BASF Report 2021 Management’s Report – We Value People and Treat Them with Respect 103 By focusing our discussions on the local and regional situations, we regularly follow up on and document the results of the comparison aim to find tailored solutions to the different challenges and legal between national law and our guideline, as well as measures to conditions for each site. The BASF Europa Betriebsrat (European implement the guideline. This is part of our central due diligence Works Council) addresses cross-border matters in Europe. In South system. An additional component of our corporate due diligence is America, we foster dialog with the Diálogo Social. In China, we work our training concept, which was enhanced and refined in 2021. It together with trade unions that have been organized locally within includes target group-specific training and e-learning modules as the framework of legal possibilities. well as a global platform for internal dialog. For more information, see basf.com/employeerepresentation We monitor our voluntary commitment to international labor and social standards as part of our management process. As before, International labor and social standards individual elements of the guideline are also reviewed as part of internal control processes such as Responsible Care audits at We act responsibly toward our employees. Part of this is our volun- BASF Group companies. In addition to these quality assurance tary commitment to respecting international labor and social stan- measures, compliance with international labor and social standards dards, which we have embedded in our global Code of Conduct. is an integral part of the standard questionnaire in the compli- This encompasses internationally recognized labor norms as stipu- ance management audits conducted by BASF’s Corporate Audit lated in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, department. the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and the Tripartite For more information on global standards, see page 31 Declaration of Principles Concerning Multinational Enterprises and For more information on our responsibility for human rights, see page 104 Social Policy of the International Labour Organization (ILO). BASF is For more information on compliance, see page 171 onward committed to complying with these standards worldwide. We For more information on standards in our supply chain, see page 109 onward mainly approach our adherence to international labor and social For more information on labor and social standards, see basf.com/labor_social_standards standards using three elements: the Compliance Program (including compliance hotlines), close dialog with our stakeholders (such as with employee representatives or international organizations) and the BASF guideline on compliance with international labor norms, which applies Group-wide. This guideline makes concrete the topics in our global Code of Conduct under “Human rights, labor and social standards” as these relate to our employees. It forms the basis for our global, risk-based management process: We regularly monitor changes to the national law of all the countries in which BASF operates and evaluate our adherence to international labor and social standards. If the national law contains no or lower requirements, action plans are drawn up to successively close these gaps in a reasonable time frame. If conflicts with national law or practices arise, we strive to act in accordance with our values and internationally recognized principles without violating the law of the country concerned. As part of the management process, we