Version and legal reference: DR (EU) 2026/1560 (OJ L, 2026/1560, 21.9.2026)
Appendix A
Defined terms
This appendix is an integral part of this Standard.
| Defined term | Definition | ||||||
| Accident prevention | Accident prevention refers to the policies and initiatives to prevent workplace accidents and ensure the safety and well-being of employees. This not only includes measures to reduce physical risks but also involves fostering a safe and inclusive work environment free from discrimination and harassment. | ||||||
| Actions | Actions refer to (i) actions and actions plans (including transition plans) that are undertaken to ensure that the undertaking delivers against targets set and through which the undertaking seeks to address material impacts, risks and opportunities; and (ii) decisions to support these with financial, human or technological resources. Actions can be individual actions, taken only by the undertaking, or collective actions, that is, collaborative efforts by a group of stakeholders – such as undertakings, governments, civil society, or communities – to address shared challenges or achieve common goals, particularly when those goals cannot be effectively achieved by any single actor working alone. | ||||||
| Affected community | People or group(s) living or working in the same geographical area that have been or may be affected by a reporting undertaking’s operations or through its upstream and downstream value chain. Affected communities can range from those living adjacent to the undertaking’s operations (local communities) to those living at a distance. Affected communities include actually and potentially affected indigenous peoples. | ||||||
| Biodiversity-sensitive Area (BSA) | Biodiversity-sensitive areas are:
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| Bribery | Dishonestly persuading someone to act in your favour by giving them a gift of money or another inducement. | ||||||
| Child Labour | Work that deprives children of their childhood, potential, and dignity and harms their physical and mental development. It refers to work that either:
A child is defined as a person under the age of 18. Whether or not particular forms of ‘work’ can be called ‘child labour’ depends on the child’s age, the type and hours of work performed and the conditions under which it is performed. The answer varies from country to country, as well as among sectors within countries. The minimum age of work should not be less than the minimum age of completion of compulsory schooling, and, in any case, should not be less than 15 years according to International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No 138 on Minimum Age. Exceptions can occur in certain countries where economies and educational facilities are insufficiently developed, and a minimum age of 14 years applies. These countries of exception are specified by the ILO in response to a special application by the country concerned and in consultation with representative organisations of employers and workers. National laws may permit the employment of persons aged 13 to 15 in light work as long as it is not likely to be harmful to their health or development and does not prejudice their attendance at school or participation in vocational or training programmes. The minimum age for admission into work, which by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out is likely to jeopardise the health, safety or morals of young persons, shall not be less than 18 years. | ||||||
| Circular economy principles | The circular economy principles are:
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| Classified information | As defined in Article 2, point (7), of Regulation (EU) 2023/2418 of the European Parliament and of the Council (Regulation (EU) 2023/2418 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 October 2023 on establishing an instrument for the reinforcement of the European defence industry through common procurement (EDIRPA) (OJ L, 2023/2418, 26.10.2023, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/2418/oj).1), classified information means information or material, in any form, the unauthorised disclosure of which could cause varying degrees of prejudice to the interests of the Union, or of one or more of the Member States, and which bears an EU classification marking or a corresponding classification marking, as established in the Agreement between the Member States of the European Union, meeting within the Council, regarding the protection of classified information exchanged in the interests of the European Union. | ||||||
| Climate change adaptation | The process of adjustment to actual and expected climate change and its impacts. | ||||||
| Climate change mitigation | The process of reducing GHG emissions and holding the increase in the global average temperature to 1,5 °C above pre-industrial levels, in line with the Paris Agreement. | ||||||
| Collective bargaining | All negotiations which take place between an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations, on the one hand, and one or more trade unions or, in their absence, the representatives of the workers duly elected and authorised by them in accordance with national laws and regulations, on the other, for: (i) determining working conditions and terms of employment; or (ii) regulating relations between employers and workers; and/or (iii) regulating relations between employers or their organisations and a workers’ organisation or workers’ organisations. | ||||||
| Consumers | Individuals who acquire, consume or use goods and services for personal use, either for themselves or for others, and not for resale, commercial or trade, business, craft or profession purposes. | ||||||
| Corruption | Abuse of entrusted power for private gain, which can be instigated by individuals or organisations. It includes practices such as facilitation payments, fraud, extortion, collusion, and money laundering. It also includes an offer or receipt of any gift, loan, fee, reward, or other advantage to or from any person as an inducement to do something that is dishonest, illegal, or a breach of trust in the conduct of the undertaking’s business. This can include cash or in-kind benefits, such as free goods, gifts, and holidays, or special personal services provided for the purpose of an improper advantage, or that can result in moral pressure to receive such an advantage. | ||||||
| Discrimination | Discrimination can occur directly or indirectly. Direct discrimination occurs when an individual is treated less favourably by comparison to how others, who are in a similar situation have been or would be treated, and the reason for this is a particular characteristic they hold, which falls under a ‘protected ground’. Indirect discrimination occurs when an apparently neutral rule disadvantages a person or a group sharing the same characteristics. It must be shown that a group is disadvantaged by a decision when compared to a comparator group. | ||||||
| Employee | An individual who is in an employment relationship with the undertaking according to national law or practice. | ||||||
| End-users | Individuals who ultimately use or are intended to ultimately use a particular product or service. | ||||||
| Forced Labour | All work or service which is exacted from any person under the threat of penalty and for which the person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily. The term encompasses all situations in which persons are coerced by any means to perform work and includes both traditional ‘slave-like’ practices and contemporary forms of coercion where labour exploitation is involved, which may include human trafficking and modern slavery. | ||||||
| Governance | The governance is the system of rules, practices and processes by which an undertaking is directed and controlled. | ||||||
| Greenhouse Gases (GHG) | The gases listed in Part 2 of Annex V to Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council (Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 on the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action, amending Regulations (EC) No 663/2009 and (EC) No 715/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Directives 94/22/EC, 98/70/EC, 2009/31/EC, 2009/73/EC, 2010/31/EU, 2012/27/EU and 2013/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, Council Directives 2009/119/EC and (EU) 2015/652 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 525/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 328, 21.12.2018, p. 1, ELI: http:/ | ||||||
| Gross greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions | Gross greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are total GHG emissions released by the undertaking into the atmosphere, without considering any deductions for carbon removals or other adjustments. | ||||||
| Hazardous waste | Waste which displays one or more of the hazardous properties listed in Annex III of Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste and repealing certain Directives (OJ L 312, 22.11.2008, p. 3, ELI: http:/ | ||||||
| Human trafficking | The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or reception of persons, including the exchange or transfer of control over those persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. | ||||||
| Incident | A legal action or complaint registered with the undertaking or competent authorities through a formal process, or an instance of non-compliance identified by the undertaking through established procedures. Established procedures to identify instances of non-compliance can include management system audits, formal monitoring programs, or grievance mechanisms. | ||||||
| Location-based Scope 2 emissions | Emissions from electricity, heat, steam and cooling purchased or acquired and consumed by the reporting undertaking, calculated using the location-based ‘allocating’ method, which allocates generator emissions to end-users. They reflect the average emissions intensity of grids on which the energy consumption occurs and uses mostly grid-average emission factor data. Typical sources of Scope 2 emissions relate to any equipment that consumes electricity (electrical engines, lights, buildings, etc.), heat (heating in industrial processes, buildings, etc.), steam (industrial processes) and cooling (industrial processes, buildings, etc.). | ||||||
| Near (Biodiversity-Sensitive Area) | Near, in the context of B5 – Biodiversity, shall refer to a site that is (partially) overlapping or adjacent to a biodiversity-sensitive area. If the undertakings’s site is outside but not adjacent to a biodiversity-sensitive area the undertaking may also determine if it is near such an area by defining the site’s area of influence. The area of influence can be determined by applying buffer distances specific to the undertaking’s type of activity following regulatory requirements, science-based recommendations and industry best practice. | ||||||
