CHG-MERIDIAN expects its employees and business partners to report any compliance violations that they become aware of. Contact persons for such reports include immediate supervisors, senior management, the Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) as well as an external ombudsman.

Our behavior towards one another is characterised by respect, trust, and tolerance. We therefore handle all reports of possible violations as strictly confidential. We assume that our whistle-blower system will be used responsibly and with integrity.

A report will not be classified as a breach of confidence. Such reports will not result in discriminatory action against the reporting person, provided that he or she made the report in good faith regarding the accuracy of his or her statements. The whistle-blower remains anonymous at all times unless the whistle-blower expressly permits disclosure either in advance or after the fact.

The CHG-MERIDIAN ombudsman is - in addition to the Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) - the central point of contact and the anonymous authority with respect to CHG-MERIDIAN in the whistle-blower system. The law firm Walder Wyss in Basel (CH) is available as a neutral ombudsman.

Non-disclosure agreement between CHG-MERIDIAN and the ombudsman:

• The ombudsman only handles information provided by whistle-blowers who disclose their identity to the ombudsman.
• The initial grounds for suspicion and the corresponding facts will only be transmitted to CHG-MERIDIAN in an anonymised form.
• The ombudsman is expressly forbidden to disclose the identity of the whistle-blower to CHG-MERIDIAN unless the whistle-blower expressly permits disclosure either in advance or after the fact.
• The processing of information is done in accordance with the applicable data protection requirements.