Human Rights - Our Position

As an internationally operating family business, we are aware of our responsibility towards our employees, the environment, and society. Therefore, we are committed to upholding social standards, strengthening human rights, and preventing human rights violations.

For more than 120 years, Miele has stood for high-quality household and commercial appliances like few other companies and is considered the epitome of reliable and durable products. Respectful and responsible treatment of employees and suppliers is among the company's core values. Respect for human rights is a matter of course for Miele in all business activities – and an essential characteristic of the corporate culture.

Long-term implementation of SA8000 and Code of Conduct

Miele also requires its suppliers to adhere to social criteria. All suppliers worldwide must commit to meeting the aforementioned criteria according to the SA8000 social standard within their own operations and to ensuring compliance among their own suppliers. Furthermore, the principles and requirements outlined in the Supplier Code of Conduct are an integral part of the business relationship between Miele and its suppliers. The supplier recognizes the principles detailed in the areas of human and labor rights, environmental protection, ethical business practices and corporate integrity, responsible supply chains, and due diligence as minimum standards. The supplier also commits to passing these principles and requirements on to upstream supply chain structures.

Risk analysis

With regard to its suppliers, Miele regularly reviews and adapts its established risk analysis process. For this purpose, direct suppliers are assessed for their risk potential using external risk indices as well as existing internal information (including specific findings and experiences) and prioritized according to risk levels. This prioritization forms the basis for Miele's focused, proactive risk and mitigation management. Depending on the supplier's risk classification, this includes various actions – up to and including annual on-site audits of suppliers to ensure compliance with the required criteria and minimum standards.

Miele conducts and documents risk analysis regularly as part of its process – at least once a year. In addition, an ad-hoc risk analysis is carried out if the risk assessment determined by Miele necessitates it or if there are concrete indications of breaches of duty – including those by indirect suppliers. If, despite all precautionary measures, there are indications that Miele's business activities could potentially have negative impacts on human rights, Miele has an escalation procedure in place for evaluating, modifying, discontinuing, and/or correcting the activity, which can ultimately lead to the termination of the business relationship.

Complaint procedure

We encourage our employees to report suspected violations of this human rights declaration through the existing complaint or dispute resolution procedures. This includes local management, the relevant HR departments, or the compliance hotline. Our partners and third parties also have the option of reporting violations through various channels. www.miele.com to report potential violations of this Declaration of Principles on Human Rights to an ombudsman.

Areas of responsibility

The overall responsibility for implementing this policy statement lies with the six-member Executive Board. Responsibility for implementing human rights due diligence lies with the respective heads of the Miele Group's functional areas and is implemented on a task-specific basis. This ensures that every business unit is aware of its own responsibility for respecting human rights and their daily implementation, both within its own business operations and throughout its supply chain. A central task force, led by the Sustainability and Regulatory Affairs and Legal and Compliance departments, is responsible for overarching coordination and management.

The management of Miele