code-of-conduct

Preamble

We are aware of the role we play in society and our responsibility towards our employees, customers, partners and shareholders. The BRITEC code of conduct provides the basic principles and rules for acting with integrity within the BRITEC and in all dealings with business partners and the public.

Basic understanding of socially responsible company management

This Code is based on a shared basic understanding of socially responsible company management. For BRITEC, this means that we accept responsibility by reconsidering the consequences of our corporate decisions and actions in an economic, technological and social and ecological regard and integrating a reasonable compensation of interests. We contribute, in the scope of our abilities and freedom of action, voluntarily to the well-being and sustainable development of society in the locations in which we are active. In so doing, we orientate ourselves in accordance with the generally valid ethical values and principles, particularly with regard to integrity and probity and respect for human dignity.

Conflicts of interest

We act in the best interests of BRITEC. We use BRITEC’s property and information only for proper and legitimate business purposes. We ensure that any decisions we make on behalf of BRITEC are independent of, and not influenced by, personal interests. We avoid external engagements or activities that might interfere with our responsibilities to BRITEC or harm the company’s reputation.

Working environment

We treat each other with respect, honestly, openly and fairly. We value the work of our staff and colleagues and will give them whatever support they need to enable BRITEC to achieve its goals!

Our employees are our key asset. We see ourselves as team players and display tolerance, respect and appreciation towards our colleagues at all times.

BRITEC provides its staff with a safe working environment. It goes without saying that it complies with applicable labor, accident prevention and health requirements in order to prevent accidents, injury and work-related illnesses.

As an expression of our appreciation and as a contribution to employee satisfaction and a successful work-life balance, in addition to fair and performance-related pay we offer flexible working hours and flextime models to better enable our employees to meet the challenges of balancing work and family. The performance and expertise of our staff are crucial, which is why continuing personal and professional development of existing staff and measures to actively further the younger members of our team are a key element of our corporate philosophy. We regard qualification measures for motivated and high-performing employees at all levels as an investment in the future. Systematically furthering and developing our staff, who are our greatest asset, forms an essential component of our human resources policy.

We expect all members of our staff to treat colleagues, business partners and third parties with courtesy and respect. We operate a zero-tolerance policy with regard to all forms of discrimination – whether psychological, physical, sexual or verbal, on the grounds of gender, age, religion, ethnicity, origin, culture, ideology or sexual identity and to any form of harassment or personal attacks.

Compliance with laws

We comply with the applicable laws and other legal requirements of the countries in which we are active. In countries with a weak institutional framework, we check carefully which good business practices from our home country should be used to support responsible company management.

Fair competition and antitrust

We compete fairly, openly and independently. We comply with allﾠlaws protecting fair competition. These laws prohibit agreementsﾠrestricting competition, including between competitors or companiesﾠat different levels of the supply chain. Such laws may impose limits onﾠthe commercial behavior of companies that hold a dominant positionﾠin the market. These laws also require that we seek regulatory approvalﾠfor certain mergers and acquisitions (M&A), including minority stakes,ﾠas well as for certain types of collaboration agreements.

Compliance with these laws ensures that our hard work andﾠinnovation is rewarded, ultimately benefiting our customers. Violationﾠof competition and antitrust laws is a serious matter and could resultﾠin criminal prosecution and grave reputational harm for you and BRITEC.

Import and export

We comply with all national and international import and export rules!

Increasing internationalization of our business as a result of globalization, the harnessing of new markets and the growing complexity in international trade make it imperative to comply with all relevant national and international laws and regulations on customs and export controls (embargo rules). We are always aware that breaches of any type may result in criminal penalties, being barred from simplified export and import procedures and may therefore adversely affect our company’s success; such breaches must be avoided.

Communication

We communicate openly and in a dialogue-orientated manner about the requirements of this Code and its implementation with our employees, customers, suppliers and other interest and demand groups. All the documents are created properly, are not changed or destroyed improperly and are stored correctly. Company secrets and the business information of the partners are treated sensitively and confidentially.

Human rights

BRITEC promotes an organizational culture that supports human rights and seeks to avoid complicity in human rights abuses. We support the principles contained within the International Bill of Human Rights, the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the International Labor Organization (ILO) Core Conventions on Labor Standards, and other applicable laws and principles. We require our suppliers, contractors and other business partners to abide by similar standards in those areas where human rights issues come into play, such as working hours and conditions, discrimination and equality, child labor, fair wages, compulsory or forced labor and modern slavery.

Child Labour

We don’t use, support or benefit from child labour. The minimum age for employment shall not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling and, in any case, shall not be less than 15 years. Salary must be paid and the work must be simple tasks of a limited nature and not interfere with the children’s educational responsibilities.

Civic engagement

We contribute to the social and economic development of the country and region by being active and promoting appropriate voluntary activities of our employees.

Privacy and personal data

We acknowledge the importance of personal data protection and believeﾠthat the principles behind data protection strengthen individual rights.ﾠBRITECﾠcollects, uses, stores, handles, transfers and discloses personal dataﾠin accordance with applicable laws and expects suppliers and businessﾠpartners to do the same.

Responsibilities

This Code of Conduct sets out the principles by whichﾠwe perform our daily work. We abide by them withoutﾠexception!

The principles set out in this Code of Conduct form an indispensable elementﾠof our corporate culture. Only by working together can we succeed in puttingﾠthese values into practice and safeguarding them in a sustainable manner.ﾠAll employees, management staff and board members pledge to abideﾠand live by this Code of Conduct.

Key employees and managers at all levels bear a special personal responsibilityﾠfor the employees in their charge. They must act as role models by actingﾠwith integrity in everything they do and say. We expect both them and theﾠexecutive management to lead by example at all times, to ensure complianceﾠwith law and legislation in their respective fields of responsibility by appropriateﾠsupervisory and organizational measures; they must make it clear that anyﾠcompliance breaches will be followed up and may have legal consequences.

BRITECﾠstands for fairness, responsibility and integrity in all its business dealings.ﾠWe expect the same from our business partners. We therefore only doﾠbusiness with partners who abide by generally acknowledged standards ofﾠsocial responsibility, who share our values and principles of integrity and whoﾠcomply with the applicable legal regulations, in particular health and safetyﾠat the workplace, environmental protection and anti-corruption.