| Own workforce/own workers | Employees who are in an employment relationship with the undertaking (‘employees’) and non-employees who are either individual contractors supplying labour to the undertaking (‘self-employed people’) or people provided by undertakings primarily engaged in ‘employment activities’ (NACE Code O78). | ||||||
| Pay | The ordinary basic or minimum wage or salary and any other remuneration, whether in cash or in kind which the worker receives directly or indirectly (‘complementary or variable components’), in respect of his/her employment from his/her employer. ‘Pay level’ means gross annual pay and the corresponding gross hourly pay. | ||||||
| Policy (or policies) | A set or framework of general objectives and management principles that the undertaking uses for decision-making. A policy implements the undertaking’s strategy or management decisions related to a sustainability issue. Each policy is under the responsibility of defined person(s), specifies its perimeter of application, and includes one or more objectives (linked when applicable to measurable targets). A policy is implemented through actions or action plans. | ||||||
| Practices | One or more initiatives related to sustainability issues that the unertaking puts in place to transition towards a more sustainable economy. A set of practices often replaces policies for smaller undertakings. | ||||||
| Recordable work-related accident | A work-related accident is a discrete occurrence in the course of work which leads to physical or mental harm. Such an occurrence is recordable if it results in death or more than three days of absence from work. | ||||||
| Recordable work-related ill health | A case of work-related ill health is any illness caused or made worse by workplace factors or caused primarily by exposure at work to a physical, organisational, chemical or biological risk factor or to a combination of these factors. Such a case is recordable if it results in death or absence from work. | ||||||
| Recycling | Any recovery operation by which waste materials are reprocessed into products, materials or substances whether for the original or other purposes. It includes the reprocessing of organic material but does not include energy recovery and the reprocessing into materials that are to be used as fuels or for backfilling operations (see Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and the Council). | ||||||
| Renewable Energy | Energy from renewable non-fossil sources, namely wind, solar (solar thermal and solar photovoltaic) and geothermal energy, ambient energy, tide, wave and other ocean energy, hydropower, biomass, landfill gas, sewage treatment plant gas, and biogas (Article 2(1) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (OJ L 328, 21.12.2018, p. 82, ELI: http:/ | ||||||
| Reuse (waste) | Any operation by which products or components of products that are not waste are used again for the same purpose for which they were conceived. This may involve cleaning or small adjustments, so it is ready for the next use without significant pre-processing. | ||||||
| Scope 1 GHG emissions | Direct GHG emissions from sources that are owned or controlled by the undertaking. | ||||||
| Scope 2 GHG emissions (or scope 2 emissions) | Indirect emissions are a consequence of the operations of the undertaking but occur at sources owned or controlled by another undertaking. Scope 2 GHG emissions are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased or acquired electricity, steam and heat, or cooling consumed by the undertaking. | ||||||
| Scope 3 GHG emissions (or scope 3 emissions) | All indirect GHG emissions (not included in Scope 2 GHG emissions) that occur in the value chain of the reporting undertaking, including both upstream and downstream emissions. Scope 3 GHG emissions can be broken down into Scope 3 categories. | ||||||
| Site (or sites) | In the context of the voluntary standard, a site is a physical location where the undertaking operates. Examples include factories, farms, mines, offices or service centres, infrastructure or facilities. Sites can be also shared with other organisations (e.g. the undertaking may share office premises with other undertakings). | ||||||
| Sustainability related impact (or impact) | The effect the undertaking has or could have on the environment and people, including effects on their human rights, connected with its own operations and upstream and downstream value chain, including through its products and services, as well as through its business relationships. The impacts can be actual or potential, negative or positive, intended or unintended, and reversible or irreversible. They can arise over the short, medium, or long term. Impacts indicate the undertaking’s contribution, negative or positive, to sustainable development. | ||||||
| Targets | Measurable, outcome-oriented and time-bound goals that the undertaking aims to achieve in relation to sustainability issues. They may be set voluntarily by the undertaking or derive from legal requirements on the undertaking. A target can encompass not only improvements but also the maintenance of achieved results or the preservation of consistent performance levels. | ||||||
