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In many areas Deutsche Telekom has made voluntary commitments that exceed the standards required by law.

Our commitment to corporate responsibility finds expression in numerous voluntary commitments at the international and national levels and in various initiatives of our own. In this way we set ourselves rules of corporate conduct in all countries and markets where Deutsche Telekom operates.

Social and environmental standards
In the year 2000, Deutsche Telekom signed the United Nations Global Compact as a founding member and as one of the first ICT companies. By doing this we acknowledged the initiative’s ten principles and made a commitment to respect human rights, maintain appropriate working standards and take an active role in environmental protection and fighting corruption. As part of its CR reporting, Deutsche Telekom publishes an annual Global Compact progress report. The report contains information about the measures that have been taken to implement the ten principles.

In connection with the Global Compact, Deutsche Telekom also signed the "Caring for Climate" declaration, confirming its commitment to climate protection. We attended the first meeting of signatories in October 2008. At the UN headquarters in Geneva, 150 representatives from the fields of politics, science and business met to discuss the possibilities for companies to make a contribution toward protecting the climate. At the industry level Deutsche Telekom supports the Environment and Sustainable Development" Charter of the European Telecommunications Network Operators Association (ETNO).

Raw materials and procurement
Deutsche Telekom understands its responsibility as being a far-reaching obligation in all areas of our everyday work. For us, therefore, this obligation does not begin in the company but at the start of the value chain with the extraction of raw materials for our products. In early 2009 we confirmed our commitment to responsible raw materials extraction with the "Statement on Extractives".

We require our suppliers to uphold the standards of the Deutsche Telekom Social Charter. This sets out rules that must be followed in the areas of human rights, equal opportunities, health and safety and the right to set up and join a trade union. Of course the Social Charter also applies as a mandatory standard within Deutsche Telekom. When the Social Charter was drawn up we were guided by the values of the Global Compact and the guidelines of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). We demand that our suppliers, for their part, apply these standards to their own sub-suppliers. In all procurement activities we also follow the guidelines of our fraud policy in order to combat corruption.