Supplier Code of Conduct

Responsible behavior in regard to respect for human rights, environmental protection and business ethics is the basis for sustainable, socially sound business. Business decisions must be made not only according to legal, technical and economic criteria, but also according to social, ecological and ethical criteria. One goal of our business behavior is to prevent negative human rights outcomes, minimize them, and where possible, to end them. Further goals are to preserve natural resources and to promote environmental protection as well as possible within the company's business activities, along with ethical business behavior. Risks to human rights and to the environment according to laws on corporate due diligence in supply chains must be prevented or minimized. In achieving these goals, we focus also and especially on the values and recommendations for action and guidelines of the International Bill of Human Rights, the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

Support for these goals is not only a demand on ourselves, but also requires responsible design and observation of all business collaborations.

This supplier code is the transfer of the demand for validation and respect of human rights, environmental protection and business ethics that we apply in our own business activities, to our business partners and suppliers (hereinafter also referred to as “partners”) and also serves to meet our contractual obligations toward our customers and the implementation of national laws and regulations such as the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG) and international conventions such as the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Guidelines on Children's Rights and Business Conduct, the United Nations Business and Human Rights Guidelines, the International Labor Standards of the International Labor Organization and the United Nations Global Compact.

We expect our partners and their subcontractors to comply with and implement national and international agreements and regulations to protect human rights, the environment and the requirements for ethical business conduct.

The Partner agrees to comply with the principles and requirements of the code of conduct. Compliance with the standards and expectations contained in this code must be transferred by our partners to their own suppliers and ensured in all their business activities and supply chains through suitable measures.

This supplier code is part of the individual supplier contracts. It will be revised as soon as significant new sustainability requirements call for it.

The partner is obligated to follow the human rights and environmental due diligence obligations in an appropriate manner with the goal of preventing human rights or environmental risks, or to minimize them, or to end violations of human rights and environmental obligations. This includes establishing risk management, defining internal responsibility, performing regular risk analyses, issuing a policy statement, anchoring preventive measures in one's own business area and toward direct suppliers, taking remedial measures, setting up a complaints procedure, implementing due diligence obligations in relation to risks at indirect suppliers and documentation together with reporting.

1. General obligations

The partner is obligated at his company to introduce human rights due diligence mechanisms and if necessary to take reasonable due diligence action.

Crucial here are the national due diligence laws applicable to the partner, but at least the specifications of the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights (hereinafter the UN Guiding Principles) as well as the relevant OECD guidelines and principles and ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

Insofar as this appears necessary for compliance with and implementation of this supplier code of conduct, the partner will offer suitable training courses in its company for the groups of people affected by the obligations and will ensure that its suppliers also offer corresponding training courses in their companies.

The partner is prohibited from any action or omission in breach of duty that goes beyond the expectations and prohibitions set out below in this section if it is directly likely to adversely affect a protected legal position in a particularly severe way and if its unlawfulness is obvious after a reasonable assessment of all relevant circumstances.

The partner is obligated not to tolerate or support threats, intimidation or attacks against human rights defenders in connection with their activities to create a safe environment conducive to community engagement and human rights at the local, national or international level.

 

2. Obligations for information and cooperation

At our demand, the partner must provide us with information about the mechanisms introduced in his company to ensure human rights due diligence.At the same time, we will inform the partner if a human rights or environmental concern has been detected regarding one the products and services provided to us in the supply chain. The partner will try with us to eliminate or reduce the detectable risk.

If and insofar as it is necessary for fulfillment of our contractual or legal obligations, the partner will give us information as to whether his legal obligations and this obligations under the supplier code have been met, and at our demand will provide all requested information and documents for inspection.

We have the right to inspect compliance with and implementation of the obligations governed by this supplier code of conduct, even at the partner's site, if necessary.

 

3. Minimum employment age and prohibition of the worst forms of child labor

The partner will observe ILO Convention No. 138 on the minimum employment age without limitation. It is forbidden to employ a child within the age of mandatory school attendance according to the laws of the place of employment, under which the age of employment must not be below 15 years, unless ILO Convention No. 138 on the minimum employment age allows an exception.

The partner must adhere to ILO Convention No. 182, which prohibits the worst forms of child labor. Specifically, all forms of slavery or all practices similar to slavery are prohibited, the use, brokering or offering of a child for prostitution, the production of pornography or for pornographic performances, the use, brokering or offering of a child for prohibited activities, in particular for the acquisition of and for trafficking in drugs, and any work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to be harmful to the health, safety or morals of children.

The partner shall not tolerate violations of the aforementioned requirements under any circumstances within his company or in relation to suppliers.

 

4. Prohibition on forced labor

The partner must comply with ILO Convention No. 29 on forced labor and No. 105 on abolition of forced labor. Particularly prohibited is the employment of people in forced labor. This includes any work or service that is required of a person under threat of punishment and that he has not provided voluntarily, for example as a result of debt bondage or human trafficking, unless the work or service is compatible with ILO Convention No. 29 on forced labor or compatible with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This also applies to foreign workers. All employees must be able to terminate their employment with reasonable notice. Work conditions and employment contracts should be documented clearly in writing.

