Governance & Compliance
The Executive Board of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE is convinced that sustainable economic success in a competitive environment can be achieved only by ensuring that business practices comply with the applicable laws. In addition to preventing corruption, ProSiebenSat.1 Group particularly focuses on the issues of money laundering prevention, sanctions and embargoes, as well as data protection, in the area of compliance. ProSiebenSat.1 Group has implemented a compliance management system (CMS) for these legal areas.
In its Code of Conduct ProSiebenSat.1 Group has laid down basic guidelines and policies. These define the general standards for conduct in business, legal and ethical matters and also govern how employees can report misconduct in the Company. They serve all members of the Executive Board, the management of the Group entities, and the employees of ProSiebenSat.1 Group as a binding reference and regulatory framework for dealing both with each other and with business partners, customers, suppliers, and other third parties. The new Code of Conduct came into force in January 2022 and replaces the previous Code as a unifying element across all segments of ProSiebenSat.1 Group.
Another central compliance instrument for ProSiebenSat.1 Group is the whistleblower system.
Legally compliant behavior and the prevention of violations of laws and regulations are a prerequisite for a company’s sustainable success. Therefore, preventing corruption and anti-competitive behavior is highly relevant to business and represents an important success factor for achieving corporate goals. Free competition is a key pillar of our economic system and is given special protection by antitrust laws and criminal law. Violations of competition laws may result in large fines and claims for damages that may affect not only the Company but also employees personally. In addition, corruption offenses can result in fines or custodial sentences. In order to obtain an independent assessment of the CMS, an audit firm conducted a review of the anti-corruption component during 2022. For 2022, as in the previous year, we are not aware of any investigations into the Group, its subsidiaries or employees of ProSiebenSat.1 Group with regard to corruption offenses or antitrust violations.
Owing to progressive digitalization and new business models, more and more personal data is being generated and processed in a wide variety of ways. That also applies to ProSiebenSat.1 Group with its diverse offerings in the segments Entertainment, Dating & Video and Commerce & Ventures. In this context, data protection protects the right to privacy and to information control. This refers to the right of every individual to control the disclosure and use of his or her own personal data. Our goal is to handle this data carefully and protect it from misuse. The Group Data Protection Officer is responsible for cooperation and coordination on all major data protection matters. He is assigned to the Group Compliance division in organizational terms and is supported by data protection law specialists when it comes to legal issues. By way of mandatory training and assessments by the Group Data Protection Officer, violations of privacy are to be prevented and compliance with data protection law ensured.
Various types of information are of key importance to the business activities of ProSiebenSat.1. Ensuring that business processes, IT, infrastructure and critical information are kept sufficiently secure is therefore a strategic factor in the Group’s competitiveness. Company-wide, process-oriented information security serves as a tool for identifying relevant risks in good time and dealing with them appropriately. The IT Security division in particular is responsible for the protection of IT systems. As a holding function, the Information Security Office defines guidelines, organizes assessments and penetration tests – including for websites and online shops – as well as e-learning courses and trainings, and is responsible for incident and risk management.
The issues that are relevant to ProSiebenSat.1 Group from the point of view of media law include journalistic independence, the principles of the separation of advertising and programming, and the requirements for the protection of young people. These issues also form part of our Code of Conduct.
In all our activities, we are committed to a free and democratic order, which is based in particular on the fundamental right to freedom of opinion. The central editorial team of Seven.One Entertainment Group is responsible at operational level for ensuring journalistic independence in the editorial work of all stations. In daily conferences with the editorial teams and programming managers, the focus areas for the content of reporting and programming are discussed. The fundamental dual-control principle applies when approving editorial content. In addition, the Group has formulated guidelines which all journalists and editorial staff are required to follow. The “Guidelines for Ensuring Journalistic Independence” specify the understanding of the journalistic principles set forth in the Press Code of the German Press Council. According to these principles, they are essentially free to form their editorial content as they see fit and should report independently of social, economic or political interests. Topics such as press law and youth protection are trained and deepened in internal training courses.
Provisions for the protection of young people are also considered very important in the context of media regulation. ProSiebenSat.1 Group’s youth protection officers play a key role in this. They are tasked with making sure that all TV and online content for which the Group is responsible is offered in an age-appropriate way. The goal is to make it difficult for children and young people to gain access to content that is unsuitable for their age group. The German Interstate Treaty on Youth Protection in the Media (Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag, JMStV) and the German Youth Protection Act (Jugendschutzgesetz, JuSchG) stipulate clear requirements for this. The youth protection officers are autonomous in their assessments and are responsible for advising stations so that content that is unsuitable for children and young people is broadcast only at the legally stipulated times. Moreover, the youth protection officers are involved in the conception, production, and purchasing of programs as early as possible. At the same time, they are expected to ensure that technical means are used (e.g. PIN procedures or the filtering software JusProg) for dissemination of content that is relevant to the protection of young people on the Group’s websites. The youth protection officers carry out internal training for TV and online editors and themselves participate in the certification program in accordance with JuSchG.
In addition, youth protection is actively involved in the committees of the Voluntary Self-Regulation of Television Association (Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Fernsehen, FSF) and the Voluntary Self-Monitoring of Multimedia Service Providers Association (Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Multimedia Diensteanbieter, FSM).
