Modern Slavery Act Statement
For the financial year ended 30 June 2025

INTRODUCTION

KWS UK LIMITED is part of the KWS Group, a value-oriented global plant breeding company with a long heritage, true to our corporate vision of "Seeding the future for generations". Reliability, foresight, independence, and closeness form a stable set of values, which are implemented in our business strategy and along the entire supply chain. We live in the community together with our employees, and with farmers and trade partners. We are committed to working with suppliers operating in a manner that is consistent with our values and ethical principles, including respect for human rights and, specifically, combating slavery and human trafficking.

This statement relates to KWS UK LIMITED, a company based in the UK.

Our commitment and guiding principles

Fairness and respectful relationships are of the highest priority for us. We act respectfully, with integrity and objectivity and in a fair manner in our relations with colleagues, business partners and third parties.
Respecting international human rights norms and standards is a crucial principle of the KWS Group. We comply with international standards and local laws related to working time and conditions, freedom of association and collective bargaining, the right to health and occupational safety as well we fundamentally respect the principles of equal treatment, non-discrimination and diversity. We do not tolerate any type of child labour and respect the rules of protection of young workers. We do not tolerate forced labour and modern slavery of any kind, human trafficking and cruel. inhuman or degrading treatment.

We are also committed to working with suppliers operating in a manner that is consistent with our values and ethical principles, including respect for human rights. We expect our suppliers to respect and comply with all internationally recognized human rights norms.

ORGANISATION’S STRUCTURE

KWS UK LIMITED is a subsidiary company within an international group, which is wholly owned by KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA, a German listed company. For more information: https://www.kws.com/gb/en/about-us/company/

Headquartered in Einbeck, Germany, KWS Group, with presence in more than 70 countries, has capacity to support our clients around the world. The KWS Group has approximately 4,700 employees worldwide, including approx. 1,900 staff working in seed research and development.

The operating business of the KWS Group is managed in the four product segments of corn, sugar beet, cereals and vegetables. KWS Group's value chain extends from variety distribution to multiplication and production of these varieties, to marketing and distribution to farmers around the world. Our global expertise and plant development services all work together to move potential new products through the development journey smoothly and cost-effectively.

KWS UK LIMITED has its registered office at 56 Church Street, Thriplow, Royston, Hertfordshire, SG8 7RE and our financial year is 1 July to 30 June.

The aim of our breeding work is to offer all farmers varieties and solutions targeted to their needs. KWS Group operates at various locations and works with a large number of suppliers globally. Our business partners are active in multiple sectors including agriculture, chemicals, logistics, farming supplies and packaging. KWS UK Limited main procurement categories are seeds (wheat, rye, barley and oat), logistics services and farming supplies.

The overwhelming majority of KWS Group's direct suppliers are based in the EU, notably Germany, France and Italy. Another significant share of sourcing activities takes place in the US and Turkey, where KWS Group also has operations.

KWS UK Limited sources most products domestically. Further top sourcing countries by spend in FY 2024/2025 were Germany, France, Ireland and Finland.

During FY 2024/2025, KWS UK Limited relevant sourcing activities were supported centrally via Expert Hub Procurement at KWS in Berlin. The role of the Expert Hub Procurement was to manage supplier relationships across procurement categories, negotiate contracts and ensure adherence to the Code of Business Ethics for Suppliers, as well as other procurement guidelines and applicable regulations.

OUR POLICIES ON SLAVERY AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING

As stated before, KWS Group and particularly its subsidiary KWS UK LIMITED does not tolerate torture, cruel, inhuman degrading treatment, slavery or servitude. In accordance with the ILO Conventions 29 and 105 we strictly prohibit forced labour, modern slavery or human trafficking in our own operations and in our supply chains or in any part of our business.

Our commitment is reflected in our Code of Business Ethics that applies to all employees and directors, as well as associates of the KWS Group worldwide.

The same principles are transported to KWS Group Code of Business Ethics for Suppliers. We require our suppliers to apply the same requirements, in line with our expectation set out in the Code of Business Ethics for Suppliers.

Additionally, KWS Group Human Rights Policy elaborates further on the human rights commitment of the KWS Code of Business Ethics, including as one of our human rights priority areas the cero tolerance with forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking.

All our employees are required to read and understand these Codes, policies and any other internal rules. Employees are expected to report concerns, and management is expected to act upon them. Employees who fail to follow the company policies and internal guidelines on ethical conduct are subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination.

