Statement on Conflict Materials

Statement on: H.R. 4173 "Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act", Section 1502

"Conflict Minerals"

Dear Customers,

Thank you for your enquiry regarding our obligations under H.R. 4173 "Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act". It is our concern to pay close attention to German, European and international developments regarding ethical, social and environmental standards.

As a non-US-listed company, we do not fall within the scope of the above-mentioned law, which in principle does not provide for a special form of declaration for suppliers. The requirements under Sec. 1502 Conflict Minerals (b) (2)(B) Dodd-Frank Act are as follows: conflict minerals are necessary to the functionality or production of a product manufactured by such person. This is generally not the case with our products. In this respect, we are not subject to the disclosure and reporting requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act. We currently assume that, according to the information available to us, the material of the products supplied by us does not contain any conflict minerals/raw materials such as tin, tungsten, tantalum or gold within the meaning of the disclosure and reporting obligations under the Dodd-Frank Act. As soon as we have information to the contrary, we will notify you immediately.

Qualified and trustworthy sources or distributors are very important to us for the supply of the raw materials for our products. Our suppliers have been known to us for years and know our high quality requirements. Any small traces of conflict minerals/raw materials in the materials of the products we supply are there purely by chance. They were not intentionally added or used to fulfil a specific function in our products. This is due to the high recycling rate of metals in particular. This is often an unavoidable background contamination.

Please understand that we are unable to fill out special questionnaires due to the very large increase in the number of enquiries. However, we hope that this letter contains the information you requested and thank you for your trust and good cooperation.

Werl, 22nd December 2020