Corporate Governance Statement

The German Accounting Law Modernization Act of May 28, 2009, added a new section 289a to the German Commercial Code requiring listed stock corporations to publish a corporate governance statement either as part of their annual report or on their Web site. The corporate governance statement must include the declaration pursuant to the German Stock Corporation Act, section 161; relevant details of practices in corporate governance that the company applies beyond the requirements of the law, and information on how the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board work, who serves on which committees, and how the committees work.