EU Business News February 2018

22 EU BUSINESS NEWS / Q1 2018 NORMA Group Joins United Nations Global Compact Initiative As a participant in the United Nations Global Compact initiative, the Germany based company is committed to the UN’s 10 principles of Corporate Responsibility (CR), including respect for human rights, the elimination of corruption, discrimination, forced and child labor and the promotion of environmentally-friendly technologies. NORMA Group is a global market leader in engineered joining technology. The company manufactures a wide range of innovative connecting solutions and water management technology offering more than 35,000 products to customers in 100 countries with around 7,600 employees. NORMA Group helps its customers and business partners react to global challenges such as climate change and increasing scarcity of resources. The group’s joining products can be found in vehicles and trains, ships and aircraft, buildings and water management as well as in applications for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. According to preliminary, unaudited figures, the company generated sales of around EUR 1.02 billion in 2017. NORMA Group operates a global network of 29 production facilities as well as numerous sales and distribution sites across Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. NORMA Group has its headquarters in Maintal, Germany. “We have long integrated the principles of the UN Global Compact into our daily activities,” says Bernd Kleinhens, chairman of the Management Board of NORMA Group. “As an international company already involved in several local CR initiatives, we would like to reaffirm our commitment to responsible corporate governance on the global level as well.” NORMA Group also considers the principles of the UN Global Compact in its CR Roadmap 2020. The Roadmap summarizes NORMA Group’s Corporate Responsibility goals through 2020 and defines appropriate metrics that can be used to verify the achievement of each goal. In line with the Global Compact, there should be no judicial breaches of anti-discrimination laws and laws protecting workers’ freedom of association. The company also is committed to training its employees in compliance and preventing corruption, and to increasingly consider sustainability aspects when selecting suppliers. In accordance with the requirements of the UN Global Compact, NORMA Group will report annually on compliance with the 10 principles. Around 13,000 organizations have already joined the United Nations sustainability initiative worldwide. As evidence of its previous and ongoing commitment to this cause, NORMA Group has already joined several CR networks in Germany, including the Diversity Charter and the Hessian Charter on the reconciliation of work and care. NORMA Group has also shown its commitment to social responsibility with the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 and the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act. ,