Code of Conduct for Responsible Lobbying

Bayer’s lobbying activities are guided by transparency, fairness, integrity as well as fact-based information and based on the following principles which apply to Bayer employees themselves, as well as to consultants hired by Bayer employees in this field.
 

• Lobbyists of the company as well as consultants shall:
   

1. Identify themselves by name and by the Bayer organization they are representing;
2. Truly represent themselves as Bayer or working for Bayer to the effect of registration (where existing) to be transparent with third parties and/or staff of public authorities;
3. Openly declare the company’s business interests;
4. Ensure that information provided reflects up-to-date company knowledge, is complete, evidence-based and not misleading;
5. Be transparent and honest when obtaining or trying to obtain information about the purpose of the request;
6. Not induce staff of public authorities to contravene rules and standards of behavior applicable to them.

• If the company employs former staff of public authorities we respect their obligation to abide by the rules and confidentiality requirements which apply to them. 
• When Bayer hires consultants to represent the company in lobbying activities an official contract always needs to be provided, which will include details regarding the purpose and/or goal of the lobbying activity. Bayer's contracted lobbyists need to abide by the same rules as the in-house lobbyists, as outlined in the company’s policy. 
• Transparency is a high priority for us. This has not only been true since the introduction of the German lobby register, in which we have also registered and disclosed the required information. For years, we have been going beyond the legal requirements and for example, report on political activities in countries where there is no legal obligation to disclose.
• Bayer will make transparent its positions on the most important political topics (e.g. on the company’s website).
• Bayer  does  not  make  any  donations  to  political  parties,  politicians,  or  candidates running for political office. However, because political contributions in the United States of America are protected by  law,  some  employees  choose  to  donate  to  Bayer’s  Employee  Political  Action Committee (known as BAYERPAC) to support legislative candidates. The  donations  made  via  BAYERPAC  are  regularly  reported  to  the  U.S. Federal Election Commission and publicly available on the Internet.