 

5. Prohibition against slavery

The partner ensures that all forms of slavery, practices similar to slavery, serfdom or other forms of exercise of domination or oppression in the workplace environment, such as economic or sexual exploitation and humiliation, will not be tolerated by either on itself or by its suppliers and business partners.

 

6. Ensuring occupational health and safety

The partner must observe and implement ILO Conventions No. 1 and No. 30 on work times. The work times must correspond to applicable law or the industry standard. Overtime is only permissible on a voluntary basis and if it does not exceed 12 hours per week, during which the employees are to be given at least one day off after six consecutive workdays. Weekly work time must not exceed 48 hours.

The partner must observe the occupational health and safety obligations applicable at the place of employment and avoid any risk of work accidents or work-related health hazards due to negligence. This applies to possible hazards from

• obviously inadequate safety standards in preparing and maintaining the workplace, workstation or work equipment.
• lack of suitable protective measures to prevent effects of chemical, physical or biological materials
• lack of measures for preventing excessive physical or mental fatigue, especially from unsuitable organization of work regarding work times, rest breaks, and
• training and instruction of employees.

The employees will be given access to adequate potable water and access to clean sanitary facilities.

 

7. Ban on disregard for freedom of association

The partner will guarantee its employees’ freedom of association of within the meaning of ILO Convention No. 87 on freedom of association and No. 98 on the right to organize and the right to collective bargaining.

 

Prohibited is any disregard for freedom of association according to which

• workers can freely form or join labor unions,
• the establishment, accession and membership of a labor union cannot be used as grounds for unjustified discrimination or retaliation,
• labor unions are free to operate according to the law of the location of employment; which includes the right to strike and the right to collective bargaining.

 

8. Non-discrimination and fair wages

The partner ensures observance of ILO Conventions No. 100 on equal pay and No. 111 on discrimination in employment and occupation.  Prohibited is any unequal treatment based on national and ethnic origin, social origin, health status, disability, sexual orientation, age, sex, political opinion, religion or worldview, unless it is justified by the employment requirements. Especially forbidden is payment of unequal wages for equal work.

The partner must ensure equal opportunity at the workplace and prohibit all forms of discrimination. Managers must be appropriately trained to recognize and prevent discrimination, especially in personnel decisions.

The partner must pay employees an appropriate wage for the living conditions in the location of employment, at least according to the minimum wage specified by applicable law and not unlawfully withhold justified wages. The partner must ensure that the workers receive clear, detailed, regular written information with a breakdown of their wages.

 

9. Preservation of natural basis of existence, protection of indigenous peoples

The partner must not, in breach of legitimate laws, deprive access to forests or bodies of water whose use secures the livelihood of people.

The partner is prohibited to cause harmful soil changes, water pollution, air pollution, harmful noise emissions or excessive water consumption that is likely to significantly impair the natural basis for the preservation and production of food, to deny a person access to clean water, to destroy or make it difficult for a person to access sanitary facilities, or to harm a person’s health.

The partner is obligated to prevent by suitable means potentially damaging effects on the health, safety and the livelihood of local communities and indigenous peoples. According to ILO Convention No. 169 on indigenous peoples, the rights of indigenous peoples must be protected. Within the meaning of this convention, the partner is obligated to obtain the free prior informed consent of indigenous peoples and to promote fair compensation if land use is granted to the partner.

 

10. Use of public or private security forces

The partner is forbidden to use private or public security forces to protect the business project if, due to poor training or control by the partner during use of the security forces, the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment is disregarded, life or limb is injured or freedom of organization and association is impaired.

Depending on the type of contract (e.g. employment contract or temporary work), it must be ensured that applicable national law be adhered to in the contract and work relations.

 

11. Dealing with conflict materials

For the conflict minerals tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold, and for other raw materials such as cobalt, we establish processes in accordance with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) principles for fulfilling due diligence requirements to promote responsible supply chains for minerals from conflict and high-risk areas and expect the same from our partner. Smelters and refineries without proper, audited due diligence processes should be avoided.

 

12. Complaints procedure

The partner must provide its employees an effective complaints procedure, so that they can report their problems at the workplace, including harassment and discrimination, to the management in order to seek a suitable solution. The complaints procedure must be accessible while maintaining confidentiality of identity and preventing any disadvantage due to reporting of complaints.

1. General environmental due diligence

We expect partners to minimize negative affects on the environment and climate resulting from their business activities and to handle natural resources with care.

In producing his products and materials, the partner is obligated to ensure that the relevant applicable regulations and any supplementary environmental standards based on them are complied with. He must prevent or minimize possible environmental hazards and potential resulting environmental damage in relation to his production processes. All necessary environmental approvals and licenses must be obtained, and their operating and reporting requirements must be followed.

In particular, in accordance with the LkSG, the partner is must fulfill the obligations of the Minimata Convention (mercury), the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the Basel Convention on the Export of Hazardous Waste.

