Honest and Fair Conduct
Maintaining a balance between social and environmental challenges and successful business operations requires sound ethical principles. At the CEWE Group, honest and fair conduct encompasses values such as reliability, honesty, a long-term perspective, respect, integrity, and responsibility.
Our Sustainability Mission Statement
Who We Are
The CEWE Group is the European market leader in photo finishing. For well over 100 years, we have been preserving people’s special memories—captured in our products—for current and future generations. Our customers entrust us with their most precious moments. Committed to the principles of ethical business conduct, we recognize our long-term responsibility toward people, society, and the environment.
What Drives Us
We view sustainable action as an investment in our company’s future viability—a key driver of resilience and competitiveness. We do not prioritize short-term profits over our commitment to ensuring long-term success.
Our business model is centered on people—people with their most cherished moments, their experiences, and their memories of yesterday and tomorrow. The state of nature and the environment, the well-being of individuals, social cohesion, and our unity as a company—all of these factors contribute to our success. And we must take care to preserve them. Sustainability is therefore a central component of our corporate strategy. We not only meet legal requirements but also set ambitious goals for ourselves.
What We Want to Achieve
As a group of companies with strong brands, our goal is to actively drive innovation and change. We are continuously refining our photo products and processes. Our aspiration is to build a company that will endure for generations—for the benefit of our customers, our employees, our partners, and society as a whole.
This is how we give memories a future.
Commitment to Social Responsibility
We are convinced that social responsibility is a key factor in the long-term success of our company. In this context, we have developed a mission statement for the CEWE Group that articulates our values and principles. In addition, the CEWE Group has defined the protection of end customers’ personal data as a strategic goal and has enshrined it as a binding commitment in the Customer Charter.
CEWE Supplier Code and Code of Conduct
Honest and fair conduct is also important to us in our dealings with our business partners. In our CEWE Supplier Code of Conduct, we therefore set forth minimum standards that must be observed in business transactions within the framework of our collaboration. These principles cover anti-discrimination, compliance with occupational health and safety standards, the prohibition of forced and child labor, the right to fair compensation, as well as compliance with applicable environmental standards and product safety. The Supplier Code of Conduct is a prerequisite for awarding contracts to external service providers. Regular audits are conducted, particularly in critical regions, to verify compliance with the Supplier Code of Conduct.
Further information on our Supplier Code can also be found in our Annual Report starting on page 188.
Code of Conduct (BME)
In early 2010, CEWE joined the “Code of Conduct” compliance initiative of the Federal Association for Materials Management and Purchasing (BME). In addition to addressing ethical concerns, the Code of Conduct establishes a robust and practical minimum standard.
The BME Code of Conduct encompasses the fundamental rules and principles for combating corruption, anti-competitive agreements, child labor and forced labor, adherence to ethical principles in dealings with suppliers (compliance), respect for human rights, and environmental and health protection.
Further information on the BME Code of Conduct and the current BME certificate for 2025.