| Time horizons | When preparing its sustainability report, the undertaking shall adopt the following time horizons:
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| Trade secret | As defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2016/943 (Trade Secrets Directive (Directive (EU) 2016/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure (OJ L 157, 15.6.2016, p. 1, ELI: http:/
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| Training | Initiatives put in place by the undertaking aimed at the maintenance and/or improvement of skills and knowledge of its own workforce. It can include different methodologies, such as on-site training, and online training. | ||||||
| Value Chain | The full range of activities, resources and relationships related to the undertaking’s business model and the external environment in which it operates. A value chain encompasses the activities, resources and relationships the undertaking uses and relies on to create its products or services from conception to delivery, consumption and end-of-life. Relevant activities, resources and relationships include: (a) those in the undertaking’s own operations, such as human resources; (b) those along its supply, marketing and distribution channels, such as materials and service sourcing and product and service sale and delivery; and (c) the financing, geographical, geopolitical and regulatory environments in which the undertaking operates. Value chain includes actors upstream and downstream from the undertaking. Actors upstream from the undertaking (e.g. suppliers) provide products or services that are used in the development of the undertaking’s products or services. Entities downstream from the undertaking (e.g. distributors, customers) receive products or services from the undertaking. | ||||||
| Wage | Gross wage, excluding variable components such as overtime and incentive pay, and excluding allowances unless they are guaranteed. | ||||||
| Waste | Any substance or object which the holder discards, intends to discard, or is required to discard (see Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on waste). | ||||||
| Water consumption | The amount of water drawn into the boundaries of the undertaking and not discharged back to the water environment or a third party over the course of the reporting period. | ||||||
| Water discharge | The sum of effluents and other water leaving the boundaries of the undertaking and released to surface water, groundwater, or third parties over the course of the reporting period. | ||||||
| Water stress | The ability, or lack thereof, to meet the human and ecological demand for water. Water stress is an inclusive concept that considers several physical aspects related to water resources, including water availability, water quality, and the accessibility of water (i.e. whether people are able to make use of physically available water supplies), which is often a function of the sufficiency of infrastructure and the affordability of water, among other things. | ||||||
| Water withdrawal | The sum of all water drawn into the boundaries of the undertaking from all sources for any use over the course of the reporting period. | ||||||
| Worker in the value chain | An individual performing work in the value chain of the undertaking, regardless of the existence or nature of any contractual relationship with the undertaking. In the voluntary standard, the scope of workers in the value chain include all workers in the undertaking’s upstream and downstream value chain who are or can be materially impacted by the undertaking. This includes impacts that are connected to the undertaking’s own operations, and value chain, including through its products or services, as well as through its business relationships. This includes all workers who are not in the scope of ‘Own Workforce’ (‘Own Workforce’ includes people who are in an employment relationship with the undertaking (‘employees’) and non-employees who are either individual contractors supplying labour to the undertaking (‘self-employed people’) or people provided by undertakings primarily engaged in employment activities (NACE Code O78). | ||||||
| (1) Regulation (EU) 2023/2418 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 October 2023 on establishing an instrument for the reinforcement of the European defence industry through common procurement (EDIRPA) (OJ L, 2023/2418, 26.10.2023, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/2418/oj). (2) Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 on the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action, amending Regulations (EC) No 663/2009 and (EC) No 715/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Directives 94/22/EC, 98/70/EC, 2009/31/EC, 2009/73/EC, 2010/31/EU, 2012/27/EU and 2013/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, Council Directives 2009/119/EC and (EU) 2015/652 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 525/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 328, 21.12.2018, p. 1, ELI: http:/ (3) Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste and repealing certain Directives (OJ L 312, 22.11.2008, p. 3, ELI: http:/ (4) Article 2(1) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (OJ L 328, 21.12.2018, p. 82, ELI: http:/ (5) Directive (EU) 2016/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure (OJ L 157, 15.6.2016, p. 1, ELI: http:/ | |||||||