Avoidance of corruption and anti-competitive behavior
Ethically correct and lawful conduct includes the prevention of corruption and anti-competitive behavior. HUGO BOSS expects all employees to act lawfully in day-to-day business operations. For HUGO BOSS, corporate compliance is a key responsibility of the Managing Board and includes measures to ensure adherence to legal and official regulations, as well as internal guidelines and codes. These include anti-corruption, anti-bribery, and antitrust regulations.
The central Compliance Department at HUGO BOSS reports to the Chief Compliance Officer, who reports directly to the CFO/COO. The department is primarily responsible for supporting the monitoring of effective compliance management. Together with the compliance officers in the Group companies, the department ensures the implementation and continuous further development of the compliance program. The Audit Committee of the Supervisory Board is regularly informed about the activities of the Compliance department.
Targets
Compliance management at HUGO BOSS aims at Group-wide legally compliant behavior. The aim is to prevent legal violations such as corruption, bribery, and antitrust violations, which may result not only in reputational and financial risk but may also lead to personal consequences under criminal and labor law.
Measures
Our employees are required to comply with the Group-wide Code of Conduct and supplementary specific compliance rules, such as an antitrust law and a capital market guideline. Both the publicly accessible Code of Conduct and the internal guidelines are regularly reviewed, with their content updated, particularly in response to changes in legal requirements. In fiscal year 2023, the focus was on further expanding the content on the compliance management system, reflecting the outcome of recently conducted relevance and risk analyses. In addition, Group companies are subject to regular risk analyses and detailed audits where applicable. Any infringements are reported to the Managing Board and the Supervisory Board.
A Group-wide e‑learning program to be regularly completed by all employees with computer access is designed to raise awareness of compliance rules. Against the backdrop of increasing regulatory requirements, the program was further developed in 2023 and implemented in additional languages, with the rollout of this update scheduled for 2024. Employees in positions where compliance is of particular relevance are trained by means of both online and physical trainings on specific topics that are of relevance to them, such as antitrust law. HUGO BOSS does not tolerate any deliberate misconduct or serious compliance infringements.
At HUGO BOSS, employees, suppliers, and trading partners can access the “Speak up Channel,” offering a secure channel to report misconduct and criminal offenses in the Company confidentially and anonymously. In addition, the aforementioned stakeholders can notify an external ombudsperson in confidence if there are any indications of fraud, infringements of antitrust law, or other compliance violations. If desired, this can also be done anonymously.
Performance indicators
In 2023, no violations in the sense of legal violations due to corruption, bribery, or antitrust cases established by authorities or courts were identified in the Company (2022: no violations). Already in 2020, the Danish Competition Authority identified an antitrust violation concerning an alleged disclosure of information with regard to prices and quantities of HUGO BOSS to local trading partners. However, HUGO BOSS took a contrary view on this and accordingly filed a complaint with the relevant appeals board, which was rejected by three votes to two in court in 2021. In order to continue to safeguard all its rights, and in light of the close decision of the appeals board, HUGO BOSS is currently asserting its rights at the Danish Maritime and Commercial High Court. The written preliminary proceedings have started in 2022 and the court heard experts to assess the facts in 2023. While an oral hearing is expected to take place in the first half of 2024, a final decision in this case is not expected before the end of 2024. No fine has been imposed so far.