We have performed a limited assurance engagement on the separate non-financial group report of United Internet AG, Montabaur, (hereinafter the “Company”) for the period from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022 (hereinafter the “Separate Non-financial Group Report”).
Not subject to our assurance engagement are the external sources of documentation or expert opinions mentioned in the Separate Non-financial Group Report.
The executive directors of the Company are responsible for the preparation of the Separate Non-financial Group Report §§ (Articles) 315c in conjunction with 289c to 289e HGB ("Handelsgesetzbuch": "German Commercial Code") and Article 8 of REGULATION (EU) 2020/852 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 18. June 2020 on establishing a framework to facilitate sustainable investment and amending Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 (hereinafter the "EU Taxonomy Regulation”) and the Delegated Acts adopted thereunder, as well as for making their own interpretation of the wording and terms contained in the EU Taxonomy Regulation and the Delegated Acts adopted thereunder, as set out in section The EU’s Taxonomy of the Separate Non-financial Group Report.
This responsibility includes the selection and application of appropriate non-financial reporting methods and making assumptions and estimates about individual non-financial disclosures of the Group that are reasonable in the circumstances. Furthermore, the executive directors are responsible for such internal controls as the executive directors consider necessary to enable the preparation of a Separate Non-financial Group Report that is free from material misstatement whether due to fraud or error.
The EU Taxonomy Regulation and the Delegated Acts issued thereunder contain wording and terms that are still subject to considerable interpretation uncertainties and for which clarifications have not yet been published in every case. Therefore, the executive directors have disclosed their interpretation of the EU Taxonomy Regulation and the Delegated Acts adopted thereunder in section The EU’s Taxonomy of the Separate Non-financial Group Report. They are responsible for the defensibility of this interpretation. Due to the immanent risk that indeterminate legal terms may be interpreted differently, the legal conformity of the interpretation is subject to uncertainties.
We have complied with the German professional provisions regarding independence as well as other ethical requirements.
Our audit firm applies the national legal requirements and professional standards – in particular the Professional Code for German Public Auditors and German Chartered Auditors (“Berufssatzung für Wirtschaftsprüfer und vereidigte Buchprüfer“: “BS WP/vBP”) as well as the Standard on Quality Control 1 published by the Institut der Wirtschaftsprüfer (Institute of Public Auditors in Germany; IDW): Requirements to quality control for audit firms (IDW Qualitätssicherungsstandard 1: Anforderungen an die Qualitätssicherung in der Wirtschaftsprüferpraxis - IDW QS 1) – and accordingly maintains a comprehensive system of quality control including documented policies and procedures regarding compliance with ethical requirements, professional standards and applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
Our responsibility is to express a conclusion with limited assurance on the Separate Non-financial Group Report based on our assurance engagement.
We conducted our assurance engagement in accordance with International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 (Revised): Assurance Engagements other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information, issued by the IAASB. This Standard requires that we plan and perform the assurance engagement to obtain limited assurance about whether any matters have come to our attention that cause us to believe that the Company’s Separate Non-financial Group Report, other than the external sources of documentation or expert opinions mentioned in the Separate Non-financial Group Report, are not prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with §§ 315c in conjunction with 289c to 289e HGB and the EU Taxonomy Regulation and the Delegated Acts issued thereunder as well as the interpretation by the executive directors disclosed in section The EU’s Taxonomy of the Separate Non-financial Group Report.
In a limited assurance engagement the procedures performed are less extensive than in a reasonable assurance engagement, and accordingly a substantially lower level of assurance is obtained. The selection of the assurance procedures is subject to the professional judgement of the assurance practitioner.
In the course of our assurance engagement, we have, amongst other things, performed the following assurance procedures and other activities:
In determining the disclosures in accordance with Article 8 of the EU Taxonomy Regulation, the executive directors are required to interpret undefined legal terms. Due to the immanent risk that undefined legal terms may be interpreted differently, the legal conformity of their interpretation and, accordingly, our assurance engagement thereon are subject to uncertainties.
Based on the assurance procedures performed and evidence obtained, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the Separate Non-financial Group Report of the Company for the period from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022 is not prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with §§ 315c in conjunction with 289c to 289e HGB and the EU Taxonomy Regulation and the Delegated Acts issued thereunder as well as the interpretation by the executive directors disclosed in section The EU’s Taxonomy of the Separate Non-financial Group Report.
We do not express an assurance opinion on the external sources of documentation or expert opinions mentioned in the Separate Non-financial Group Report.
We draw attention to the fact that the assurance engagement was conducted for the Company’s purposes and that the report is intended solely to inform the Company about the result of the assurance engagement. Consequently, it may not be suitable for any other purpose than the aforementioned. Accordingly, the report is not intended to be used by third parties for making (financial) decisions based on it. Our responsibility is to the Company. We do not accept any responsibility to third parties. Our assurance opinion is not modified in this respect.
Munich, 29 March 2023
PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft
Hendrik Fink Matthias Mühlenfeld Wirtschaftsprüfer Wirtschaftsprüfer [German public auditor] [German public auditor]
(1) PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH has performed a limited assurance engagement on the German version of the separate non-financial group report and issued an independent practitioner`s report in German language, which is authoritative. The following text is a translation of the independent practitioner`s report.
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