Independent Practitioner’s Report

Independent Practitioner’s Report on a Limited Assurance Engagement on Non-financial Reporting

To United Internet AG, Montabaur

Not subject to our assurance engagement are the external sources of documentation or expert opinions mentioned in the Separate Non-financial Group Report.

Responsibility of the Executive Directors

The executive directors of the Company are responsible for the preparation of the Separate Non-financial Group Report in accordance with §§ (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 there-under, 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 “EU-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 control 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 “EU-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.

Audit Firm’s Independence and Quality Management

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 Management 1 published by the Institut der Wirtschaftsprüfer (Institute of Public Auditors in Germany; IDW): Requirements to quality management for audit firms (IDW Qualitätsmanagementstandard 1: Anforderungen an das Qualitätsmanagement in der Wirtschaftsprüferpraxis - IDW QMS 1 (09.2022)), which requires the audit firm to design, implement and operate a system of quality management that complies with the applicable legal requirements and professional standards.

Responsibility of the Assurance Practitioner

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, 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 Dele-gated Acts issued thereunder as well as the interpretation by the executive directors disclosed in section “EU-Taxonomy” of the Separate Non-financial Group Report.

In a limited assurance engagement the procedures performed are less extensive than in a reason-able 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:

•   Gain an understanding of the structure of the Group’s sustainability organization and stakeholder engagement


•   Inquiries of the executive directors and relevant employees involved in the preparation of the Separate Non-financial Group Report about the preparation process, about the internal control system relating to this process and about disclosures in the Separate Non-financial Group Re-port


•   Identification of likely risks of material misstatement in the Separate Non-financial Group Report


•   Analytical procedures on selected disclosures in the Separate Non-financial Group Report


•   Reconciliation of selected disclosures with the corresponding data in the consolidated financial statements and group management report


•   Evaluation of CO₂ compensation certificates exclusively with regard to their existence, but not with regard to their impact


•   Evaluation of the presentation of the Separate Non-financial Group Report


•   Evaluation of the process to identify taxonomy-eligible and taxonomy-aligned economic activities and the corresponding disclosures in the Separate Non-financial Group Report

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.

Assurance Opinion

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 to 31 December 2023 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 “EU-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.

Restriction of Use

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.

Düsseldorf, 19 March 2024

PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH
Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft

Matthias Mühlenfeld         ppa. Thomas Groth
Wirtschaftsprüfer [German public auditor]