No Chance for Corruption.

When One Hand Washes the Other…

Corruption creates enormous damage – to fair competition, to society and to our company. That is why we take a global stand against corruption and all its negative repercussions. As a founding member of the United Nations Global Compact  (UN Global Compact), we actively contribute to ensuring both we and our business partners act in accordance with the principles of the UN Global Compact. We perform our duties in compliance with the applicable laws, regulations and our corporate principles. This also includes the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials (1997) and the UN Convention against Corruption (2003).

Together On the Right Track

Preventing and tackling corruption are key aspects of our compliance work. In order to continuously raise awareness of the significance of anti-corruption among our employees, we offer training and communication activities. This way, we encourage engagement with the topic corruption and help our employees to navigate safely through difficult situations in day-to-day business.

Our Compliance Program for Anti-Corruption

Our Corruption Prevention Program is based on our comprehensive Compliance Management System. An important component is the annually conducted integrated compliance risk analysis. When assessing potential risks, we consider both internal information, such as the business model of a unit, and external information, like the Corruption Perceptions Index from Transparency International . The results of this risk analysis form the basis for implementing our anti-corruption measures, which aim to prevent corruption in all business activities. Thereby, we place particular emphasis on sales companies in high-risk countries and business relationships with wholesalers and general distributors worldwide.

The local management is responsible for implementing the compliance measures in close cooperation with the Compliance, Legal Product & Technology division. Functional as well as regional contacts, along with a global network of local responsible parties, support the management in implementing the Corruption Prevention Program. We regularly review the effectiveness of our measures and continuously improve our Corruption Prevention Program.

For an independent assessment of our Corruption Prevention Program, we commissioned KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft with auditing the Compliance Management System for anti-corruption in accordance with the 980 standard of the Institute of Public Auditors in Germany. This audit, which was based on the principles of appropriateness, implementation and effectiveness, was successfully completed at the end of 2019.

This article was last updated in May 2025.