Compliance with all the legal requirements that apply to Continental AG and its subsidiaries and its internal regulations by management and employees is an integral part of our corporate culture. Bribery and anti-competitive behavior are strictly forbidden. Continental’s Executive Board is firmly committed to the zero-tolerance principle with regard to corruption and antitrust violations.
Management approach
This stance is a fixed component of our corporate culture and is reflected in our corporate guidelines, corporate governance principles and social responsibility principles. Important documents at corporation level are the Code of Conduct for employees, the anticorruption policy, the antitrust manual and the Global ESH Policy. The Business Partner Code of Conduct lays down requirements for our suppliers in terms of responsible business.
In order to discharge its duties, the Executive Board has established the global compliance organization with regional departments, especially to prevent corruption and antitrust violations. The compliance organization reports directly to the Executive Board member for Finance, Controlling, Compliance, Law and IT.
Continental has a compliance management system, which is based on a comprehensive analysis of potential compliance risks for the core areas of antitrust law and corruption prevention. Its effectiveness was certified in 2016 in accordance with IDW PS 980 audit standard. When it comes to company mergers and acquisitions, we meet our due diligence obligations with extensive risk audits, which also include compliance due diligence. The audits carried out by the Corporate Audit department include reviewing whether compliance- related requirements are being met.
Both employees and external third parties can report all kinds of compliance-related incidents via the Compliance & Anti-Corruption Hotline, which can be reached around the clock by telephone or e-mail, anonymously and in the respective national language. The Compliance department analyzes the information together with Corporate Audit and then decides on necessary measures, involving other departments in a structured process. In addition, employees can contact their superiors or report directly to the Compliance department and the compliance coordinators in the countries and locations.
Results and performance indicators
Compliance training is provided according to a risk-based and targetgroup- specific classroom training plan. In addition, employees who have a Continental e-mail address are regularly trained via e-learning programs. In 2018, employees were trained online and in some 360 classroom training sessions in compliance, antitrust law and corruption prevention. For the online training, we aim for a completion rate of at least 95%, which we achieved again in 2018 with about 85,000 participants.
| Compliance training in 2018 | |
|---|---|
| Online training conducted | ~85,000 |
| Classroom training sessions conducted | ~360 |
| Online training completion rate | > 95 % |
For more information, consult the Report on Risks and Opportunities and the “Other Disclosures” section in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
