Guidelines of the BÜFA Group

BÜFA is aware of its social responsibility with regard to the environment, safety, health and the observance of human rights. Our conduct in business transactions is also guided by these guiding principles. This includes BÜFA taking measures to ensure that our own suppliers also act in accordance with these following principles.

1. Anti-corruption/blackmail  BÜFA does not tolerate any form of corruption, neither in dealings with public officials or in civil legal transactions, nor in countries where corruption is regarded as "common practice". The relevant legal regulations of the respective country must be strictly adhered to.

2. Fair competition  BÜFA has a great interest in complying with the applicable antitrust and competition regulations. Managers and employees who work in business areas where antitrust aspects play a role are trained accordingly.

3. Economic sanctions  BÜFA fully respects all supply, procurement and product sanctions imposed by the European Union.

4. Discrimination BÜFA stands for the fact that all employees, customers and suppliers have the right to fair, respectful, dignified, polite and indiscriminate treatment. Society does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.

5. Child Forced Labor  BÜFA does not tolerate any form of child labor or forced labor in any way.

6. Data protection  BÜFA uses all personal information about employees, customers, business partners and suppliers carefully and treats it confidentially, taking into account the current data protection laws. The protection of this information is extremely important and must be carried out with the utmost care in order to continue to enjoy the trust of the data subjects.

7. Protection of intellectual property of third parties  BÜFA does not tolerate in any way the unauthorized use of the intellectual property rights of third parties. 

8. Compliance with anti-money laundering laws  BÜFA is obliged to comply with the applicable anti-money laundering laws. Accordingly, there is, among other things, the obligation to identify the contractual partner and to choose permissible forms of payment.

9. Occupational safety and environmental protection  For BÜFA, the health and safety of employees at their workplace as well as the protection of the environment and the conservation of natural resources have the highest priority. Each individual bears a share of responsibility.

10. Deforestation-free supply chains  BÜFA supports the EU directive on deforestation-free supply chains and expects the same from its suppliers.
In 2021, the German Bundestag passed the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG), which obliges companies with 3,000 or more employees to organise their supply chains in accordance with internationally recognised human and environmental rights. The legislator has been guided by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The essential provisions of the LkSG are described above.

The LkSG comes into force on 1 January 2023. Some customers of BÜFA are direct addressees of the LkSG and will therefore call on BÜFA to act in accordance with human rights and the environment when implementing the law and to ensure this also vis-à-vis their suppliers. 

For these reasons, we must ensure that you, as our supplier, undertake not to violate any of the risks mentioned in § 2 para. 2 LkSG (human rights risks) and § 2 para. 3 LkSG (environmental risks). In addition, you will endeavor to pass on these obligations to your suppliers as well.