We do not tolerate violations of our Code of Business Ethics and other internal rules. Therefore, appropriate disciplinary measures will be taken against who violates our Code of Business Ethics, internal rules and/or applicable laws and regulations. Anyone can report suspected rule violations or misconduct in good faith via KWS Group Compliance Reporting Channels (including the external KWS Group Compliance Reporting Platform) and will not be subject to retaliation or suffer discrimination for having made the report. Anyone can report compliance concerns - you can check our guide on "Essentials about reporting Compliance concerns" as published in KWS Group website.

SUPPLIER ADHERENCE TO OUR VALUES AND OTHER MEASURES

We expect our suppliers and service providers to comply with all applicable UK laws, rules and regulations and internationally recognized standards relating to human rights, working conditions, ethical business practices and other relevant social and environmental requirements.

The framework for this is our Code of Business Ethics for Suppliers which has been created for the purpose of ensuring that our suppliers adhere to high standards in working conditions, ethical and legal business practices, and social and environmental requirements.

KWS strongly encourages the suppliers to plan, implement, monitor, and check its human rights due diligence activities and measures regularly. The suppliers are encouraged to carry out risk management activities that are appropriate for its business activities and implement management systems, processes, and guidelines as necessary to comply with the expectations of KWS Code of Business Ethics for Suppliers.

KWS encourages suppliers to establish its own grievance or complaint mechanism where its employees and/or partners can report concerns or illegal activities related to human rights and environmental rights violations.

RISK ASSESSMENT WITHIN OUR DUE DILIGENCE PROCESSES FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

As part of our commitment to address modern slavery risks, KWS Group has established a group-wide human rights due diligence management system.

Annually KWS Group is conducting risk-based human rights analysis in KWS Group own operations and supply chain. To manage human rights risks associated with our suppliers, KWS Group has also established on a Group level a Procurement Risk function which works in close collaboration with Group Risk and Sustainability and the Human Rights Officer.

We assess child labour and modern slavery risks linked to our operations and our suppliers through a variety of tools and resources, including databases and reports provided by international organizations, initiatives and civil society and risk monitoring solutions. The group-wide risk assessment to determine priority business areas, countries and procurement categories takes place at least annually. In countries identified as high-risk, KWS Group conducts on-site audits of selected high-risk suppliers. If non­conformances with the KWS Code of Business Ethics for Suppliers are identified, the supplier is required to implement corrective actions. In lower-risk contexts, KWS also uses self-assessment questionnaires to verify supplier adherence to good practice.

For more information on KWS Group due diligence process and results, please refer to the KWS Group Annual Report 2024/2025.

CONTINOUS IMPROVEMENT

We are fully committed to protect human rights and improve our efforts towards this commitment.

During FY24-25 KWS Group has issued a new version of its Code of Business Ethics and the Code of Business Ethics for Suppliers which all KWS Group subsidiaries, including KWS UK limited, are adhered to. Both documents deepen and strengthen our existing previous commitments around the protection of human rights.
Additionally, during FY24-25, KWS Group has issued a new policy on Humans Rights: KWS Group Human Rights Policy as well. It aims at ensuring respect of human rights at the KWS Group and across our value chain, in accordance with respective internationally recognized human rights standards including but not limited to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP).

The KWS Group Procurement Guideline, which defines the fundamental principles in the procurement process, and a largely centralized process landscape form the basis of ensuring that our purchasing transactions worldwide can be conducted in accordance with uniform rules. Purchase agreements relating to the supply of goods and services are concluded based on standardized templates and specify the general conditions, including the importance of the Code of Business Ethics for Suppliers. A central Seed Purchasing Policy stipulates that these standards are also to be applied to agreements concluded with external seed multiplication partners.

KWS Group has centralized its supplier data management over the past years. In the FY2023/2024 financial year, compliance with the German Supply Chain Act (LkSG) relevant issues was checked during on-site visits to 13 suppliers. In FY2024/2025, KWS Group conducted further risk-oriented audits at our suppliers and obtained self-disclosures from suppliers based on questionnaires. In addition, we are continuously working to expand our automated management of procurement risks.

KWS UK Limited is currently focused on implementing procedures to make sure that all our suppliers are signing the KWS Group Code of Business Ethics for Suppliers and/or this Code is introduced in the contracts with them.
If at any point a supplier does not meet its obligations, and/or we suspect or know of slave labour and human trafficking issues, it could lead KWS to immediately discontinue the use of that supplier.

This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 30 June 2025.

Signed by: ROBERT HUNT

For and on behalf of KWS UK LIMITED