Our position

The reporting requirements for environmental and social responsibility have increased considerably in recent years. For this reason, we have decided to elaborate our position on a number of issues related to environmental and social responsibility in this overview.

ISO Accredited Operations
The table below describes the number of our operational units which have been certified as meeting the quality management criteria required by ISO 9001, and the environmental management criteria of ISO 14001 (or their national equivalents). For ISO 9001, these operational units represent approximately 90% of our sales. We have only recently commenced the work in respect of ISO 14001, and coverage is under 10%.

Transparency in business
We believe that corporate activities should be transparent. In running our business, we consider it a high priority to stand by our responsibilities as a company, a group and as individuals, even under adverse circumstances. Subscribing to internationally recognised standards such as ISO 9001 (Quality Management System) and ISO 14001 (Environmental Management System) – as well as other locally accredited schemes – demonstrates a company’s willingness to submit its processes and practices to external scrutiny, and is one element of a sound corporate social responsibility policy. Our policies in this area, which represent a positive differentiator, are designed to meet high standards and will increasingly be subject to external certification. However, we are not a manufacturer, and therefore we have a rather light environmental footprint. Nevertheless, we are selective in the suppliers we choose to do business with and we monitor their footprint by requiring them to comply with our supply policies. We are progressively auditing each link in the value chain of the products we sell.