Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; and Principle 2: make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses. Commitment, principles & goals Our entrepreneurial approach as a conscientious, responsible company includes ethical conduct as well as a commitment to human rights and core international labor standards. Our primary policy documents include: Code of Conduct: The Merck Code of Conduct is a compulsory set of rules for all Merck employees. It explains the principles for interacting with business associates, general partners, colleagues, and employees, as well as with the [...]

[...] approach as a conscientious, responsible company includes ethical conduct as well as a commitment to human rights and core international labor standards. The Human Rights Charter listed under Principles 1 and 2 is the primary policy document on compliance with core labor standards within the Merck Group. At Merck, respecting our employees’ dignity, treating them fairly and in compliance with laws and regulations is a matter of course. As a matter of principle, we are guided by the ILO Core Labor Standards. We adhere especially to this claim with respect to the following topics and regularly audit our sites against these requirements: Freedom of association, no [...]

[...] path and stand firm in our continued support of the ten principles established by the compact, which cover human rights, labor regulations, environmental protection, and anti-corruption. We want to leverage our knowledge and expertise to help address the major challenges of our time. For example, as a leading company in the pharmaceutical and chemical sectors, Merck is well placed to contribute meaningfully in the field of healthcare. Access to medical care is a universal human right and we want to make sure that it becomes a reality for everyone. For that reason, we have partnered with the World Health Organization (WHO) to combat the tropical disease [...]

Implementation of the ten principles of the UN Global Compact Period: January 2013 to December 2013 The Global Compact (GC) is a UN initiative founded in 2000. Signatories of the initiative commit themselves to ten principles based on key UN conventions regarding human rights, labor standards, environmental protection, and anti-corruption. At the same time, the compact obliges the signatories to actively engage themselves in propagating the principles within their own sphere of influence. www.unglobalcompact.org Merck has been a Global Compact participant since 2005. The following Communication on Progress (CoP) presents the key measures that Merck took in 2013 to [...]