Human rights
are of prime
importance

As a service company, DEKRA has also been fulfilling its human rights due diligence. In other words, we respect internationally recognized human rights within the company and the supply chain, and are committed to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of the General Assembly of the United Nations, and to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). DEKRA’s Social Standards embody our policy on respect for labor and human rights, and set forth the relevant processes for its effective implementation. They pick up the requirements of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the German Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations for the Prevention of Human Rights Violations in Supply Chains, and the National Action Plan (NAP) for Business and Human Rights in Germany.

In this context, DEKRA welcomes the enactment of the German Supply Chain Act and assumes responsibility for protecting human rights in its sphere of influence, which covers both the supply chain and the company’s own employees. As the implementation and roll-out of this act will impact our decentralized organizational structure, our departments are working hard to find a solution that uses automated workflows as far as possible.

In our global procurement activities, we have established standards and processes for purchasing and supply chain management that focus on human rights and sustainability, and developing these further is an ongoing process. Moreover, in 2021, we started building the necessary capacities to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the human rights risks within our supply chain. Similarly, human rights risks, compliance auditing, and implementation of the DEKRA social standards have been an part of our internal risk management since 2020.

By the start of 2023, DEKRA plans to have fully implemented the structures and processes necessary for complete risk management, including risk analysis, as well as the introduction of preventive and remedial measures based on this. The project also includes reviewing and, where necessary, improving the current complaints system, as well as introducing structural reporting.