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries, as the context requires. Unless otherwise indicated, all amounts in this Annual Report refer to continuing operations.
Reportable Segments
Before the Separation, we reported our results in two reportable segments consisting of Professional Instrumentation and Industrial Technologies. In connection with the Separation, and in light of organizational and leadership changes we made to enhance and better evaluate the operational performance of and allocate resources to our businesses, we now operate and report our results in three segments, Intelligent Operating Solutions, Precision Technologies, and Advanced Healthcare Solutions, each of which is further described below.
Intelligent Operating Solutions
Our Intelligent Operating Solutions segment provides leading solutions to accelerate industrial and facility reliability and performance, as well as compliance and safety across a range of vertical end markets, including manufacturing, process industries, healthcare, utilities and power, communications and electronics, among others. The businesses in our Intelligent Operating Solutions segment provide a broad and differentiated offering of instrumentation, sensors, software, and services to address these critical workflows for our customers. These offerings include connected reliability tools, environment, health, safety, and quality (EHSQ) enterprise software products, facility and asset lifecycle software, and pre-construction planning and construction procurement solutions. We also offer a series of leading hardware offerings including ruggedized professional test tools, electric, pressure, and temperature calibration tools for high-end government and industrial labs, as well as portable gas detection tools which keep workers safe in industries where air quality and safety cannot be taken for granted. Typical users of these offerings include electrical engineers, electricians, electronic technicians, EHSQ professionals, network technicians, facility managers, first-responders, and maintenance professionals.
Products and services within our Intelligent Operating Solutions segment are marketed under a variety of leading brands, including ACCRUENT, FLUKE, FLUKE NETWORKS, GORDIAN, INDUSTRIAL SCIENTIFIC, INTELEX, and PRUFTECHNIK.
Precision Technologies
Our Precision Technologies segment supplies technologies to a broad set of vertical end markets, enabling our customers to accelerate the development of innovative products and solutions. We provide our customers with electrical test and measurement instruments and services, energetic material devices, and a broad portfolio of sensor and control system solutions. In our sensing business, we provide solutions that sense, monitor, and control operational or manufacturing variables, such as temperature, pressure, level, and flow. Our sensing products serve a wide variety of vertical markets, including power and energy, medical equipment, food and beverage, aerospace and defense, off-highway vehicles, electronics, semiconductors, and other general industrial markets. In our energetic materials business, we design, manufacture, and market highly-engineered energetic material solutions for commercial, defense, and space markets. At Tektronix, we provide our customers with a broad portfolio of test and measurement instruments serving a variety of end markets including communication, consumer electronics, semiconductor, defense, automotive, and industrial. Customers for these products and services include design engineers for advanced electronic devices and equipment, process and quality engineers focused on improved process capability and
productivity, facility maintenance managers driving increased uptime, and other customers for whom precise measurement, reliability, and compliance are critical in their applications.
Products and services in our Precision Technologies segment are marketed under a variety of brands, including ANDERSON-NEGELE, GEMS, SETRA, HENGSTLER-DYNAPAR, QUALITROL, PACIFIC SCIENTIFIC, KEITHLEY and TEKTRONIX.
Advanced Healthcare Solutions
Our Advanced Healthcare Solutions segment serves healthcare customers with enabling products and services for critical activities that help ensure safe, efficient, and timely healthcare. Through the Advanced Healthcare Solutions segment, we provide broad hardware and software portfolio offerings optimized around our end-users’ most critical workflows, including instrument and device reprocessing, instrument tracking, cell therapy equipment design and manufacturing, biomedical test tools, radiation safety monitoring, and asset management. Our offerings provide critical sterilization and disinfection solutions, including low-temperature hydrogen peroxide sterilization solutions and advanced infection prevention and patient safety in healthcare facilities. In addition, we provide subscription-based surgical inventory management systems to healthcare facilities to facilitate inventory management and regulatory compliance as well as subscription-based technical, analytical, and compliance services to determine radiation exposure. Furthermore, through our solutions and services, we enable developers and engineers in healthcare and other critical industries across the end-to-end product creation cycle from concepts to finished products.
Products and services in our Advanced Healthcare Solutions segment are marketed under a variety of brands, including ASP, CENSIS, CENSITRAC, EVOTECH, FLUKE BIOMEDICAL, INVETECH, LANDAUER, RAYSAFE, and STERRAD.
