As a signatory of the UN Global Compact, we are committed to the respect and promotion of the 10th Principle regarding the fight against corruption and strive to combat and prevent the risks of bribery and corruption.
Reputation is an asset that we highly value. Compliance with ethical standards is a non-negotiable value that supersedes any business interest. Absolute commitment to this objective is embedded at all levels at OMV Petrom, from top management to every employee. Our business partners are also expected to share the same understanding of and commitment to ethical standards.
OMV Petrom Compliance department has been established in 2008 with the purpose to manage business ethics – related risks in OMV Petrom Group, including subsidiaries outside Romania. The Compliance department identifies and evaluates organization’s exposure to business ethics risks that the organization faces, advises on how to prevent and address them and implements controls to protect the organization from those risks. Continuous monitoring and assessing effectiveness of controls represents an essential aspect of the management of the organizations risk exposure.
Zero tolerance policy for any form of bribery and corruption
OMV Petrom follows a zero tolerance policy with regard to bribery, fraud, theft, and other forms of corruption. In the most general sense, corruption is defined as any deviation from morality and duty which is detrimental to a person’s interest or public interest in favor the interest of another person, public or private. Bribery is a form of corruption and is defined as the promise to offer, the offering, requesting or receiving directly or indirectly, for oneself or for another money or other undue benefits in exchange for the fulfillment, non-fulfillment, urgency or delay fulfillment of an act that enters into service duties or for the fulfillment of an act contrary to such duties.
The trust that our stakeholders place on OMV Petrom relies upon our integrity. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to us to detect any potential violations at the earliest stage, investigate such incidents and apply the appropriate measures.
The Code of Conduct and the Code of Business Ethics are our regulatory instruments centered on the Zero tolerance policy for bribery and corruption and are applicable to anyone who works for or on behalf of OMV Petrom. Both Codes are applicable at the level of OMV Petrom Group, including all subsidiaries inside and outside Romania.
The Code of Business Ethics establishes the rules and ethical standards that any employee at OMV Petrom must follow. The Code of Business Ethics embeds organization’s approaches in the area of business ethics, including the policy regarding conflicts of interests and the policy regarding gifts & invitations and donations. Compliance with the antitrust legal provisions, as well as with trade sanction and embargoes are important chapters of the Code of Business Ethics that provides rules in these respects.
Companies performing services for OMV Petrom must follow anti-bribery procedures that are consistent with the principles and business ethics standards, as defined in OMV Petrom’s Code of Business Ethics and Code of Conduct. Standard Code of Conduct clauses are included in the contracts with our business partners. Our due diligence processes performed on potential business partners include business ethics and anti-corruption checks.
The Code of Business Ethics
The Code of Business Ethics starts with an introductory statement of the Executive Board of OMV Petrom that highlights OMV Petrom’s commitment to maintain its ethical standard of trust and integrity.
The Code of Business Ethics is available internally to all OMV Petrom employees in all local languages. (Romanian, Bulgarian, Russian, English, Serbian). It defines bribes and facilitation payments and prohibits such practices. Further on, it sets out rules dealing with gifts and invitations, donations, and investment in local communities and provides guidance to employees as to what is considered acceptable behavior.
The Code of Business Ethics defines what a conflict of interests means and sets out the disclosure obligation. Situations that follow under the disclosure obligations include, but not limited to, business and financial interests (e.g., shareholding) in OMV Petrom suppliers, as well as other business partners or competitors; secondary employment, including Executive Board membership in external organizations; the exercise of public or political functions.
The disclosure obligations apply to all OMV Petrom Group employees and managers, as well as to the members of the Executive Board. A member of the Executive Board must disclose any conflict of interests to another member of the OMV Executive Board, to the Supervisory Board and to Compliance department. Employees must disclose conflict of interests to their line managers and to Compliance department.
Starting with 2019, we have implemented the online conflict of interests declaration which gives the possibility to fill in and validate the declaration remotely. The conflict of interests declaration must be updated annually by the management and the employees working in the risk-most exposed areas (such as procurement and sales) and every 3-year by all employees. A number of 500 individuals submitted the conflict of interests declaration in 2020, including the top and high management levels, as well as the persons employed in procurement and sales activities in OMV Petrom SA and its subsidiaries.
By submitting the conflict of interests declaration, employees also acknowledge that they have read and understood the provisions of the Code of Business Ethics. The written acknowledgment is all the same required upon pursuing business ethics training. New senior management also receives onboarding to introduce OMV Petrom integrity standards.
Moreover, the Code of Business Ethics provides guidance for compliance with competition law provisions, as well as international trade sanctions and embargoes regime.
OMV Petrom Compliance Management System
OMV Petrom has set up a compliance management system to prevent, detect, and mitigate risks in key compliance areas. The system includes policies, audits, and trainings.
In 2013, OMV Petrom became the first organization in Romania to comply with the comprehensive IDW Assurance Standard 980 for Compliance Management Systems. The OMV Petrom Compliance Management System is regularly reevaluated and was recertified under IDW PS 980 in 2017.
Both external and internal risk factors, in particular changes in the regulatory framework, as well as recent developments or incidents are monitored on an ongoing basis to evaluate their possible impact on OMV Petrom’s current risk exposure. This ongoing risk analysis also includes an institutionalized semi-annual risk analysis, which is part of OMV Petrom’s Enterprise-Wide Risk Management (EWRM). Business ethics and anti-corruption represent one key component of the Compliance Management System, together with compliance with laws and regulations concerning antitrust, capital markets, as well as international trade sanctions and embargoes that are applicable to OMV Petrom.
OMV Petrom ensures that adequate measures are in place to achieve compliance with competition law, helping to protect long term healthy competition.
As a result of all these measures that OMV Petrom is implementing, in 2020 there were no administrative or judicial sanctions levied against our organization or its employees for failure to comply with anti-corruption laws or regulations. Also, in 2020 there were no incidents regarding anti-corruption and anti-competitive laws (SDG Target: 16.5 Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms).