Policy Statement on Human Rights

Commitment of the von Eicken Group to respect human rights
In this document, the companies of the von Eicken Group recognise their responsibility to respect human rights. Companies can only contribute to a sustainable industry and society if their business activities are in harmony with people and the environment.
As a family-run company with a tradition of more than 250 years, we are particularly committed to our social responsibility to respect human rights. For this reason, the companies of the von Eicken Group are committed to strengthening human rights and preventing human rights violations in the best possible manner. Together with our employees, business partners, stakeholders and customers, we strive to make this commitment as effective as possible – in our own business operations as well
as in our supply and value chains. We therefore base our business activities on internationally recognised frameworks and standards:

• the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
• the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
• the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
• the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
• the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
• the Conventions and Recommendations of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on abour and social standard

Inclusion of human rights due diligence
With this Policy Statement, we wish to reaffirm and give more detail on our commitment to upholding human rights standards and our efforts to comply with legal requirements. We regard the identification of risks and potential negative effects as an ongoing process. A comprehensive risk analysis of our business activities was therefore carried out prior to preparing this Policy Statement. In doing so, we sought an in-depth dialogue with internal and external stakeholders and carried out a risk assessment of countries of origin, raw materials and products on the basis of recognised indices and studies.
The von Eicken Group has issued internal codes of conduct and procedures in order to ensure adequate protection of human rights and fundamental employee rights wherever possible. These are established Group-wide by means of regular employee training on internal procedures and processes. It goes without saying that we expect our employees to comply with internal guidelines and applicable national laws. We do not tolerate violations and will take rigorous disciplinary action.
We also expect our suppliers and business partners to respect human rights standards and make consistent efforts to comply with applicable regulations. To this end, we have also issued a code of conduct in this area, which we monitor on an ongoing basis. Here too, we take rigorous disciplinary action in the event of violations and, in the case of serious breaches, we may terminate our business relationship with the party concerned.
Our employees have unrestricted access to a fair and transparent reporting and complaints system with a view to identifying risks at an early stage and avoiding negative effects as far as possible.

Affected third parties also have access to this whistle-blower system.

Responsibility
The senior management team is responsible for implementing and adhering to this Policy Statement on Respect for Human Rights. The operational implementation of this document is carried out by various departments, which work in close contact with each other and the senior management team.

Prospects
We believe that respect for human rights is an ongoing process. For this reason, we continuously assess whether there are any particular risks to human rights in the supply and value chains and take appropriate courses of action on this basis.

Lübeck, March 2023