Soil & groundwater protection

There was no major soil or groundwater contamination or pollution within UCB’s current, global network of industrial sites. Historical pollution on former UCB sites cannot be excluded and has been appropriately provisioned for.

Before being a pure biopharmaceutical company, UCB was since 1928 a diversified chemical group. Indeed UCB previously owned and operated chemical industrial sites, which have since been divested. As many of the former UCB industrial sites have a long history of chemical production, it cannot be excluded that soil or groundwater contamination has occurred.

In connection with the sale of its Surface Specialty business activities, UCB agreed with the respective purchasers to retain specific historical environmental liabilities, in each case subject to certain limitation periods.

Some of the former sites of UCB are currently subject to remediation and other sites could be subject to remediation. UCB accepts this legacy and fully complies with local environmental regulations and the implement remedial actions in accordance with the “Best Available Technology Not Entailing Excessive Cost” (BATNEEC) principle.