Corporate Governance is aset of principles determining the conduct of governing bodies - the supervisory board and the management board - as well as the behaviour of the governingbodies' members and company's shareholders. The corporate governance principlesrelate to general aspects of company management. In Poland, the history of corporate governance principles dates back to 2001, when the Good Practices Committee was established. Also in 2001, the Polish Corporate Governance Forum was founded at the Gdańsk Institute for Market Economics. The first Polish corporate governance principles were formulated by the Good Practices Committee,including representatives of the capital market community, and presented in the document Best Practices in Public Companies 2002. The 2002 version was thenupdated and released as Good Practices 2005. In 2007, the WSE Council, atthe request of the WSE Board, adopted new corporate governance principles presented as the Best Practices for WSE Listed Companies. The new document has been in force since January1st 2008.
The introduction of the Best Practices for WSE Listed Companies in Poland does not mean that there is an absolute obligation to implement all the principles set out in the document, but the companies should operate on a "comply or explain" basis in this respect, that is they should declare which principles they intend to abideby and which ones they would like to refrain from. In the latter case, the decision must be justified. It should also be taken into consideration that non-compliance with the rules stated in Best Practices does not necessarily have to carry pejorative implications.
PGNiG SA pursues the highest standard in corporate governance. In order to achieve that, the Management Board is taking steps to determine such policies of Company operation which would fully secure interests of all stakeholders, and would guarantee clarity and transparency of the Company's actions.
