We have specified our requirements for the responsible conduct of all employees in numerous guidelines in order to ensure that they all know the relevant rules and apply them in the workplace.

Our Group-wide guideline system contains all company policies and explains which ones apply to which parts of the company. They range from the charters and principles in effect for the entire company, to specific standards and procedures that apply to either our sectors and businesses or our individual sites.

Such documents include our Code of Conduct, our "Human Rights Charter"  and our "Charter on Access to Health in Developing Countries" .

Examples of internal policies include: the Group-wide "Corporate EHS Policy", which establishes the framework for principles, strategies and organizational structures for environment, health and safety; our "Animal Welfare Policy",  which describes the treatment of laboratory animals throughout the company; and our "Corporate Security Policy", which stipulates procedures to protect the company's intellectual and material assets.

In addition, we also have numerous business-specific policies, such as the biopharmaceuticals business' "Interactions with Patients and Patient Organizations", as well as our "Safety Policy" for chemical products. Through this safety policy, we have established global processes for defining, driving and implementing product safety and have created the necessary management structures to do so.

Our standards take the provisions from charters, principles and policies and translate them into concrete terms for employees in charge of operational processes.

The guidelines are kept up-to-date by the relevant departments and are available on the intranet. Managers are responsible for implementing them in their respective areas of responsibility. We educate and train our employees on the guidelines that pertain to them. In this way, we ensure that they are familiar with both the overarching rules from the charters and principles, as well as the concrete specifications that affect their individual range of activities.

Group-wide guideline system

The guideline system is an integral part of our management systems, which are used to define and steer goals, actions and responsibilities in key action areas. Our management systems are based on standards such as the internationally recognized ISO 9001 for quality management, GxP guidelines for good working practices in the pharmaceutical industry, and ISO 14001 for environmental management. Our ISO 14001 environmental management system and ISO 9001 quality management systems are certified at regular intervals by an independent auditing firm. Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany holds group certificates for its quality and environmental management systems.