We act in compliance with applicable laws and regulations and adopt digital rights in our daily activities.
Our digital stance and our digital responsibility are characterized by our democratic self-image. As such, we not only comply with the minimum legal standards, but also enter voluntary commitments when it comes to topics that are particularly important to us.
As a founding member of the CDR initiative of the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection, which has now been transferred to the Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, we have voluntarily committed ourselves of following the CDR Code which defines guiding principles and objectives. We also help to shape the discourse in society, politics, and industry, for instance, through our active participation in professional associations and our activities related to Industry 4.0. We also contribute our expertise to collaborations with organizations such as acatech, as a signatory to the Charta digitale Vernetzung (charter for digital networking), and many other activities. As such, we are actively contributing to a variety of initiatives focused on digital ethics in digitalization. We are a pioneer in this field and intend to remain so.
We see ourselves as a dialog partner in an ever more complex digital world and are actively involved in socio-political discourse – responsible, fair, and based on facts. We assess and externally report on what regulations mean for our business, as well as what those change for our customers (public and regulatory affairs). In our Network Stories TALK series of events, we host an open exchange of ideas between politics, business, and the general public. We are active on various platforms, in associations, and on forums to help shape how digital togetherness can be trustworthy and responsible.
Law and order is a cornerstone in the foundation of our House of Digital Responsibility because everything we do is always compliant with applicable laws and obligations. After all, in addition to good products and services, business success also demands legally compliant behavior of board members, managing directors, managers, and all employees. That’s why we define clear requirements for our employees and suppliers. To ensure these requirements are complied with, we not only use our processes to monitor behavior, but have also set up a whistleblower portal that gives everyone the possibility to draw attention to misconduct. We also provide a possibility of reporting improper internet usage (misuse reporter). This engenders trust, credibility and a feeling of reliability, and creates a good reputation.
