Danaher 2011 Annual Report Download - page 23

Table of Contents


Our operations, products and services are subject to environmental laws and regulations, which impose limitations on the discharge of pollutants into the
environment and establish standards for the use, generation, treatment, storage and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes. We must also comply
with various health and safety regulations in the U.S. and abroad in connection with our operations. We cannot assure you that our environmental, health and
safety compliance program has been or will at all times be effective. Failure to comply with any of these laws could result in civil and criminal, monetary and
non-monetary penalties and damage to our reputation. In addition, we cannot provide assurance that our costs of complying with current or future
environmental protection and health and safety laws will not exceed our estimates or adversely affect our financial statements.
In addition, we may incur costs related to remedial efforts or alleged environmental damage associated with past or current waste disposal practices or other
hazardous materials handling practices. We are also from time to time party to personal injury or other claims brought by private parties alleging injury due to
the presence of or exposure to hazardous substances. We may also become subject to additional remedial, compliance or personal injury costs due to future
events such as changes in existing laws or regulations, changes in agency direction or enforcement policies, developments in remediation technologies, changes
in the conduct of our operations and changes in accounting rules. For additional information regarding these risks, please refer to “Item 1. Business –
Regulatory Matters.” We cannot assure you that our liabilities arising from past or future releases of, or exposures to, hazardous substances will not exceed our
estimates or adversely affect our financial statements and reputation or that we will not be subject to additional claims for personal injury or cleanup in the
future based on our past, present or future business activities. However, based on the information we currently have we do not believe that it is reasonably
possible that any amounts we may be required to pay in connection with environmental matters in excess of our reserves as of December 31, 2011 will have a
material effect on our financial statements.


In addition to the anticorruption, environmental, health, safety and FDA-related regulations noted above, our businesses are subject to extensive regulation by
U.S. and non-U.S. governmental and self-regulatory entities at the federal, state and local levels, including the following:
• We are required to comply with various import laws and export control and economic sanctions laws, which may affect our transactions with
certain customers, business partners and other persons and dealings between our employees and subsidiaries. In certain circumstances, export
control and economic sanctions regulations may prohibit the export of certain products, services and technologies. In other circumstances, we may
be required to obtain an export license before exporting the controlled item. Compliance with the various import laws that apply to our businesses
can restrict our access to, and increase the cost of obtaining, certain products and at times can interrupt our supply of imported inventory.
• We also have agreements to sell products and services to government entities and are subject to various statutes and regulations that apply to
companies doing business with the government. The laws governing government contracts differ from the laws governing private contracts. For
example, many government contracts contain pricing and other terms and conditions that are not applicable to private contracts. Our agreements
with government entities may be subject to termination, reduction or modification at the convenience of the government or in the event of changes
in government requirements, reductions in federal spending and other factors, and we may underestimate our costs of performing under the
contract. Government contracts that have been awarded to us following a bid process could become the subject of a bid protest by a losing bidder,
which could result in loss of the contract. We are also subject to investigation and audit for compliance with the requirements governing
government contracts.
These are not the only regulations that our businesses must comply with. Failure to comply with these or any other regulations could result in civil and
criminal, monetary and non-monetary penalties, disruptions to our business, limitations on our ability to manufacture, import, export and sell products and
services, disbarment from selling to certain federal agencies, damage to our reputation and loss of customers and could cause us to incur significant legal fees.
Compliance with these and other regulations may also require us to incur significant expenses. Our products and operations are also often subject to the rules
of industrial standards bodies such as the ISO, and failure to comply with these rules could result in withdrawal of certifications needed to sell our products
and services and otherwise adversely impact our financial statements. For additional information regarding these risks, please refer to “Item 1. Business –
Regulatory Matters.”
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Source: DANAHER CORP /DE/, 10-K, February 24, 2012 Powered by Morningstar® Document Research℠
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