Austrian Code of Corporate Governance (as amended in January 2018)

On 1 October 2002, the Austrian Code of Corporate Governance was presented to the public for the first time. This Code of Corporate Governance gave listed companies a set of voluntarily rules to help them establish good corporate governance and control systems. For more than a decade now, Austrian laws on stock markets and capital markets have been supplemented by a self-regulatory standard based on the principle of comply or explain. The Austrian Code of Corporate Governance has initiated a lot of positive changes and has helped strengthen the confidence of international and national investors in our market. It serves as a benchmark in the Austrian capital market for good governance and controls, and has become an essential component of the Austrian system of corporate governance.

The main amendments to the revised Code 2015 concern the implementation of the Recommendation of the EU Commission of 9 April 2014 on the quality of corporate governance reporting („comply or explain“) and take into account the new comment letter of AFRAC (Austrian Financial Reporting and Auditing Committee) on the drafting and auditing of corporate governance reports pursuant to §243b Austrian Business Code (Unternehmenshandbuch, UGB).