On August 17, 2022, labor inspectors from the Flemish government visited the BASF Antwerp site. The subject of the research was foreign contractor employees who, through one specific subcontractor, were carrying out work on the BASF Antwerp site at that time. During this investigation, BASF was informed by the labor inspectors that the social documents of these foreign contractor employees had been falsified by the subcontractor, which amounts to illegal employment by this subcontractor. It concerned 58 workers, 52 of which with the Filipino nationality and 6 with the Romanian nationality.

BASF fully cooperated with the investigation by the inspectorate and has immediately denied this subcontractor access to its site and has ended any collaboration with that subcontractor. Following the incident, we have also implemented additional due diligence measures.

At BASF, we’re committed to respect human rights in our own operations, and we embrace our responsibility to foster respect for human rights in relationships with our business partners along the value chain. As we regard human rights due diligence a continuous task, we will be reviewing our due diligence mechanisms regularly and improve where required. We can only succeed in collaboration with our partners.