The following discussion includes information common to all of our segments.
Materials
Our manufacturing operations employ a wide variety of raw materials, including electronic components, steel, plastics and other petroleum-based products, cast iron, aluminum, and copper. Prices of oil and gas affect our costs for freight and utilities. We purchase raw materials from a large number of independent sources around the world. Tariffs affect our costs for impacted materials or components we import into the United States. No single supplier is material, although for some components that require particular specifications or qualifications there may be a single supplier or a limited number of suppliers that can readily provide such components. We utilize a number of techniques to address potential disruption in and other risks relating to our supply chain, including in certain cases the use of safety stock, alternative materials, and qualification of multiple supply sources. During 2020 we had no raw material shortages that had a material effect on our business. For a further discussion of risks related to the materials and components required for our operations, please refer to “Item 1A. Risk Factors.”
Intellectual Property
We own numerous patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets and hold licenses to use intellectual property owned by others. Although in aggregate our intellectual property is important to our operations, we do not consider any single patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, or license to be of material importance to any segment or to the business as a whole. From time to time we engage in litigation to protect our intellectual property rights. For a discussion of risks related to our intellectual property, please refer to “Item 1A. Risk Factors.” All capitalized brands and product names throughout this document are trademarks owned by, or licensed to, Fortive.
Competition
We believe that we are a leader in many of our served markets. Although our businesses generally operate in highly competitive markets, our competitive position cannot be determined accurately in the aggregate or by segment, since none of our competitors offer all of the same product and service lines or serve all of the same markets as we do. Because of the range of the products and services we sell and the variety of markets we serve, we encounter a wide variety of competitors, including larger companies or divisions of larger companies with substantial sales, marketing, research, and financial capabilities, as well as well-established regional competitors who are more specialized than we are in particular markets. We face increased competition in a number of our served markets as a result of the entry of competitors based in low-cost manufacturing locations, and increasing consolidation in particular markets. The number of competitors varies by product and service line. Our management believes that we have a market leadership position in most of the markets we serve. Key competitive factors vary among our businesses and product and service lines, but include the specific factors noted above with respect to each particular business and typically also include price, quality, performance, delivery speed, applications expertise, distribution channel
access, service and support, technology and innovation, breadth of product, service and software offerings, and brand name recognition. For a discussion of risks related to competition, please refer to “Item 1A. Risk Factors.”
Seasonal Nature of Business
General economic conditions impact our business and financial results, and certain of our businesses experience seasonal and other trends related to the industries and end markets that they serve. For example, capital equipment sales are often stronger in the fourth calendar quarter and sales to OEMs are often stronger immediately preceding and following the launch of new products. However, as a whole, we are not subject to material seasonality.
Human Capital Resources
Empowering our talented global team to contribute in meaningful ways is a critical component of our strategy and our success. To support the advancement of our employees and the success of our Company, we invest in and develop our employees at every level. We are committed to creating a challenging and collaborative culture and environment where our employees can grow, develop, and do their best work.
COVID-19 Response
In the uncertainty that immediately followed the COVID-19 pandemic, we were guided by five key pillars in our response to our employees: Safety, Transparency, Empathy, Science and Employee Trust. The policies we implemented were guided with the safety of our employees, their families, our customers, and our communities as the number one priority, with our actions informed by data and expert public health guidance. The manner in which we considered and communicated our policies and actions were driven by the recognition of, and empathy for, the uncertainty, fear, and real-life impact caused by the pandemic for our colleagues. With that in mind, we focused on being agile and transparent with what we were doing and why we were doing it, while listening to ongoing feedback from our global teams and quickly making changes where needed. We did our best to accommodate the needs of our people as they managed through an incredibly difficult year personally and professionally.
Driven by our values, we:
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Formed global and local response teams at every level to create hundreds of standard processes to share best practices and streamline communication to keep our employees safe and informed;
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Acted quickly to limit and then stop business travel;
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Ensured pay continuity for quarantine periods for our employees;
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Quickly made the decision to enable and then mandate remote work for those who were able to do so while ensuring that our essential manufacturing team members had the education, resources, and support needed to stay safe on the job;
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Created flexible shifts and schedules to accommodate childcare and other family or personal needs;
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Provided subsidized childcare and other caregiver services as well as parental counseling;
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Waived deductibles, co-pays, and co-insurance for COVID-19 testing or treatment as well as all virtual healthcare visits; and
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Provided enhanced counseling and mental health coverage and services.
