Corporate Governance
Compliance
Compliance, in the sense of implementing measures to ensure adherence to the law, to statutory requirements and to internal company policies, is a key duty for everyone at GEA. Each board member, director and employee has a duty to ensure that no breaches of compliance are being committed within their area of responsibility. The GEA Compliance Organisation provides support for this purpose. GEA has in addition introduced various measures to ensure that Compliance is adopted and adhered to Group wide, including the consideration of Compliance as part of the annual employee appraisals. To ensure compliance with the requirements established by the GEA Code of Conduct and the other Compliance Policies, regular Compliance Audits are conducted by GEA’s Internal Audit team.
GEA Compliance Management System
GEA maintains a comprehensive compliance management system with a particular focus on anti-corruption and combating money laundering, avoidance of conflicts of interest, avoidance of antitrust and competition law risks, compliance with public procurement regulations and dealings with third parties.
On the basis of the annual risk assessment in the above-mentioned areas, the measures of the compliance management system are reviewed and continuously developed in line with the risks. The main regulations and measures are summarized in the GEA Compliance Handbook, which applies worldwide in all GEA subsidiaries and is supplemented by further group and local guidelines.
The compliance management system is complemented by further measures, e.g., regarding compliance culture, compliance targets and compliance communication. In addition, GEA Internal Audit or external auditors regularly audit the compliance management system and its individual components.
GEA Code of Conduct
GEA’s Code of Conduct describes the values, principles and modes of action that guide the entrepreneurial conduct of GEA. The GEA Code of Conduct reflects the goal to safeguard compliance with law throughout GEA and to create a work environment that distinguishes itself in terms of integrity, respect, and fair and responsible conduct. It is applicable worldwide to all employees, board members and directors of the GEA.
GEA Compliance Handbook
GEA Compliance Handbook “Integrity & Fair Competition” gives an overview of crucial GEA Compliance policies and helps GEA employees to implement them. It includes GEA Code of Conduct, GEA Integrity Policy, GEA Third Party Policy and GEA Competition Policy. The latter operating policies are effective in all subsidiaries of GEA Group and contain binding rules of conduct for all employees of the GEA Group in certain legal situations. All mandatory approval and reporting requirements must be fulfilled by all GEA employees via audit-proof internal Compliance tools.
