Firmly establishing responsible behavior throughout the company is one of the basic principles of company management at Merck. In order to sustainably implement these principles, a Corporate Responsibility committee discusses relevant overarching issues. This committee includes representatives from the individual divisions and Group functions such as Environmental Protection and Quality Assurance, Human Resources and Legal.
In 2011, the Executive Board signed the Access to Health Charter, which focuses on important health care issues in developing countries. Likewise in 2011, Merck launched the Merck Bioethics Advisory Panel (MBAP), which convenes at least once a year in order to advise the company on scientific, legal and ethical evaluations of bioethical topics. The MBAP comprises six external members from the fields of science and ethics, as well as experts from Merck.
Merck is a member of the FTSE4Good Index, a leading international stock index for sustainable investment. Companies are included in this index based on criteria such as effective environmental protection as well as adherence to and support of human rights principles. In 2011, Merck was also included in the sustainability index of Deutsche Börse.
Corporate responsibility activities and key issues are selected on the basis of materiality analyses. These activities and issues are described on the following pages, on our website, and in our extensive Corporate Responsibility Report, which we publish every two years. Merck conducts these materiality analyses at regular intervals in order to identify and prioritize the sustainability topics that are most important to the company. The analysis took into account the perspectives of various stakeholder groups, including, for instance, employees, business associates, site neighbors, and investors.
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