Employee Profile and Development
As of December 31, 2020, we employed approximately 17,000 persons, of whom approximately 9,500 were employed in the United States and approximately 7,500 were employed outside of the United States. Outside the United States, we have government-mandated collective bargaining arrangements and union contracts in certain countries, particularly in Europe where certain of our employees are represented by unions and/or works councils.
Human Capital Strategy
Our Human Capital Strategy is designed to attract, retain, and develop the best talent to drive our business strategy forward by offering a competitive reward structure and a compelling employee value proposition. A key element of our value proposition is our commitment to our employees’ continued learning, development, and success. To respond to our growing business and technology changes, our Leadership, Development & Learning team has adopted a blended learning approach that combines online digital learning with classroom teaching and coaching to effectively scale continuous learning and accelerate our ability to learn quickly and remain agile throughout Fortive. With the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, we further enhanced our virtual and online learning and development platform to ensure safety of our employees without compromising our commitment to our employees’ ongoing career success.
The following is a summary of some of the key support we provide to our employees to further their learning and development:
| The Fortive9 | The Fortive9 is our leadership framework that is critical to how we guide the development of our employees because Fortive9 is how we aspire to work, deliver value, and build organization capability. Examples of the Fortive 9 include Customer Obsessed, Innovation, and Team and Talent Development. | ||||
| People Leader Experience | Comprehensive learning for both new and experienced leaders, harnessing the best of interactive learning, and providing the critical tools as our employees assume greater people leadership responsibilities throughout their career with us. | ||||
| Accelerated Leadership Experience (ALE) | Designed for high performing employees as preparation for running Fortive businesses or functions. We use immersive, experiential learning, where individuals can drive personal progress and overcome obstacles to fulfill their leadership potential. | ||||
| FBS Office and University | FBS Office is dedicated to strategically imbed FBS in everything we do, from innovations to operations. FBS University, our proprietary virtual and hands-on learning environment, develops and reinforces learning for hundreds of FBS Champions across our Company each year to deliver value. | ||||
| FBS Ignite | An immersive development experience that leverages the diversity of our operating companies. Supported with intensive development in the FBS toolset, active mentoring from the FBS Office, and executive career coaching, participants advance their FBS expertise and business acumen. | ||||
| Growth Accelerator | A key development experience that enables our team to solve challenges in new, inspiring ways through three key innovation tools, Deep Customer Insight, Solution Generation, and Experimentation, each designed to enable our employees to develop critical solutions for customers. |
Each one of these investments in our team delivers value to both our people and our customers, with the investments focused on development that adds most value to stakeholders.
Inclusion and Diversity
We believe that creating inclusive places to work and diverse points of view are the lifeblood of innovation and growth and provide us with a strategic advantage. In 2020, we continued to make significant strides to reflect the needs, priorities, and experiences of our global team and strengthen our culture of inclusion and diversity. Our Board of Directors and our Compensation Committee oversee our human capital management strategies, including our inclusion and diversity efforts. Our VP, Inclusion & Diversity works closely with our senior management and our Inclusion & Diversity Council, involving employees at every level in establishing a collaborative vision that will truly reflect the needs, priorities, and viewpoints of our diverse global team.
Our inclusion and diversity strategies are founded on the following pillars, using the insights from employees, community, and other stakeholders:
| Strategic Pillar | ||||||||
![]() | Inclusion and Diversity Matters: Build a diverse Fortive through hiring, developing, and retaining a strong team | |||||||
![]() | Everyone Owns Inclusion: Invest in development of our teams to build a Fortive where you can be yourself and do your best work | |||||||
![]() | I&D in Our DNA: Build a culture of equity that enables greater innovation for customers and the world |
Please refer to our Proxy Statement for more details about our progress against these pillars.
