No. During the application stage, the Registration Certificate is sufficient, which you automatically receive by email as soon as you complete your registration on the ESG Tracker by HDB. The confirmed ESG Tracker Performance Report will only be requested at the contract stage.

This question concerns only the company's employees and not shareholders; therefore, the percentage should be calculated as the number of female employees divided by the total number of employees, based on the Annual E4 Table for the reference year.

In the percentage of female board members/shareholders of the company, the calculation is the number of female board members/shareholders divided by the total number of board members/shareholders in absolute numbers. We do not calculate the percentage of the company's shares held by women.

The percentage is calculated based on the members that make up the company and not based on the percentages that each member holds.

For example:
F -> Female
M -> Male

The supporting document attached to each question must cover the reference year, that is, the year for which the submission is made. For example, if you have created a submission for fiscal year X, the supporting document submitted must cover X.

The managerial/employee/labor force in a legal entity/company or sole proprietorship, which is in a dependent employment relationship, must be declared and recorded on Form E4 (full printout from the ERGANI system).

In the case of collaboration with independent professionals, only those who are also declared in the company's Annual Payroll Declarations (APD) are taken into account. This applies to collaborations where the employer covers a percentage of the independent professional’s social security contributions (EFKA).

In cases where this specific procedure is not followed, the employment relationship is considered to be under “Project Contracts” rather than dependent employment and is therefore not counted among the employees.

If a business did not employ any workers (whether full-time or part-time) in the previous year, it should enter “0” in the field for the number of employees and must upload Form E3 for the Reporting Fiscal Year.

Sole proprietorships owned by women that have no employees may register a percentage of 100%, as they are counted as business owners.

On Form E3, the values in the following fields/codes must be zero (0):

Table B (Business Information): Code 025, “Number of Employed Persons”, Code 026 “Number of Salaried Employees”, Code 027 “Number of Seasonal Employees”

Table Z (General Financial Information): Codes 181 / 281 / 381 / 481 / 581

In the case of certification under ISO 14064 – 1:2018, submission of the corresponding study is not required, and uploading an active certificate is sufficient.

Furthermore, if LEAF certification or another related certification exists, and if the Audit Checklist of the certification requires an annual CO2 calculation, then the submission of the corresponding study is not required. In any case, the company must submit one of the following:

• An active certification that includes the CO2 calculation in its mandatory fields.
• A CO2 footprint calculation study with a stamp and signature from an engineer.

Cloud storage services (Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, etc.) implement security policies regarding their own infrastructures, so the purchase of cloud storage services is not sufficient for a company to mark "YES" on this specific question. For a company to mark "YES" on this question, it must, for example, meet one of the following conditions:

• Active certification under ISO 27001, ISO 27701, or similar certifications
• Have developed GDPR Policies and prove it with an invoice or project contract
• Have purchased specialized software (e.g., antivirus, firewall, etc.) and prove it with the corresponding invoice that includes the reporting year.

The Code of Ethics is an organization policy that defines the principles, standards, and ethical values that the company upholds and governs the mutual Company–Employee relationship. It is a separate, distinct document that must bear the signature of the Manager/Owner of the company.

Investment in Research and Development is related to the development of new products, processes, or services, or the improvement of existing ones. Indicative eligible R&D expenses include:

• Personnel Salaries
• Operating Expenses
• Purchase/construction and use of equipment (depreciation/leases)
• Purchase and use of vehicles (depreciation/leases)
• Depreciation of expenses for the purchase of intangible assets (software, software licenses)
• Travel Expenses
• Consumables
• Fees for External Collaborators
• Operational Costs (communication, energy, maintenance, rentals, administrative expenses, insurance, etc.)
• Promotion and Communication Expenses – Marketing

To justify your response, the corresponding supporting document must be provided.

The following can be considered as acceptable supporting evidence:

• Active ISO 45001:2018 certification
• Existence of an officially contracted Safety Technician
• Approved active fire safety study
• Existence of active fire safety equipment such as fire extinguishers, fire hoses, and detectors (with the corresponding invoice)