The BRAIN Group is a signature member of the UN Global compact and follwos the UN Code of Conduct in regards to human rights.

We have in general a low risk of human rights violations as all of our production assets and the vast majority of our business activities is centered around the developed and highly indutrialized world. Our business activities as well as operations are focused on Continental-Europe, UK and US. 

To our best knowledge where have been no direct violations in the reporting year on human rights issues.

On the supply chain

We buy laboratory and raw materials, utiilize these to create our services and manufacturing process up to the finished product.

We aspire to build sustainable and stable relationships with our suppliers. We prefer partners and suppliers with high own environmental and social standards. Information regarding specific supplier violations is reported and investigated directly. If confirmed, an action plan is prepared to mitigate the topics or to search for alternative sources.
Most purchasing decisions are done at the level of the individual operating unit but it is intended to increasingly centralize purchasing especially in the BioIndustrial segment. This will not only unify standards but also allow to increasingly harvest economies of scale. Close to 90% of our BRAIN Group product sourcing is executed within the EU, UK, US and other developed countries with high labor and social standards. Most of this from large or multinational suppliers. Only around 10 % of our sourced products are originated from emerging markets (mostly China) with the relative share of these purchases decreasing during the last years. Emerging market sources require our special attention when it comes to supply chain standards, especially on human rights.

Biocatalysts utilizes a standardized Supplier Approval Questionnaire (SAQ) for all of its suppliers. The SAQ is also employed for SEDEX (Supplier Ethical Data Exchange) or equivalent certifications. In addition, Biocatalyst enforces supplier risk assessment, approval and monitoring procedures.

WeissBiotech utilizes the EcoVadis rating for its supply chain analysis and scorecard.

Within the framework of the NATRUE certification L.A. Schmitt checks for the sustainable supply of natural raw materials for the production of cosmetics.

As our operations are taking part in the developed world, human rights audits are not material for BRAIN and have not been conducted.

Within the supply chain we have taken the measures mentioned above.

Due to the diverse nature of our business each of our entities has its own supplier management. We have taken the following precautionary measures:

Close to 90% of our BRAIN Group product sourcing is executed within the EU, UK, US and other developed countries with high labor and social standards. Most of this from large or multinational suppliers. 

Biocatalysts utilizes a standardized Supplier Approval Questionnaire (SAQ) for all of its suppliers. The SAQ is also employed for SEDEX (Supplier Ethical Data Exchange) or equivalent certifications. In addition, Biocatalyst enforces supplier risk assessment, approval and monitoring procedures.

WeissBiotech utilizes the EcoVadis rating for its supply chain analysis and scorecard.

Within the framework of the NATRUE certification L.A. Schmitt checks for the sustainable supply of natural raw materials for the production of cosmetics.

This statistic has not been conducted in the past. We plan to upgrade data gathering and reporting for the future.