Engagement and Communication
A key focus of our human capital management strategy is active listening and effective communication throughout the organization. Our senior leaders are committed to actively listen to our employees and other stakeholders, as demonstrated by over one hundred separate “Courageous Conversations” held in 2020 to actively listen and learn on race and social justice matters so we can make a real impact with our actions. In addition, in 2020, we conducted several employee surveys focused on getting feedback on actions related to our COVID-19 response work. We wanted to ensure our teams had the best support possible through such an extremely challenging time. This allowed for us to listen, learn, and adjust quickly to the needs of our teams across the globe. Based on the learnings from 2020, we have adjusted our approach to employee experience surveys and feedback. Beginning in 2021, we have moved from an annual survey to shorter quarterly employee experience surveys and a more thorough biennial survey. This will enable us to be more responsive to the needs and feedback from the organization while enhancing our ability to understand trends over time. The results inform both management and the Board of Directors on appropriate actions and strategies to continuously enhance our employees’ experience.
Government Contracts
Although the substantial majority of our revenue in 2020 was from customers other than governmental entities, each of our segments has agreements relating to the sale of products to government entities. As a result, we are subject to various statutes and regulations that apply to companies doing business with governments and government-owned entities. For a discussion of risks related to government contracting requirements, please refer to “Item 1A. Risk Factors.”
Regulatory Matters
We face extensive government regulation both within and outside the United States relating to the development, manufacture, marketing, sale, and distribution of our products, software, and services. The following sections describe certain significant regulations that we are subject to. These are not the only regulations that our businesses must comply with. For a description of the risks related to the regulations that our businesses are subject to, please refer to “Item 1A. Risk Factors.”
Medical Device Regulations
Many of our products in the Advanced Healthcare Solutions segment are classified as medical devices and are subject to restrictions under domestic and foreign laws, rules, regulations, self-regulatory codes, circulars, and orders, including, but not limited to, the U.S. Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the “FDCA”). The FDCA requires these products, when sold in the United States, to be safe and effective for their intended uses and to comply with the regulations administered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”). The FDA regulates the design, development, research, preclinical and clinical testing, introduction, manufacture, advertising, labeling, packaging, marketing, distribution, import and export, and record keeping for such products.
Medical devices can be marketed only for the indications for which they are cleared or approved. After a device has received 510(k) clearance for a specific intended use, any change or modification that significantly affects its safety or effectiveness, such as a significant change in the design, materials, method of manufacture, or intended use, may require a new 510(k) clearance and payment of an FDA user fee.
Market access, sales, and marketing of medical devices in non-U.S. countries are subject to foreign regulatory requirements that vary widely from country to country. For example in the European Economic Area (“EEA”), a medical device must meet the Medical Devices Directive’s (“MDD”) Essential Requirements or, effective May 26, 2021, the Medical Devices Regulation’s (“MDR”) General Safety and Performance Requirements. Before placing a medical device on the EEA market, the manufacturer must prepare a declaration of conformity, certifying that the device complies with the MDD/MDR, and must then affix the CE mark. The notified body typically audits and examines the device’s technical documentation, and the quality system for the manufacture, design, and final inspection of the relevant device before issuing a CE certificate. Following the issuance of this CE certificate, manufacturers may prepare the declaration of conformity and affix the CE mark to the devices covered by this CE certificate. Similar requirements apply in the UK. For access to the UK market, manufacturers must obtain a UKCA Certificate and affix a UKCA mark to their medical devices. However, the CE mark will be accepted in the UK until July 1, 2023.
Any medical devices we manufacture and distribute are subject to pervasive and continuing regulation by the FDA and certain state and certain other comparable foreign authorities. As a medical device manufacturer, our manufacturing facilities are subject to inspection on a routine basis by the FDA and other comparable foreign authorities as well as audits by our notified body. We are required to adhere to the Current Good Manufacturing Practices requirements, as set forth in the Quality Systems Regulation, which require manufacturers, including third-party manufacturers, to follow stringent design, testing, control, documentation, and other quality assurance procedures during all phases of the design and manufacturing process.
We must also comply with global post-market surveillance regulations, including adverse event reporting requirements, which require that we review and report to the FDA and other comparable foreign authorities any incident in which our products may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury. We must also report any incident in which our product has malfunctioned if that malfunction would likely cause or contribute to a death or serious injury if it were to recur.
Labeling and promotional activities are subject to scrutiny by the FDA and other comparable foreign authorities and, in certain circumstances, by the Federal Trade Commission and other comparable foreign regulators. Medical devices approved or cleared by the FDA, foreign regulators, or our notified body may not be promoted for undocumented, unapproved, or uncleared uses, otherwise known as “off-label” promotion. The FDA, other U.S. agencies, and other comparable foreign authorities actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the promotion of off-label uses.
Other Healthcare Laws
We are subject to various healthcare related laws regulating fraud and abuse, research and development, pricing and sales and marketing practices, and the privacy and security of health information. In particular, the U.S. Federal Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits persons from knowingly and willfully soliciting, offering, receiving, or providing remuneration (including any kickback or bribe), directly or indirectly, in exchange for or to induce either the referral of an individual, or the furnishing or arranging for a good or service, for which payment may be made in whole or in part under a federal healthcare program, such as Medicare or Medicaid. A person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation. Similar laws and regulations apply in many foreign countries.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) prohibits knowingly and willfully (1) executing, or attempting to execute, a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program, including private payors, or (2) falsifying, concealing, or covering up a material fact or making any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement in connection with the delivery of or payment for healthcare benefits, items, or services. In addition, HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009, also restricts the use and disclosure of patient identifiable health information, mandates the adoption of standards relating to the privacy and security of patient identifiable health information, and requires the reporting of certain security breaches with respect to such information. Similar to the U.S. Federal Anti-Kickback Statute, a person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the healthcare fraud statute implemented under HIPAA or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation. Similar laws and regulations apply in many foreign countries.
The False Claims Act imposes liability on any person or entity that, among other things, knowingly presents, or causes to be presented, a false or fraudulent claim for payment by a federal healthcare program, knowingly makes, uses, or causes to be made or used, a false record or statement material to a false or fraudulent claim, or knowingly makes a false statement to avoid, decrease, or conceal an obligation to pay money to the U.S. federal government. The qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act allow a private individual to bring actions on behalf of the federal government alleging that the defendant has submitted a false
claim to the federal government, and to share in any monetary recovery. In addition, the government may assert that a claim including items and services resulting from a violation of the U.S. Federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the civil False Claims Act. Similar laws and regulations apply in many foreign countries.
Federal consumer protection and unfair competition laws broadly regulate marketplace activities and activities that potentially harm consumers. Analogous U.S. state laws and regulations, such as state anti-kickback and false claims laws, also may apply to our business practices, including but not limited to, research, distribution, sales and marketing arrangements, and claims involving healthcare items or services reimbursed by any third-party payor, including private insurers. Further, there are state laws that require medical device manufacturers to comply with the voluntary compliance guidelines and the relevant compliance guidance promulgated by the U.S. federal government, or otherwise restrict payments that may be made to healthcare providers and other potential referral sources; state laws and regulations that require manufacturers to file reports relating to pricing and marketing information, which requires tracking gifts and other remuneration and items of value provided to healthcare professionals and entities; state and local laws requiring the registration of sales representatives; and state laws governing the privacy and security of health information in certain circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not preempted by HIPAA. Similar laws and regulations apply in many non-U.S. countries.
Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption Laws
Given the international scope of operation, we are subject to various U.S. and non-U.S. laws outlawing bribes, kickbacks, payoffs, and other improper payments. In particular, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), the UK Bribery Act, and other similar laws in other jurisdictions prohibit companies, their officers and employees, and their intermediaries from making improper payments to public officials to influence those officials or secure an improper advantage in order to obtain or retain business. In the past several years, there has been a substantial increase in the enforcement of these global anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws. Our operations throughout the world, including in developing countries with heightened risks of corruption, and interactions with individuals who are considered public officials under these laws, such as healthcare professionals in countries with state-run healthcare systems, expose us to the risk of violating these laws. Violations of these laws or even allegations of violations of these laws could pose reputational risks, subject us to investigations and related litigation, cause disruptions to our business, and result in monetary fines and damages and other sanctions.
