Corporate Governance

Corporate Governance is the legal and de facto regulatory framework for the management and supervision (governance) of companies. This includes the distribution of responsibilities amongst the corporate bodies, shareholder's meeting, Supervisory Board and Board of Management with regard to management and supervision of the company.

The German Corporate Governance Code adopted by the government Commission on Corporate Governance contains not only essential statutory regulations for the management and supervision of German listed companies (governance), but also internationally and nationally recognized standards for good and responsible governance in the form of suggestions and recommendations. The Code aims at making the German corporate governance system transparent and comprehensible for the buying public in Germany and abroad. Its purpose is to promote the trust of investors, customers, employees and the general public in the management and supervision of listed German companies. The text of the Code can be retrieved with the "code" link.

A new provision was included in § 161 of the German Stock Corporation Act when the Transparency and Disclosure law (Transparenz- und Publizitätsgesetz) entered into force. This provision requires the Board of Management and Supervisory Board of a listed company to state once a year whether the recommendations contained in the Code have been, and will continue to be, complied with or to specify which recommendations in the Code will not be applied. You will find the Declaration of Compliance of the Management Board and Supervisory Board of Deutsche Telekom AG under "Declaration of Compliance."

The Code contains three categories of rules:

• Presentation of selected rules established under the German Stock Corporation Act 

• Recommendations ("shall" rules), which, if not followed, mean it is no longer possible to submit an unqualified Declaration of Compliance with respect to the Code. If individual recommendations are not followed, this has to be disclosed, together with the declaration, on the company's home page.

• Suggestions ("should" or "can" rules), which, if not followed, do not have any legal consequences or constitute any disclosure obligation.