 

2. Climate protection, air emissions, and resource conservation

The partner must actively cooperate in achieving the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. He must reduce CO₂ emissions when possible. General emissions from operations, particularly air emissions and greenhouse gas emissions, must be typified, routinely monitored, inspected and treated where necessary before they are released. If necessary, the partner must maintain and monitor waste gas purification systems.

The partner must use resources such as water, raw materials and energy in its procurement and in its own production processes conscientiously and as sparingly as possible. Consumption of resources during production must be reduced or prevented. This can be done at the point of origin or through procedures and measures, such as by adapting production and maintenance processes or company procedures, by using alternative materials, through economization, or by recycling or by reusing materials.

 

 

3. Water protection and quality

Wastewater from operating procedures, manufacturing processes and sanitary facilities must be typified, monitored, inspected and, if necessary, treated before it is disposed of. Any contamination of surfaces or groundwater and any hazard to fresh or seawater must be prevented.  Generation of wastewater must be reduced, as possible.

 

4. Hazardous materials and waste

The partner pursues a systematic approach to identifying, managing, reducing and responsibly disposing of or recycling solid waste.

Chemicals or other materials that pose a hazard if released into the environment must be identified and managed so as to ensure safe handling, transportation, storage, use, recycling or reuse, and disposal of those materials.  The disposal method must involve no illegal waste disposal.

 

5. Environmental management systems

If the partner is a supplier of production materials, he should introduce and regularly inspect an environmental management system based on the specifications of ISO 14001 or EMAS.

Production processes and locations must be checked to ensure that possible environmental effects are detected and prevented, reduced or eliminated.

 

1. Fair competition

The partner must adhere to all the laws and standards of fair business practices, fair advertising and fair competition. In addition, applicable antitrust laws must be complied with, which in particular prohibit agreements and other activities that influence prices or conditions when dealing with competitors. These regulations also forbid agreements between customers and the partner that are intended to limit customers’ freedom to autonomously determine their prices and other conditions when reselling.

 

2. Corruption, bribery and extortion

We place the highest value on integrity. The partner must comply with the OECD Guidelines for multinational enterprises on combating bribery, bribe solicitation and bribery extortion. The partner is obligated to refrain from actions that might lead to criminal liability for fraud or breach of trust, bankruptcy offenses, anti-competitive crimes, granting or accepting advantages, bribery, corruption or similar offenses by people employed by the partner or other third parties.

In the event of a breach of the aforementioned, we are entitled without notice to withdraw from or terminate all existing legal transactions with the partner and to break off all negotiations.

 

3. Data protection, security and confidentiality

In collecting, storing, processing, transmission and disclosure of personal information and data, the partner must comply with all applicable laws and regulations regarding data protection and data security. He must protect personal data of employees, customers, suppliers and business partners with the measures necessary and possible according to the current state of the art and only use them for the agreed purposes.

 

4. Financial disclosure and money laundering

The partner must ensure that all financial information, including required taxes, fees and royalties related to business activities, is disclosed in accordance with applicable national and international regulations and industry expectations.

The partner must take necessary steps to identify and eliminate any money laundering incidents or risks arising from his business operations and those of its suppliers. For this purpose, the partner must establish suitable prevention measures.

5. Protection of intellectual property

Rights to intellectual property must be respected. The partner must adhere to all applicable national and international laws on protection of intellectual property. Intellectual property includes registrable property rights (such as patents, brands, designs), domains and copyrights. Moreover, the partnermust ensure that he has all necessary usage rights to avoid property rights infringements.

 

1. Implementation of this supplier code

We expect that our partner will identify risks pursuant to this supplier code within the supply chains and take suitable measures to prevent this risk. In the event of suspected violations and to secure supply chains with elevated risk, our partner must inform us promptly and, if necessary, regularly about the identified violations and risks, and the measures taken.

We reserve the right to check compliance with the standards and regulations listed in this document using a self-assessment questionnaire and risk-based audits at our partners’ production sites.

The partner agrees to our conducting such audits once a year or for a specific reason to verify compliance with the code at the partner’s facilities during normal business hours after reasonable advance notice from us or from people we have assigned. The partner can object to individual audit measures if they will violate mandatory data protection regulations.

If we discover a violation of the provisions of this code of conduct, we will notify the partner in writing and give him a reasonable grace period for bringing his behavior into line with these provisions. If a resolution is not possible in the foreseeable future, the partner must report this immediately and work with us to draw up a concept with a timetable for ending or minimizing the violation.

If such a violation has occurred culpably and the grace period expires without result or the implementation of the measures contained in the concept does not bring about resolution after the schedule has expired, and it is unreasonable for us to continue the contract until ordinary termination, we are entitled to break off the business relationship and to terminate all contracts after the set deadline has expired without result if we have threatened this when setting the grace period. A legal right to extraordinary termination without setting a grace period, especially in the case of violations that are considered very serious, remains unaffected, as does the right to damages compensation.