Corporate Governance

Corporate governance describes the ways in which rights and responsibilities are distributed among the various corporate bodies according to applicable laws, rules and processes. Corporate governance also defines the decision-making systems and structure through which owners directly or indirectly control a company.

Governance Structure

The shareholders may exercise their decision-making rights in the Company at General Meetings of shareholders.

A Nomination Committee is appointed by the major shareholders in accordance with a procedure adopted by the Annual General Meeting of shareholders. One of the tasks of the Nomination Committee is to propose candidates for election to the Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting of shareholders.

The Board of Directors is ultimately responsible for the organization of Ericsson and the management of its operations. In addition to the Directors elected by the shareholders, the Board of Directors consists of employee representatives appointed by the unions.

The President and CEO, appointed by the Board of Directors, is responsible for the day to day management of Ericsson in accordance with instructions from the Board. The President and CEO is supported by the Executive Leadership Team.

The external auditor of Ericsson is elected by the General Meeting of shareholders.

Regulation and Compliance

External rules

As a Swedish public limited liability company with securities quoted on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm as well as on NASDAQ New York, Ericsson is subject to a variety of rules that affect its governance. Major external rules include:

• The Swedish Companies Act
• The Rulebook for issuers of NASDAQ OMX Stockholm
• The Swedish Corporate Governance Code (the "Code")
• NASDAQ New York Stock Market Rules, including applicable NASDAQ New York corporate governance requirements (subject to certain exemptions principally reflecting mandatory Swedish legal requirements)
• Applicable requirements of the US Securities and ExchangeCommission.

Internal rules

In addition, to ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements and the high ethical standards that we set for ourselves, Ericsson has adopted internal rules that include:

• A Code of Business Ethics
• Group Steering Documents including Group policies and directives, instructions and business processes for approval, control and risk management
• A Code of Conduct, to be applied in the product development, production, supply and support of Ericsson products and services worldwide.

The Board of Directors has also included internal rules in its work procedure.

Compliance with the Swedish Corporate Governance Code

The Code has been applied by Ericsson since July 2005. Ericsson is committed to complying with best-practice corporate governance on a global level wherever possible. This includes continued compliance with the Code. The Code can be found on the website of the Swedish Corporate Governance Board which administrates the Code (www.corporategovernanceboard.se).

Action against child sexual abuse

As one of many measures to make sure the Code is followed, Ericsson is taking action against Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) by implementing a detection tool which identifies images verified by law enforcement authorities as CSA images that are stored on and/or accessed by PCs used by Ericsson employees or consultants. In all cases where the detection tool finds CSA images associated with Ericsson’s IT resources or personnel, Ericsson will in each case comply with local rules and regulation to handle the breach of the Code.