Human Rights And Environmental Risks

Dear Whistleblower, Dear Complainant,

The protection of human rights and the environment is one of the fundamental prerequisites for GESCO Group companies’ business activities.

The GESCO Group companies have therefore issued a policy statementin which they define their strategy for the protection of human rights and certain environmental goods and formulate their expectations vis-à-vis their employees and suppliers regarding respect for human rights and certain environmental goods. The policy statement also describes how GESCO Group companies fulfill their legal obligations to protect human rights and certain environmental goods in detail and which risks they pay particular attention to due to their specific business activities.

In order to make the protection of these goods as effective as possible, the GESCO Group has set up a grievance system through which you can report (potential) violations of human rights and certain environmental goods, provided that these (potential) violations have been committed by GESCO Group companies or their suppliers.

The grievance system was set up in accordance with the supply chain due diligence act¹, which will apply to the GESCO Group beginning on January 1, 2024.

The aim of the grievance system is for your complaints and grievances to give GESCO Group companies the opportunity to initiate measures against imminent human rights and environmental violations before people or certain environmental goods have actually been harmed (early warning system). If a violation of human rights or the relevant environmental goods has already occurred, the grievance system helps as far as possible to prevent further violations of the same kind or minimize the consequences of damage (remedial measures).

¹Act on Corporate Due Diligence to Prevent Human Rights Violations in Supply Chains (supply chain due diligence act) of July 16, 2021 (BGBl. I P. 2959).

The grievance system is based on rules of procedure. You can view these via the following link.

The rules of procedure describe

• who can submit a grievance or complaint,
• in which cases a grievance or complaint can be submitted,
• where the grievance or complaint can be submitted,
• the manner in which the grievance or complaint is to be submitted,
• the manner in which the complainant is protected against possible retribution and
• the procedures that GESCO Group companies will use to address a grievance or a complaint.

 You can submit your grievance or complaint regarding (potential) violations of human rights or certain environmental goods by GESCO Group companies or their suppliers in various ways. You can submit them to the Internal Grievance Office of the GESCO Group or to external grievance offices. Details can be found in the rules of procedure.

If you wish to submit your complaint or report to the Internal Grievance Office of the GESCO Group, you can use the following input mask. After pressing the submit button, your grievance or complaint will be forwarded directly to the GESCO Group officers for (potential) human rights violations or for (potential) violations of certain environmental goods by a GESCO Group company or its suppliers. You can also contact these officers directly. Details on this and on how to deal with your grievance or complaint can be found in the rules of procedure.