Evaluation of the Supervisory Board

The Supervisory Board is responsible for the quality of its own performance. As such, the Supervisory Board discusses its functioning and that of its committees and members annually. For 2020, the Supervisory Board performed an internal evaluation. The evaluation process consisted of input from the Supervisory Board members on specific subjects, followed by a discussion on the input received by the Supervisory Board only in the December 2020 meeting of the Supervisory Board.

The subjects of discussion were on each members' perceived ability to exercise their role in terms of feeling safe, feeling respected and being able to contribute, on what went well in 2020 and on what could be done differently in 2021. Building on earlier evaluations, the Supervisory Board has taken its time for discussion with the Supervisory Board only by making this a recurring item on the agenda of each meeting. This has helped in the development as a Supervisory Board, where discussions are conducted in a way that ensures open communication and feedback, meaningful participation allowing for civil disagreement and critical thinking. Not only within the Supervisory Board itself, but also in the discussions with the Board of Management. The Supervisory Board feels the relationship between the Board of Management and Supervisory Board is healthy. In this regard, the Supervisory Board recognises the enormous achievements by the Board of Management in managing the company through such a complex year.

The composition of the Supervisory Board is balanced and complementary, making the way of working, its judgement and decision making powers adequate. The Supervisory Board takes due consideration of the interests of all stakeholders of the company. It is positive about the professionalism and quality of the management reports and the information provided by - and transparency of - the Board of Management which are engaging in the advice provided by the Supervisory Board. All members of the Supervisory Board have demonstrated that they have enough time to fulfil their duties as members of the Supervisory Board in an adequate manner.

There is also room for further improvement and having more market insights available for an outside view to benchmark our own internal insights. But also in relation to requesting further insight from the Board of Management in the underlying considerations of the Board of Management in presenting documentation and information to the Supervisory Board. This will allow for even more constructive discussions between the Supervisory Board and Board of Management. The outcome of the evaluation has been discussed with the Board of Management, including suggestions for agenda items for 2021 brought forward by the Supervisory Board, and will be followed up in the coming year.