Corporate Governance and Declaration of Conformity

The Supervisory Board intensively reviewed the rules of the Corporate Governance Code. One of the main subjects concerned the amendments in the version of 6 June 2008. To ensure compliance with the German Corporate Governance Code, the Supervisory Board has checked the implementation of the recommendations. In February 2009, the Supervisory Board and the Executive Board renewed the Declaration of Conformity pursuant to Section 161 of the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG). Deviations from the recommendations of the Government Commission are explained in detail in the Corporate Governance Report. The Declaration of Conformity can be accessed permanently at Bechtle's Web site.