Competence Profile, Diversity Concept and Objectives for the Composition of the Supervisory Board

• Composition criteria: professional and personal qualifications, diversity, and independence

One important concern of good corporate governance is to ensure that seats on the responsible corporate bodies, the Board of Executive Directors and the Supervisory Board, are appropriately filled. On December 21, 2017, the Supervisory Board therefore agreed on objectives for the composition, the competence profile and the diversity concept of the Supervisory Board in accordance with section 5.4.1 of the German Corporate Governance Code and section 289f(2) no. 6 of the German Commercial Code (HGB). The guiding principle for the composition of the Supervisory Board is to ensure qualified supervision and guidance for the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE. Candidates shall be proposed to the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting for election to the Supervisory Board who can, based on their professional expertise and experience, integrity, commitment, independence and character, successfully perform the work of a supervisory board member at an international chemical company.

Competence profile

The following requirements and objectives are considered essential to the composition of the Supervisory Board as a collective body:

• Leadership experience in managing companies, associations and networks
• Members’ collective knowledge of the chemical sector and the related value chains
• Appropriate knowledge within the body as a whole of finance, accounting, financial reporting, law and compliance as well as one independent member with accounting and auditing expertise (“financial expert”) within the meaning of section 100(5) of the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG)
• At least one member with in-depth experience in digitalization, information technology, business models and start-ups
• At least one member with in-depth experience in human resources, corporate governance, communications and the media
• Specialist knowledge and experience in sectors outside of the chemical industry

Diversity concept

The Supervisory Board strives to achieve a reasonable level of diversity with respect to character, gender, international representation, professional background, specialist knowledge and experience as well as age distribution, and takes the following composition criteria into account:

• At least 30% women and 30% men
• At least 30% of members have international experience based on their background or professional experience
• At least 50% of members have different educational backgrounds and professional experience
• At least 30% under the age of 60

Further composition objectives

• Character and integrity: All members of the Supervisory Board must be personally reliable and have the knowledge and experience required to diligently and independently perform the work of a supervisory board member.
• Availability: Each member of the Supervisory Board ensures that they invest the time needed to properly perform their role as a member of the Supervisory Board of BASF SE. The statutory limits on appointments to governing bodies and the recommendations of the German Corporate Governance Code must be complied with and the demands of the capital market given appropriate consideration when accepting further appointments.
• Age limit and period of membership: Persons who have reached the age of 72 on the day of election by the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting should generally not be nominated for election. Membership on the Supervisory Board should generally not exceed 15 years; this corresponds to three regular statutory periods in office.
• Independence: All Supervisory Board members should be independent within the meaning of the criteria specified in the German Corporate Governance Code. This means that they may not have a personal or business relationship with BASF, its governing bodies, a controlling shareholder or a company affiliated with this controlling shareholder that may cause a substantial and not merely temporary conflict of interest. The Supervisory Board has additionally defined the following principles to clarify the meaning of independence: The independence of employee representatives is not compromised by their role as an employee representative or employment by BASF SE or a Group company. Prior membership of the Board of Executive Directors does not preclude independence following the expiry of the statutory cooling-off period of two years. Members who have sat on the Supervisory Board for more than 15 years are not considered independent. Based on these criteria, the Supervisory Board should comprise at least 10 independent members; this also means that of the total of six shareholder representatives, at least four must be independent.

Status of implementation

According to the Supervisory Board’s own assessment, its current composition already meets nearly all of the requirements of the competence profile. Only the competence area of digitalization is not yet completely covered. The Supervisory Board intends to meet the competence profile in full with its nominations for election to the Supervisory Board in 2019.

According to the Supervisory Board’s assessment, 10 of the 12 current members are considered independent based on the above criteria. Two members of the Supervisory Board no longer meet the independence criteria as they have been members of the Supervisory Board since May 1998 and May 2003. These two members will not be proposed for reelection in the regular election of the Supervisory Board at the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting on May 3, 2019, and will retire from the Supervisory Board.