Compliance

Compliance@SCHOTT is the main title of the Compliance Program at SCHOTT, in other words the SCHOTT Code of Conduct, the corporate guidelines and measures derived from it and the Compliance Organization responsible for enforcing it. The main goal of Compliance work is to ensure that SCHOTT remains a successful company over the long-term. Making our people more aware of Compliance topics is one of the main objectives. The aim is to do preventive work in a systematic manner in order to prevent violations of the law and our corporate guidelines. SCHOTT mainly achieves this with the help of a worldwide training program, by setting internal Compliance standards and by systematically following up on the Compliance measures that have been established, but also by sanctioning violations of the rules that apply.

SCHOTT AG established the Corporate Compliance Office as a central Corporate Function in order to make sure that this is achieved during our everyday work. The main responsibilities of the Compliance Office pertain to the topics of Anti-Corruption, Antitrust, Data Protection, Export Control but also what we refer to as “Technical Compliance” (Safety, Health and the Environment – IMSU/EHS). The Compliance Office is supported by regional Compliance Representatives in the United States and Asia as well as local Compliance Representatives who work for SCHOTT Business Units.

Furthermore, SCHOTT also introduced a whistleblowing system in 2011 that allows for SCHOTT employees all over the world to share information on potential violations of the law or the SCHOTT Code of Conduct in a confidential manner. Here, Attorneys (or so-called ombudsmen) who do not work for the company act as recipients of this information.

All SCHOTT employees are obligated to follow the legal and ethical guidelines during their everyday business, strategic considerations and decision processes. The SCHOTT Code of Conduct was introduced to ensure that our employees feel more comfortable in dealing with these matters and are more receptive to the individual topics, mainly to avoid damages to themselves and to the company

The rules on behavior specified in it are based on our company values as well as applicable laws and regulations and represent an integral part of our corporate culture at SCHOTT. The Code of Conduct applies to all employees of the SCHOTT Group all over the world.

• Global protection of our employees and the environment,
• Respect for human rights and equal opportunity,
• A clear position in the fight against discrimination and corruption, and
• Strict compliance with the rules of fair competition.

These contents will be substantiated even further and modified to suit the unique social and legal practices in the various countries in which SCHOTT does business by relying on group-wide, regional or Business Unit-specific regulations.

The complete text of the SCHOTT Code of Conduct can be found here.

Contact: compliance.office@schott.com

While competing, SCHOTT relies on performance, customer orientation and the quality of its products and services. For this reason, SCHOTT rejects corrupt behavior and actions that could otherwise be deemed unlawful behavior and does not tolerate such behavior. Particularly strict and transparent rules apply to donations, accepting and issuing invitations and giving away gifts, but also on selecting consultants and sales agents.

For SCHOTT, respecting fair competition on the basis of performance represents a key element of the company's own business activities. Agreements with competitors on prices, dividing up the market or taking similar actions that could restrict competition will not be tolerated. For this reason, all of our employees have access to clear regulations that specify what types of contact and exchange of information with competitors are in line with the legal regulations.

Dealing with personal data in a responsible manner and respecting the national and international regulations that apply to data protection is a matter of course for SCHOTT. Personal data will only be collected, stored and processed to the extent permitted by the law. The necessary data security measures are to be observed while doing so and the rights of the respective individuals are to be respected.

As an internationally active group, SCHOTT has manufacturing sites and sales offices in more than 40 countries of the world. Reconciling cross-border trade with the laws that apply is therefore a matter of course for SCHOTT.
Here, SCHOTT follows all of the export control and customs regulations that apply to doing business in the respective countries. To this end, SCHOTT has set up a comprehensive, electronically supported export control system and requires that it be put to use.

Occupational safety, health and environmental protection are extremely important to the SCHOTT Group. One essential element of our business policy is that an economic benefit may never be achieved at the expense of the safety and health of our people and the protection of our environment. Legal requirements and ordinances are considered to be minimum requirements.

For this reason, SCHOTT has been seeing to it that high standards are set with respect to the sustainability of the company's actions and that the observance of these laws is considered a matter of course by putting the “Integrated Management System on Safety, Health and Environmental Protection (“IMSU”) into place back in October of 1995.