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Our responsibility in our own business area.

Five people standing together around a computer and talk about something.

Our responsibility in our own business area.

The BMW Group’s own business area.

With over 200 Group companies, our own business area spans the entire globe. In addition to our own operational and production facilities and owned retail outlets, it also encompasses affiliated companies worldwide in which the BMW Group exerts a decisive influence – for example, National Sales Companies, financial services companies and other subsidiaries.

The size, international scope and complexity of our own business area inherently may entail various human rights and environmental risks. We mitigate these risks with robust and simultaneously dynamic risk management. This enables us to meet our legal requirements and ensure effective implementation of our due diligence obligations.

Understanding and mitigating risks in our own business area.

Our corporate due diligence activities are based on a comprehensive, systematic risk assessment. We identify the primary risks in our own business area through an abstract risk assessment based on secondary data and a concrete risk assessment. We have developed a specific questionnaire for this purpose that draws on the findings of the abstract risk assessment and collects additional information on the concrete risk situation.

We update this risk assessment at regular intervals and report as required on the key findings here.

The 2023 risk assessment did not identify areas of high risk in any of the risk categories in our own business area. Accordingly, there was no prioritisation of risk.

Further information on our risk assessment procedure can be found here.

Preventive and remedial measures.

Respect for human rights and related environmental standards is one of the foundations of the BMW Group’s corporate culture and is enshrined in our values. Our employees are required to comply with the BMW Group Code on Human Rights and Working Conditions and to align their conduct at the company with its principles. In 2022, the Board of Management of BMW AG also adopted a comprehensive policy statement that describes the company's position and our human rights due diligence processes in detail.

Our preventive measures to ensure human rights due diligence in our own business area embed these principles into our daily practices. These include, for example, targeted communication activities, regulations and instructions, in-house action days and dialogue events, compliance training and job-specific safety and environmental protection training. The BMW Group also maintains company-wide occupational health and safety management systems, as well as environmental management systems.

To provide our employees with a comprehensive framework for their actions, group-wide guidelines are continuously updated and rolled out to units within our own business area – for example through newsletters, intranet and training sessions. This ensures all employees are well informed about the latest developments and regulations.

Our catalogue of preventive measures includes the following:

Occupational health and safety.

Extensive risk and stress analyses to detect work-related risks in production and office environments in the early stages; certification of plant sites to ISO 45001 or OHRIS; annual internal audits; regular training and employee briefings on the subject of occupational health and safety and ergonomics.

Freedom of association.

Active, frank and transparent discussion with political representatives, associations and NGOs.

Prohibition of unequal treatment.

Training and ongoing communications for employees – for example, in the form of international Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) action days; involvement in initiatives like the “PROUT EMPLOYER network”. Globally-available external and internal contacts, including the compliance SpeakUP Line, Human Resources, Works Council and employee networks. Signatory of the UN Standards of Conduct for Business for Tackling Discrimination.

Fair remuneration.

Total compensation above the median of the relevant labour market, wherever possible. Nationally differentiated additional benefits, such as company pension plans, mobility services, etc.

Environmental protection.

Environmental management system certified to ISO 14001 at all production sites, additional certification of all German locations in accordance with the EMAS environmental management system, environmental impact assessments for construction of new and expansion of existing sites.

Raising human rights awareness.

Presentations at employee forums, management meetings and compliance action days; awareness-raising and empowerment through training, such as Compliance Essentials for all non-production employees, with human rights compliance content; regular talks and workshops across the compliance network and in specialist departments for occupational health and safety, environmental protection, Human Resources and Corporate Security.

We have established the following processes to implement prevention and remedial action systematically and effectively.

We also pursue a risk-based approach, meaning that we formulate targeted preventive measures based on our risk assessment and promptly initiate appropriate remedial measures, if necessary. We are able to mitigate risks in our own business area directly, because this is where we have the opportunity to exert influence.

Qualification and analysis of risks and impacts to determine the scope of action required, as well as an overview of measures and project planning.

Analysis of the country-specific, socio-economic, cultural and human rights context; where necessary, survey of relevant stakeholders.

Operational implementation plan, including formulation of impact hypotheses and definition of responsibilities, implementation deadlines, resources and objectives; where necessary, this is coordinated with the rights-holders involved.

Implementation, as well as ongoing and final monitoring of the measures and their effectiveness, completeness and timely implementation.

Assessment and, where applicable, adjustment of measures, with targeted involvement of relevant stakeholders and rights-holders.

Complaints mechanism.

Employees can use various channels and complaints mechanisms to report possible infringements of human rights and corresponding environmental standards – anonymously, if preferred. 

Learn More.

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