Supervisory Board

The Supervisory Board performs a monitoring function. It supervises the management of the company by the Executive Board. In comparison with the supervisory board of a German stock corporation, the role of the supervisory board of a corporation with general partners (KGaA) is limited. This is due to the fact that the members of the Executive Board are personally liable partners and therefore are themselves responsible for the management of the company. In particular, the Supervisory Board is not responsible for appointing and dismissing general partners or for regulating the terms and conditions of their contracts. This is the responsibility of E. Merck KG. Nor does the Supervisory Board have the authority to issue rules of procedure for the Executive Board or a catalogue of business transactions requiring approval. This authority likewise belongs to E. Merck KG (Article 13 (3) sentence 1 and (4) sentence 1 of the Articles of Association). However, the fact that the Supervisory Board has no possibilities to directly influence the Executive Board restricts neither its information rights nor audit duties. The Supervisory Board must monitor the Executive Board in terms of legality, regularity, usefulness, and economic efficiency. In particular, the Supervisory Board has the duty to examine the reports provided by the Executive Board. This includes regular reports on the intended business policy, as well as other fundamental issues pertaining to corporate planning, especially financial, investment and HR planning; the profitability of the Merck Group; the progress of business; the risk situation; risk management (including compliance), and the internal auditing system. In addition, by means of consultation with the Executive Board, it creates the basis for supervision of the management of the company by the Supervisory Board according to section 111 (1) of the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG).

The Supervisory Board examines the annual financial statements and management report of Merck KGaA as well as the Group financial statements and the Group management report, taking into account in each case the reports of the auditor. Moreover, the Supervisory Board discusses the quarterly reports and the half-year financial report, taking into account in the latter case the report of the auditor on the audit review of the abridged financial statements and the interim management report of the Group. The adoption of the annual financial statements is not the responsibility of the Supervisory Board, but of the General Meeting. The Supervisory Board normally meets four times a year. Further meetings may be convened if demanded by a member of either the Supervisory Board or the Executive Board. As a rule, resolutions of the Supervisory Board are passed at meetings. At the instruction of the chairman, in exceptional cases a resolution may be passed by other means, details of which are given in the rules of procedure.

The members of the Board of Partners of E. Merck KG and of the Supervisory Board may be convened to a joint meeting if so agreed by the chairmen of the two boards.

The rules of procedure prescribe that the Supervisory Board may form committees as and when necessary. The Supervisory Board has formed a Nomination Committee comprising three shareholder representatives. Its members are Johannes Baillou, Rolf Krebs and Theo Siegert. The Nomination Committee is responsible for proposing to the Supervisory Board suitable candidates for its proposal to the Annual General Meeting. Apart from legal requirements and the recommendations of the German Corporate Governance Code, the “Objectives of the Supervisory Board with respect to its composition” are to be taken into consideration as well. Owing to the aforementioned limited authority, and since a corresponding need has not yet arisen, the Supervisory Board currently has no further committees.

The German Stock Corporation Act prescribes that the Supervisory Board of a publicly listed company must have at least one independent member on its Supervisory Board who has professional expertise in accounting or auditing. Theo Siegert satisfies these requirements and is furthermore the Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Board of Partners of E. Merck KG.