Corporate leadership anchored in responsibility
Corporate leadership anchored in responsibility
The unceasing advancement of excellence and efficiency in our corporate leadership and our services allows us to preserve and grow the trust anchored in us.
The unceasing advancement of excellence and efficiency in our corporate leadership and our services, in order to preserve and grow the trust placed in us and our responsibilities.
As a globally operating TIC company, we consider good corporate governance to mean transparent and responsible management. This definition is explained in greater detail in clear policies and regulations that apply throughout the company.
The Board of Management and Supervisory Board of TÜV SÜD AG take their guidance from the provisions of the German Corporate Governance Code (DCGK) for capital-market-oriented companies, thus laying the foundations for a common understanding of responsible, transparent and value-oriented corporate leadership at all levels of the company.
Compliance with all applicable laws and international rules and dealing fairly with our business partners and competitors are among our company’s most important principles. Our customers rely on the integrity of TÜV SÜD. To ensure the services they receive offer the maximum safety, security, and objectivity, TÜV SÜD takes a preventive approach to compliance and endeavors to achieve a corporate culture that proactively excludes potential breaches and risks from the outset by raising employee awareness, educating the workforce, and establishing appropriate processes.
TÜV SÜD’s compliance management system (TÜV SÜD CMS) provides the organizational basis for compliance with valid law. It forms the organisational framework for all compliance measures, structures and processes. Drawn up in accordance with the principles of IDW auditing standard PS 980, it is constantly monitored and further developed by the TÜV SÜD Global Compliance Office. Overall responsibility in our compliance organization (with the Global Compliance Office as the central steering function for Compliance) is held by our Chief Compliance Officer (CCO), who reports directly to the Chairman of the Board of Management. The CCO acts autonomously without instructions from above. In addition to the Head of Corporate Compliance, the Global Human Rights Officer and the full-time Corporate Compliance Officers, (local or regional) Compliance Officers have been appointed in all TÜV SÜD companies and regions worldwide. They provide support with regard to compliance training, the enforcement of measures and the monitoring and improvement of the TÜV SÜD CMS.
We promote compliant behaviour among all TÜV SÜD employees by conducting regular compliance training. For example, all TÜV SÜD employees worldwide are required to participate annually in our self-developed compliance e-learning.
Since 2008, TÜV SÜD has adopted a Code of Conduct that obliges all TÜV SÜD employees to act lawfully and responsibly and to treat all people in an ethically fair manner. This TÜV SÜD Code of Conduct was fundamentally revised in 2022. The aim was to appropriately reflect the core of TÜV SÜD's business activities, i.e. the protection of people, property and the environment against technical risks, and to clarify our responsibility for people and the environment as well as compliance with the law.
In addition to the Code of Conduct, TÜV SÜD also has other compliance-related guidelines and various leaflets to support fair, responsible, transparent and value-creation-oriented dealings within and outside the company that comply with the law.
Consistent respect for human rights and protection of the environment is also enshrined in the relevant guidelines and policies, in particular the TÜV SÜD Code of Conduct, the TÜV SÜD Supplier Code of Conduct and the relevant guidelines in the areas of Procurement and Human Resources. The Group-wide strategy for compliance with human rights and environment-related due diligence obligations can be found in the policy statement. The Board of Management issues an annual statement on the statement UK Modern Slavery Act 2015.
The whistleblower-tool is also an integral part of TÜV SÜD's compliance programme. Employees and external third parties can report information and complaints regarding violations or suspected cases worldwide via an Internet-based whistleblower portal, the TÜV SÜD Trust Channel. This portal is available in 19 languages to all TÜV SÜD employees, customers, suppliers and other third parties. Whistleblowers can set up a protected electronic mailbox for anonymous and secure communication with TÜV SÜD's Corporate Compliance Team.
Quality management (QM) is a core constituent of TÜV SÜD’s Integrated Management System and is the mandatory prerequisite for all our national, European, and international authorizations and qualifications that are essential for the company’s recognition as a testing, inspection, and certification (TIC) organization. It is based on regulations including the ISO/IEC 17000 family of international standards.
TÜV SÜD currently holds some 750 accreditations and further recognitions worldwide, which are regularly verified by supervisory bodies. These audits simultaneously provide evidence of our expertise in areas including product testing and certification, management system certification, laboratory testing, and inspection and monitoring of technical systems, assets, and vehicles. Our integrated management system further includes occupational health and safety, safety and security management, data protection and data security, and physical safeguarding of assets. Every year, employees are trained on the topic of QM with a mandatory online training.
Addressing potential risks with care and prudence is all in a day’s work for us. Not only where our customers are concerned, but also within our own company. Our risk management system is designed to identify risks, assess existing risks, and mitigate risks taken.
We also revised the relevant opportunity and risk management policy; changes included adjustment of reporting thresholds and further expansion of requirements concerning the structuring of risk management organizations at local TÜV SÜD organizational units.
As a globally operating company, TÜV SÜD accordingly has an international supply chain. Our Procurement function sources goods and services from over 10,000 suppliers in more than 80 countries. To achieve this, we use regional or local suppliers for around 90 percent of our procurement needs. The short transport routes contribute to climate protection, while our use of local suppliers supports local employment markets and local infrastructures.
Our procurement decisions take social and environmental criteria into consideration as well as ensuring ethically and legally flawless conduct and avoiding risks. To achieve this, we are increasingly turning to suppliers that have a similar philosophy of entrepreneurial responsibility to our own.
To communicate our sustainability goals more clearly across our entire supply chain, we issue a binding Supplier Code of Conduct (SCoC) under which our suppliers undertake to comply with our TÜV SÜD sustainability requirements. The SCoC is available in German and now a further 15 languages. In the future, our suppliers will further undergo evaluation with respect to compliance with sustainability criteria prior to receiving orders. In 2022, more than 88 % of the major procurement transactions (with a volume of more than € 0.5 million) were already carried out in accordance with the requirements defined in the SCoC.
TÜV SÜD AG is a legal entity with its registered office and central administration in Germany. As such, its entire global revenues are subject to unlimited tax liability. The subsidiaries of TÜV SÜD AG are subject to unlimited tax liability in the countries where their registered offices are located. In addition, cross-border business transactions may incur limited tax liabilities for TÜV SÜD AG or its affiliates. TÜV SÜD undertakes to comply with applicable national and international laws in all business decisions and actions in order to fulfill its fiscal obligations in a complete, correct, and timely fashion.
TÜV SÜD AG reports on its tax positions in detail in its Consolidated Financial Statement, in which the provisions of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are implemented and assessed by the group auditor. For more information, see the TÜV SÜD Annual Report.
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