We, the PSI-group, commit to respecting human rights and protecting the environment in our own business operations and in collaboration with our suppliers. As required by the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG), we have developed this Declaration of Principles to articulate our commitment to human rights and the environment, and our approach to managing related risks in our own business and collaboration with suppliers.
This Declaration of Principles outlines our guiding principles, explains how we implement the law, describes our risk management process, the grievance procedure, and our efforts towards continuous improvement.
While we/our employees lead by example, we expect our suppliers and other business partners also to commit to respecting human rights, to undertake the establishment of appropriate due diligence processes, and to pass on these expectations to their own business partners.
This declaration of principles is ratified by both PSI Software SE and all group companies with headquarters or branches in Germany.
The PSI-group respects international standards and guidelines for the protection of people and the environment. Our understanding of our responsibilities, as well as our human rights due diligence processes, are guided by the following international reference instruments:
We at PSI-Group are aware of the importance of clearly defining roles and rights to ensure effective implementation of the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG).
We have appointed a human rights officer for both PSI Software SE and all group companies with headquarters or branches in Germany who is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the requirements of the law. She can be reached via menschenrechtsbeauftragte@psi.de.
The Executive Board / Management bears the responsibility for compliance with the requirements of the law and regularly informs itself about the implementation of the due diligence obligations. From our employees, suppliers, and business partners, we expect that they respect essential human and environmental legal norms and advocate for them within their scope of action. This particularly applies to the risks identified in our risk analysis. If they observe related violations without effective remediation, they are encouraged to use the grievance mechanism described in this document.
We strive to comply with our human rights and environmental due diligence obligations by implementing the following measures:
In the context of our risk management efforts, we carry out regular and ad hoc risk assessments according to § 3 and § 5 of the LkSG. As soon as risks are identified, they are prioritized and addressed considering the severity of the potential impact on those affected, the probability of its occurrence, and the reversibility of the impact.
Based on our analyses, we specifically consider the following types of risks as relevant to our value chain:
Once we have identified and prioritized risks, we determine the measures we will take to minimize these prioritized risks. We proactively inform and involve the stakeholders we consider important for the implementation of these measures.
In our own business operations, we clearly and continuously communicate our expectations to employees and work to promptly to eliminate all identified risks.
We also communicate our expectations to our suppliers regarding their contribution towards preventing human rights and environmental risks, promoting their understanding and encouraging them to cooperate.
We refer both to the guiding principles mentioned initially and to the following standards and norms particularly relevant to our company and industry:
Furthermore, we strive to address identified risks in collaboration with our suppliers and support improvements in their policies, competencies, and procedures. We also encourage our suppliers to collaborate with their own suppliers, and to pass on our expectations and to promote good practices throughout the entire supply chain.
We regularly monitor and assess the effectiveness of our preventive measures to identify and continuously implement possible improvements.
We have established an effective grievance procedure for gathering information on human rights and environmental risks that occur in our business operations and supply chain. In designing and implementing this procedure, we particularly focus on the following characteristics:
The grievance procedure is accessible in the following ways and means: Whistle (whistle-portal.eu)
We will regularly review the effectiveness of our risk assessments, our grievance procedure, as well as our prevention and remediation measures, and work towards their continuous improvement. In doing so, we want to ensure that we remain in compliance with relevant laws and international standards on human rights and the environment in the long term.