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At Lidl, we operate with a fundamental respect for the rights of the people we interact with; whether they be
our own direct employees, contract workers, or people employed throughout our supply chains. We have aligned our business policies with internationally recognised labour standards, increased the transparency of our supply chains, and taken a proactive due diligence approach to protecting the human rights of all people that we impact. We are rmly opposed to forced labour and all forms of labour exploitation.
We have been working for many years to minimise the risk of human
rights violations.
AT LIDL, WE OPERATE WITH A FUNDAMENTAL RESPECT FOR THE RIGHTS OF ALL THE PEOPLE WE INTERACT WITH.
Whistleblowing Policy
To ensure that all stakeholders can easily report non-compliance Lidl developed a Whistleblowing Policy, detailing the procedures our employees and contractors should follow if they have concerns about any wrongdoing, unlawful conduct, bribery, and nancial malpractice, dangers to the public or the environment, or possible fraud. This guarantees that any issue can be raised in con dence with assurances of anonymity, timely investigations and that appropriate remedial actions will be implemented.
Code of Conduct
Lidl’s Code of Conduct de nes the social and ecological expectations of all our direct and indirect suppliers globally; all suppliers are contractually obliged to adhere to our Code of Conduct.
We developed the Code, in line with the ILO Core Conventions, to promote the goal of improving social minimum standards practiced by its business partners in various countries.
Social Auditing Strategy
In order to monitor performance against the Code we have built risk-based Social Audit programmes across our supply chains. These are founded on either the SEDEX platform or BSCI and require high- risk suppliers to conduct independent social audits. Suppliers are expected to develop and implement corrective action plans against any areas of non-compliance. At a group level, Lidl has been a member of the BSCI for over ten years, where our non-food suppliers in externally classi ed risk countries, such as Bangladesh and China, regularly undergo a BSCI audit. Progress against these action plans are monitored by ethical trading specialists within the business.