Responsibility

Our business activities are based on responsible management with a focus on integrity, sound corporate governance and adherence to compliance principles. We also expect and encourage our employees and managers to behave impeccably from an ethical standpoint. Our code of conduct, which is applied in every division worldwide and forms the framework for treating our patients, colleagues and communities with respect and commitment they deserve. It is based on our company’s core values of quality, honesty and integrity, innovation and progress, as well as respect, teamwork and dignity. It also emphasizes our commitment to operate in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations and our own company policies. Our code of conduct and the underlying corporate values also include Fresenius Medical Care’s commitment to respecting human rights, and govern our actions, as do the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Fresenius Medical Care places great importance on cultivating regular, trust-based dialog with its stakeholders, including our suppliers. Our procurement strategy is geared toward purchasing high-quality materials and components through long-term mutual relationships with our suppliers.

Sustainability Principles

Business Ethics & Principles for Business Partners

Fresenius Medical Care is aware of its responsibility towards its employees. By ensuring fair working and pay conditions, continuous personnel development and a healthy work-life balance, we aim to become more attractive as an employer.

Code of Ethics and Business Conduct

Environmental management is part of our integrated management system in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Compliance with the ISO 14001 environmental management standard at our company headquarters, in our certified plants and at the certified national clinic organizations is controlled on a regular basis. Our environmental program defines five strategic environmental objectives. At its production sites and clinics, we aim to:

1. Raise environmental awareness and encourage environmentally responsible behavior,
2. Enhance knowledge relating to strategic and operational environmental issues,
3. Increase the company’s environmental performance,
4. Improve control of environmental risks,
5. Ensure that environmental regulations are complied with.

We have set ourselves the goal of continuously improving the eco-efficiency of our production sites worldwide.At our European production sites, we use performance indicators for the use of energy and raw materials to calculate the environmental performance of our production processes. This enables us to identify additional untapped potential in a production process that has already been largely optimized. We introduced an energy management system according to ISO 50001 in St. Wendel in 2013, and rolled it out to our site in Schweinfurt in 2014. By assessing the energy efficiency of all processes and facilities, we aim to identify further potential savings and derive measures from them.

In addition, we implemented further environmental projects at our production sites worldwide in 2014 to reduce water and electricity consumption and save on packaging material.

We are continuously working to make our products and processes more environmentally friendly, for example by using new materials with improved environmental properties or developing new technologies that further reduce the resource consumption of our dialysis machines. The aim is to provide our customers with added value by helping them save on costs or fulfill environmental requirements better.

Our objective is to improve the quality of life of kidney patients. Beyond our core range of products and services, we pursue this aim by cooperating globally with associations and institutions that champion the interests of dialysis patients. We also develop our own initiatives to help patients lead a healthier and more active life. In the U.S., for instance, we sponsor the Renal Support Network, a charitable association run by and for patients with chronic kidney failure. This aims at providing patients and their families with health information, giving them more confidence in their everyday lives.

Fresenius Medical Care organizes and supports scientific conferences with international nephrology experts as well as training programs for doctors and dialysis specialists worldwide. One example of this is our partnership with the Sustainable Kidney Care Foundation. It promotes projects, mainly in Africa, to give patients with acute kidney failure access to dialysis treatment in regions without an existing supply structure.