Compliance

The social, ethical and business principles embraced by WACKER are summarized in our Code of Conduct. All WACKER employees are required to follow it. There are separate and/or supplemental guidelines for individual Group companies (e.g. Siltronic AG’s Code of Ethics) and corporate sites (e.g. WACKER Greater China’s Employee Handbook). The Group’s US subsidiaries have their own compliance programs tailored specifically to US law.

WACKER does not tolerate violations of its Code of Conduct or of any legal requirements. Any employee who has questions about appropriate behavior at work can receive counsel from supervisors, specialist units (e.g. legal department) and employee representatives. We expanded our compliance team beyond Germany, the USA and China in 2010 by appointing and training new compliance officers at other major production locations. As a result, employees in Japan, India, South Korea, Brazil and Singapore now have direct access to compliance officers. In 2010, WACKER Greater China set up a compliance hotline that enables employees and business partners to report any breaches of compliance anonymously. Every year, employees in the region must sign a declaration regarding proper conduct.

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Compliance Officers at WACKER

 

 

Location

 

Company

 

 

 

Deutschland

 

 

Munich (Germany and countries not expressly mentioned): Coordination and Management
Group Compliance Management

 

Wacker Chemie AG

 

 

 

The Americas

 

 

Adrian (Michigan, USA)

 

Wacker Chemical Corp.

Portland (Oregon, USA)

 

Siltronic Corp.

São Paulo, Brazil

 

Wacker Química do Brasil Ltda.

 

 

 

Asia

 

 

Kolkata, India

 

Wacker Metroark Chemicals Pvt. Ltd.

Singapore, Singapore

 

Siltronic Singapore Pte. Ltd.

Singapore, Singapore

 

Siltronic Samsung Wafer Pte. Ltd.

Shanghai, China

 

Wacker Chemicals China Company Ltd. (Holding)

Hikari, Japan

 

Siltronic Japan Corp.

Tokyo, Japan

 

Wacker Asahi Kasei Silicone Co. Ltd.

Seoul, South Korea

 

Wacker Chemicals Korea Inc.

In 2010, the Compliance Management team held numerous classroom seminars to inform employees about WACKER’s ethical and legal management principles. We developed and implemented a mandatory online course that has been used to train employees who have regular business contacts. Enforced throughout the Group, this course complements the existing online training on European antitrust law (WACKER Antitrust Program).

Instruction in antitrust law is essential for WACKER sales and marketing employees. US staff receive antitrust law training tailored to the market there. In addition to online training (which participants must regularly complete), employees have the opportunity to attend courses on the subject during divisional and regional meetings and international sales conferences. Global rollout of antitrust training commenced in 2009. A year later, WACKER launched online training on data protection.

Our compliance programs are designed to prevent misconduct, minimize the repercussions of misconduct, and – in accordance with the UN’s Global Compact – identify any cases of corruption or other legal infringements. To promote compliance, we use such organizational methods as the separation of responsibility and our dual-control policy. Separation of responsibility makes it impossible for any one employee to single-handedly carry out transactions involving payments. The purchasing unit is thus quite distinct from the ordering unit. Dual control ensures that every critical transaction is checked by a second person.

Our internal Corporate Auditing department regularly checks all corporate entities on behalf of the Executive Board. The Executive Board adopts a risk-driven approach when choosing audit topics, which, if necessary, are flexibly adjusted during the year to take account of changes in underlying conditions. Its auditors look particularly frequently at processes and areas with a high exposure to corruption or to legal noncompliance. For capital-intensive engineering activities (e.g. project engineering and maintenance), WACKER employs specially qualified industrial personnel as auditors. In total, Corporate Auditing conducted 37 audits in 2010 (2009: 36 audits). The audits did not reveal any major complaints. Audit recommendations to optimize processes are being implemented.

WACKER’s corporate culture is characterized by mutual respect and trust. However, inappropriate behavior on the part of individual employees can never be eliminated. In these cases, we rely on our internal risk assessments.

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Compliance Cases

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2010

 

2009

 

2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

Level of key fines: starting at €10,000

2

No recording of cases of discrimination at WACKER

3

WACKER Germany employees only; training evaluated from 2010 on

4

Notice of employment termination

Level of key fines1 and number of non-monetary penalties for
non-compliance with requirements of environmental legislation

 

 

 

Number of cases of discrimination and measures taken

 

2

 

2

 

2

Number of organizational units subjected to corruption audit

 

37

 

36

 

30

Organizational units subjected to corruption audit (%)

 

30

 

30

 

30

Employees3 trained in corruption prevention (%)

 

51

 

 

Measures4 taken in response to cases of corruption

 

 

1

 

Number of complaints about anticompetitive behavior,
violation of antitrust or monopolies legislation

 

 

 

Level of key fines1 and number of non-monetary penalties
for breaches of legal requirements

 

 

 

Level of key fines1 for breaches of legal requirements relating
to the supply and use of products and services