All BASF Automotive OEM Coatings group sites ISO 14001 certified

SOUTHFIELD, Mich., February 5, 2001 - BASF's Automotive OEM Coatings business group recently achieved ISO 14001 certification for its manufacturing sites in Belvidere, N.J., Morganton, N.C., and Tultitlán, Mexico. With this achievement, all BASF Automotive OEM Coatings sites are now ISO 14001 certified, as the group's other sites in Southfield, Mich., Greenville, Ohio, and Windsor, Ontario, earned this distinction last year.

ISO 14001 is the international quality standard for management systems for maintaining and improving the quality of the environment and protecting human health. Each site passed a rigorous evaluation process covering a multitude of procedures, programs and practices within five criteria: environmental policy, planning, implementation and operation, checking and corrective action, and management review.

In addition to meeting environmental management system guidelines, all of the BASF Automotive OEM Coatings group's manufacturing operations around the world are either ISO 9000 or QS-9000 registered, assuring the same levels of quality and service anywhere in the world that BASF products are sold.

"This achievement demonstrates BASF's commitment to be first-to-market in all aspects of serving the automotive industry, including product and environmental quality" said Raimar Jahn, Group Vice President of the company's Automotive OEM Coatings business. "A firm dedication to the environment reflects BASF's ECO2 SM product development and technical consultation initiative, which requires our innovations to create benefits in economic and ecological terms."

BASF Corporation and its subsidiaries ranks as the third largest producer of chemicals and related products in the United States, Canada and Mexico, with sales of $7.2 billion in 1999. Based in Mount Olive, New Jersey, BASF Corporation is the North American affiliate of BASF AG (Ludwigshafen, Germany), which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the trading symbol "BF."

"We don't make a lot of the products you buy. We make a lot of the products you buy better.®" summarizes BASF's diverse product mix including chemicals, polymers, automotive and industrial coatings, colorants, nylon fibers and agricultural products. BASF in North America employs more than 16,000 people at more than 50 locations and has an Internet site at http://www.basf.com.

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