Compliance

Training focusing on antitrust legislation

In the reporting year, the focus was on in-house training events and developing the available instruments for reporting breaches of the Geberit Code of Conduct.

E-learning courses represent an efficient way to train staff on antitrust legislation, an issue that is particularly sensitive for Geberit. In the reporting year, the sales companies outside Europe were trained on this topic using this mode of learning. The same topic was also taught to staff directly at the sales company in the UK by one of the Group’s antitrust legislation specialists.

Antitrust legislation audits, which focused primarily on the local conditions systems, were carried out in the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg as part of the internal audit, revealing only very little need for action.

Given Geberit’s business model, the topics of corruption and antitrust legislation are considered particularly sensitive areas. They are therefore a main topic in the Geberit Code of Conduct, which was drawn up in 2008, and of which a new version has been available since the start of 2015. Like every year, all Geberit Group companies had to draw up a status report on the Code of Conduct in their country for the attention of the Group. The topics enquired about here ranged from issues concerning occupational health and safety right through to environmental protection. No serious shortcomings came to light in these status reports.

In the reporting year, the Integrity Line for Geberit employees, which was established in 2013, recorded one significant incident, which was subsequently investigated. This resulted in the discovery of shortcomings at a local company, which were then rectified.

Furthermore, in the area of procurement, a “Supplier Integrity Line” was introduced in May 2017 for the first time. For more information, see Logistics and procurement, Supplier Integrity Line launched.

Legal advice on marketing and sales campaigns

In the reporting year, the Group’s legal department dealt with a series of market enquiries concerning the permissibility of marketing and sales campaigns, with the team receiving such enquiries from Austria, South Africa, Romania, Denmark, Ukraine and Germany. All the campaigns in question were ultimately approved, some after slight modifications were made.