The Aventis Sustainability Report for 2003 documents Aventis'' progress in meeting the spirit and intent of the United Nations Global Compact. The report summarizes the activities of the prescription drug and human vaccine businesses of Aventis worldwide as they relate to sustainable healthcare, which the company defines as environmental, health and safety, social, ethical and economic issues of importance to its stakeholders. This report updates the information found in the Aventis Sustainability Report for 2002.

The report was developed using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) 2002 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines (see page 62 of the report for an index on the Global Reporting Initiative).

The report covers the following issues relevant to the principles of the Global Compact principles:

- Sustainability Policy (page 3)
- Vision and Strategy: Attaching Value to a Sustainable Future (page 6)
- Governance (page 10)
- Economic Performance (page 17)
- Social Performance (page 25)
- Workplace Performance (page 37)
- Workplace Data (page 42)
- Environment, Health and Safety Performance (page 47)

Page 51 of the report describes the Aventis? implementation of principle 7 of the Global Compact, which states that "businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges." The report also provides a summary of the company''s social and environmental performance (see page 63).

In 2003, PricewaterhouseCoopers reviewed Aventis data collection and reporting for the 2003 report and provides a Third-Party Verification Statement (see page 64 of the report).