Corporate Compliance
How our company is perceived from the outside also depends on the behaviour of each individual. The lawful and responsible conduct of all managers and employees is therefore of central importance for the success of our company as well as the trust of our customers and business partners.
The topic of Compliance - as the abidance by the statutory provisions and the company's guidelines - has significantly gained in importance during the past years. The reputation of a company and its economic success can be detrimentally affected by compliance violations. Therefore a risk-oriented and preventative compliance strategy is more important today than ever before.
One of EnBW's goals is making the adherence to external and internal rules an integral part of the thinking and action of all company bodies, executives and employees. Simultaneously the trust of business associates, stockholders and the capital market should be increased.
The Department of Compliance is responsible especially for the group-wide regulations for corruption prevention, cartel law prevention, data protection and capital markets compliance. The department is available to managers and employees as the central point of contact and advisor for compliance questions.
Compliance at EnBW group comprises the following four elements:
- Compliance Department: Corporate function with direct reporting lines to the member of the Board of Management for personnel and law, responsible for the group-wide organisation of EnBW's Compliance Management System and for monitoring its uniform implementation across the group.
- Compliance Committee: Internal decision-making board with an advisory capacity, made up of representatives from the relevant corporate compliance functions.
- Compliance Forum: Meeting between local Compliance Officers from the most relevant group companies, business units and Compliance, to coordinate the implementation of centrally planned compliance measures into the operating entities.
- Compliance Working Group: Exchange of information between Compliance and the Compliance Officers from the non-controlled group companies.
To ensure the success of the Compliance Programme it is of utmost importance that all employees be made aware of compliance topics. With this knowledge they can work responsibly and consistently within the legal regulations and the company's guidelines. EnBW makes this possible by holding face-to-face seminars and by providing e-learning programs for all general compliance topics and especially for the Code of Conduct.
Regular reports on current compliance topics and concerning the further developments of the Compliance Management System are prepared regularly for the Board of Management, the Supervisory Board and the Supervisory Board's Audit Committee.
Integrity - meaning the adherence to laws and legislation, honesty, dependability and fairness - is an indispensable basic requirement for the success of our company. The Board of Management has passed a Code of Conduct for EnBW Group which gives executives and employees an overview of the most important statutory provisions and company guidelines.
The Code of Conduct should serve as an aid to all decisions and actions taken. It acts as a binding framework for internal co-operation as well as for the interaction with customers, competitors, public officials as well as public institutions.
How to deal with business partners, officials and public bodies is set out in the Code of Conduct. The specifics are contained in a group policy on how to deal with gifts, invitations and hospitality, with internal thresholds on value and qualitative criteria. If these thresholds are exceeded, approval must be obtained from the Compliance Department. These regulations make a significant contribution toward protecting the integrity of the EnBW group and its employees in the course of business.
EnBW has clear regulations on checking business partners, which provide for careful selection and review of business partners with regard to the risk of corruption and infringements of social and environmental standards. The objective of the procedure is to avoid financial damage and reputational risks to EnBW, in particular in connection with its international activities.
In order to be able to identify potential misconduct and to prevent related damage to companies and individuals at an early stage, EnBW has established an internal and an external contact point for reporting compliance violations or suspected cases (e.g. fraud, human rights violations).
The internal regulations define clear responsibilities and processes when investigating compliance infringements, ensure confidentiality and offer the best possible protection for all parties involved.
EnBW's rules of procedure describe the EnBW Group's complaints procedure and provide the potential whistleblower with transparency about how the handling of the complaint will be managed.
Internal contact point:
Dr. Andreas Schweinberger
Head of Compliance
Phone: +49 721 63-24920
E-Mail: Verdachtsfallmeldungen@enbw.com
Durlacher Allee 93
76131 Karlsruhe
Ombudsman as external contact point:
EnBW's ombudsman is bound to professional discretion. He can thus garantee confidentiality and complete anonymity.
Thomas C. Knierim, Attorney
Knierim & Kollegen Rechtsanwälte
Phone.: +49 6131 906 55 00
Fax: +49 6131 906 55 99
E-Mail: knierim@knierim-kollegen.com
Gutenbergplatz 12
55116 Mainz
Kontakt
Unbundling compliance at EnBW
The unbundling regulations in the amended Energy Industry Act (EnWG) result in numerous concrete obligations for energy supply companies to separate the grid area as a “natural monopoly” from the market areas sales, trading and generation.
The aim of the regulations is to create transparency and to ensure that grid operations are designed and implemented in a non-discriminatory manner.
In our Unbundling Compliance Report in accordance with Section 7a (5) EnWG, we would like to provide an overview of the measures we have taken towards unbundling and thus to promoting fair competition.
More information can be found at: unbundling-compliance@enbw.com