REPRESENTATION OF INTERESTS IN POLITICS AND SOCIETY
The Volkswagen Group and its brands operate in a complex and heavily regulated environment.
We see it as our responsibility to actively shape the framework for our business activities in dialogue with our stakeholders. At Group level, the Group's political representation of interests towards governments, parliaments, authorities, associations, institutions and society is coordinated worldwide in order to ensure coordinated action and uniform communication between the brands and companies. Responsibility lies with the Public Affairs steering committee, which reports regularly to the Group Executive Board. Principles such as integrity, openness and traceability as well as guidelines for contact with politicians are set out in a Group-wide guideline, as are rules on transparency. This is the basis for, for example, the entries made by Volkswagen AG in the lobby transparency registers of the Federal Republic of Germany and the European Union, as well as the disclosure of our positions vis-à-vis politicians in the reporting year for 2021, for example on decarbonization, digitalization or human rights.
The guideline obliges the company's political leaders in associations to continue to bring the group's positions into discussions within the scope of what is permissible under competition and antitrust law. A training course was held in the year under review for other Group departments that perform political lobbying tasks in associations.
As a matter of principle, the Group does not donate to political parties and does not sponsor any parties. Where other forms of financial support are permitted and desirable, we establish rules for the granting and disclosure of such support. Figures on the budget for placing advertisements in party-affiliated publications are made public annually.
Our positions on politics, the policy on political representation of interests and further information on public affairs can be accessed online at: Policy