General principles, legal compliance.

We accept the regulations of the respectively applicable legal system, and compliance with them is mandatory. Over and beyond this, fair and honest dealings with business partners are a guiding principle of our conduct.

Anti-corruption policy, competition law and antitrust law.

Unfair commercial practices and corruption of any kind are not tolerated by us. Our employees strictly segregate business and private interests. Every possible conflict of interests must be avoided.

The requirements of competition law are binding for us; agreements on prices or conditions that restrict fair competition are inacceptable for us.

Anti-discrimination policy and respect for human rights.

Observance of the internationally recognized human rights is binding for us. We will not tolerate any form of discrimination, be it on the grounds of race, the sexual orientation, age, ability, religion, political views, ideology or the cultural origin.

We perceive a special duty of care for our employees in this respect. We pay scrupulous attention in the company to ensuring that employees are always treated with the appropriate respect and protected from abuse of any kind, be it of a physical, psychological (mobbing) or sexual nature. We will not tolerate inappropriate behaviour of this kind in our dealings with one another.

Forced and child labour.

We reject all forms of forced and child labour. Where the minimum age is concerned, we are committed to complying with the requirements of Conventions 138 and 182 of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Where national legislation is more restrictive, the respective stricter national standards apply, in keeping with paragraph 1.

Occupational health and safety.

For the purposes of the respectively applicable legislations (see paragraph 1) and of our personnel’s duty of care over and beyond that, we aim to ensure that health risks of any kind, be it through accidents or occupational illnesses, are minimized as much as possible for our employees, and excluded wherever feasible. A corresponding OHAS management is integrated in our organizational structure for this purpose.

Data protection and confidentiality.

We respect the right of every natural person to informational self-determination. Clients, employees and all other business partners can be certain that we will handle their personal data responsibly and only use them within the restrictions of the applicable data protection regulations. Our yardstick for our activities is the strict German Data Protection Act.

We treat all internal business matters that are not generally known or published confidentially – also those of third parties. The use of such information for private purposes is prohibited.

Environmental protection.

We are aware that our environment not only needs to be conserved for the generation of today, but that future generations will also benefit from a sustainable approach to resources and the environment.

We therefore attach particular importance to conforming with the relevant legislation and international standards. In addition to this, we also minimize unnecessary burdens for the environment by corresponding company regulations and by sensitizing our personnel.

Suppliers and business partners.

In our dealings with our suppliers and business partners, we endeavour to communicate the contents of this Code of Conduct as optimally as possible, and to sustainably promote their implementation. Our suppliers should similarly prevail upon their business partners to comply with these requirements.