Data Privacy and Security Laws
As a global organization, we are subject to data privacy and security laws, regulations, and customer-imposed controls in numerous jurisdictions as a result of having access to and processing confidential, personal, and/or sensitive data in the course of our business. For example, in the United States, HIPAA privacy and security rules require certain of our operations to maintain controls to protect the availability and confidentiality of patient health information, individual states regulate data breach and security requirements, and multiple governmental bodies assert authority over aspects of the protection of personal privacy.
Data privacy and security laws are rapidly evolving. In particular, a new, broad privacy law in California, the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), came into effect in January 2020. The CCPA has some of the same features as the GDPR (discussed below), and has already prompted several other states to consider similar legislation. The CCPA has already been amended several times, including through a November 2020 ballot initiative (called the California Privacy Rights Act) (“CPRA”), which will go into effect in January 2023.
Across the European Union, the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) imposes strict requirements in how we collect, transmit, process, and retain personal data, including, among other things, in certain circumstances a requirement for prompt notification of data breaches to supervisory authorities and/or to data subjects, with the risk of significant fines for non-compliance. Additionally, after a July 2020 decision from the Court of Justice of the European Union, European regulators are requiring additional safeguards to facilitate the transfer of personal information from the European Union to the United States and other certain jurisdictions.
Several other countries such as China, Russia, and Brazil have passed, and other countries are considering passing, laws that meaningfully expand the compliance requirements around confidential, personal, and/or sensitive data that we may have access to or process in the course of our business. In China and Russia, privacy and security laws may require a copy of personal data relating to citizens to be maintained on local servers and impose additional data transfer restrictions. Brazil’s Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados (“LGPD”) increases compliance requirements related to privacy, data protection, and information security for businesses that are located or do business within Brazil. Although the LGPD shares similarities with the GDPR, it also contains a number of unique features, including specific legal bases not found in the GDPR that allow an organization to process personal data and requirements for the role of a data protection officer. In these countries and elsewhere, the laws applicable to data privacy and security may require changes to business practices or additional investment for compliance purposes.
Environmental Laws and Regulations
Our operations and properties are subject to laws and regulations relating to environmental protection, including those governing air emissions, water discharges and waste management, and workplace health and safety. For a discussion of the environmental laws and regulations that our operations, products, and services are subject to and other environmental contingencies, please refer to Note 16 to the consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report. For a discussion of risks related to compliance with environmental and health and safety laws and risks related to past or future releases of, or exposures to, hazardous substances, please refer to “Item 1A. Risk Factors.”
Export/Import Compliance
We are required to comply with various U.S. export/import control and economic sanctions laws, such as:
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the International Traffic in Arms Regulations administered by the U.S. Department of State, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, which, among other things, impose license requirements on the export from the United States of defense articles and defense services listed on the United States Munitions List;
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the Export Administration Regulations administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security, which, among other things, impose licensing requirements on the export, in-country transfer, and re-export of certain dual-use goods, technology, and software (which are items that have both commercial and military or proliferation applications);
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the regulations administered by the U.S. Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control, which implement economic sanctions imposed against designated countries, governments, and persons based on United States foreign policy and national security considerations; and
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the import regulations administered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Other nations’ governments have implemented similar export/import control and economic sanction regulations, which may affect our operations or transactions subject to their jurisdictions. For a discussion of risks related to export/import control and economic sanctions laws, please refer to “Item 1A. Risk Factors.”
International Operations
Our products and services are available in markets worldwide, and our principal markets outside the United States are in Europe and Asia. We also have operations around the world, and this geographic diversity allows us to draw on the skills of a worldwide workforce, provides greater stability to our operations, allows us to drive economies of scale, provides revenue streams that may help offset economic trends that are specific to individual economies, and offers us an opportunity to access new markets for products. In addition, we believe that our future growth depends in part on our ability to continue developing products and sales models that successfully target high-growth markets.
The manner in which our products and services are sold outside the United States differs by business and by region. Most of our sales in non-U.S. markets are made by our subsidiaries located outside the United States, though we also sell directly from the United States into non-U.S. markets through various representatives and distributors and, in some cases, directly. In countries with low sales volumes, we generally sell through representatives and distributors.
Available Information
We maintain an internet website at www.fortive.com where we make available free of charge our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports, filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, as soon as reasonably practicable after filing such material with, or furnishing such material to, the SEC. Our internet website and the information contained on, or linked from, that website are not incorporated by reference into this Form 10-K.
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