BMW 2013 Annual Report Download - page 183

183 STATEMENT ON CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
basis. This includes reporting on the compliance status
of the relevant entities, on identified legal risks and
incidences of non-compliance as well as on corrective /
preventative measures implemented.
Compliance with and implementation of the Legal Com-
pliance Code are audited regularly by Corporate Audit
and subjected to control checks by Corporate Security
and the BMW Group Compliance Committee Office. As
part of its regular activities, Corporate Audit carries out
on-site audits. The BMW Group Compliance Committee
also engages Corporate Audit to perform compliance-
specific checks. In addition, sample checks (BMW Group
Compliance Spot Checks) specifically designed to iden-
tify potential corruption risks are carried out. In 2013,
three Compliance Spot Checks were performed in
different units. Compliance control activities are coordi-
nated by the BMW Group Panel Compliance Controls.
Any necessary follow-up measures are organised by the
BMW Group Compliance Committee Office.
It is essential that employees are aware of and comply
with applicable legal regulations. The BMW Group
does not tolerate violations of the law by its employees.
Culpable violations of the law result in employment-con-
tract sanctions and may involve personal liability con-
sequences for the employee involved.
To avoid this, BMW Group employees are kept fully in-
formed of the instruments and measures used by the
Compliance Organisation via various internal channels.
The central means of communication is the Compliance
website within the BMW Group’s intranet, where em-
ployees can find compliance-related information and
have access to training materials in both German and
English. The website contains a special service area
where various practical tools and aids are made available
to employees, which help them deal with typical com-
pliance-related matters. BMW Group employees also
have access on the website to an electronically supported
approval process for invitations in connection with busi-
ness partners. The results of the group-wide employee
survey in 2013 showed that, thanks to extensive com-
munications activities, BMW Group employees have an
excellent understanding of the topic of compliance and
its significance to the Company.
In the same way that the BMW Group is committed to
lawful and responsible conduct, it also expects no less
from its business partners. During 2012 the BMW Group
developed a new Business Relations Compliance pro-
gramme aimed at ensuring the reliability of its business
relations. Relevant business partners are checked and
evaluated with a view to identifying potential compliance
risks. These procedures are particularly relevant for
relations with sales partners and service providers, such
as agencies and consultants. Depending on the results
of the evaluation, appropriate measures – such as com-
munication measures, training and possible monitor-
ing – are implemented to manage compliance risks. The
Business Relations Compliance programme has already
been launched in 12 units since 2012 and, over the com-
ing years, will be rolled out successively throughout the
BMW Group’s worldwide sales organisation. In 2013,
the company also began introducing compliance clauses
to protect contractual relationships into dealer and im-
porter contracts.
Compliance is also an important factor in terms of
safe-
guarding the future of the BMW Group’s workforce.
With this in mind, the Board of Management and the
national and international employee representative
bodies of the BMW Group have agreed on a binding set
of Joint Principles for Lawful Conduct. In doing so, all
parties involved gave a commitment to the principles
contained in the BMW Group Legal Compliance Code
and to trustful cooperation in all matters relating to
compliance. Employee representatives are therefore reg-
ularly involved in the process of developing compliance
measures within the BMW Group.
In the interest of investor protection and to ensure that
the BMW Group complies with regulations relating to
potential insider information, as early as 1994 the Board
of Management appointed an Ad Hoc Committee, con-
sisting of representatives of various specialist depart-
ments, whose members examine the relevance of issues
for ad hoc disclosure purposes. All persons working on
behalf of the company who have access to insider infor-
mation in accordance with existing rules have been, and
continue to be, included in a corresponding, regularly
updated list and informed of the duties arising from in-
sider rules.