Conseil d'Administration

The governance structure is headed by the "Conseil d'Administration" (Supervisory Board) which in turn has appointed further committees to enable it to run the business more efficiently.

The Board's role is defined as being of a stewardship nature, providing the framework for the operations of the Group Executive Committee's activities and another level of review.

The Board handles the following main topics as part of its terms of reference:

• Discussion and approval of the Group strategy;
• Monitoring of the Group's performance;
• Budget review and approval;
• Definition and supervision of the internal procedures, notably in terms of approvals and signatures;
• Review of the internal audit work, notably regarding the procedures of financial information;
• Settlement of accounts.

Directors have previously been elected for terms of 6 years. However, in order to bring the company more into line with French guidelines and wider corporate governance practice, the next AGM will propose that this is reduced to 4 years. The current members of the Board have been selected due to their knowledge and experience of the business, in order to work for the shareholders and the Company's benefit. None of the Board members are considered independent.

In 2007, as part of the leadership changes, Svend Aage Linde stepped down from the Supervisory Board (2 May 2007). In addition Wicher Wichers retired as leader of the Eurofins Pharma division but has chosen to remain with the Group as a non-executive member of the Supervisory Board (1st October 2007).

The Board consists of the following members:

• Dr. Gilles Martin, Chairman of the Board and CEO
• Drs. Ir. Wicher Wichers, Non-Executive Board Member
• Dr. Yves-Loïc Martin, Non-Executive Board Member
• Valerie Hanote, Non-Executive Board Member

The Board met 11 times during the year and the attendance rate was 72%.