Business Ethics

Compliance – responsible entrepreneurship in accordance with the law – is one of our primary considerations worldwide. For us, however, there is more to compliance than simply adhering to regulatory provisions. We consistently aspire to act in accordance with the principles defined in our values and believe that profitability should go hand in hand with the highest ethical standards. We also support responsible governance initiatives to go above and beyond of today's requirements. This ambition underlies our corporate “Mobilize for Growth” strategy.

Strategy and Values

The treatments and solutions offered by our Healthcare business sector improve the lives of millions of people. The assistance that doctors, medical institutions and patient organizations provide for our research and development activities is very valuable to us. That is why we comply with clear and transparent standards when supporting partner organizations.

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It is our objective to comply with the highest ethical principles and standards. As an innovative company, we cannot always simply fall back on existing standards for new technologies and developments. Instead, we need to define standards. For this reason, we set up the our Ethics Advisory Panel for Science and Technology in 2011 and the Digital Ethics Advisory Panel in 2019. 

Especially technological advances based on the collection of data and their processing by algorithmic systems are confronting us with significant societal change. People’s trust is crucial if we are to seize the opportunities offered by digital progress and minimize the risks. Responsible entrepreneurial action increasingly calls for ethical standards and requires us to take positions on critical issues in the nascent field of digital ethics. We have therefore developed a Code of Digital Ethics – CoDE: five core principles that guide our work.

Read more about our approach to ethical conduct and our advisory panels

As an international company, we have a responsibility to observe human rights globally. We are committed to ensuring that no violations of human rights occur at our Group companies, suppliers or business partners, and that efforts are made to improve the respective circumstances in the event that human rights violations are identified. To achieve this goal, we orient towards the statutory requirements (e.g. German Act on Corporate Due Diligence in Supply Chains) as well as international standards.

Our commitment to observing human rights is enshrined in our Human Rights Charter. It is oriented toward the UN Guiding Principles of Business and Human Rights and defines the expectations that we set for ourselves and our business partners. In Australia and the United Kingdom, we additionally report on the steps and measures with which we want to prevent forced labor and human trafficking in accordance with the Australia Modern Slavery Act as well as the UK Modern Slavery Act.

We want to gain knowledge of risks and violations relating to human rights and environmental aspects at the earliest possible stage in order to take effective preventive and remedial measures and avert possible harm to the persons affected, our employees and society. If you have information about corresponding improprieties with respect to our activities or those of our suppliers, please contact us, for example via our compliance hotline. Additional complaint channels and information about human rights and environmental reports and complaints can be found in our Rules of Procedure.