Doing what's right, every day

Ahold Delhaize Code of Ethics

Our Commitment to Ethics

At Ahold Delhaize, our shared values support an ethical culture and are the foundation of our commitment to conduct our business by doing what’s right, every day. We take a three-step approach to building an ethical culture. 

• We create clear policies and guidance on ethical issues. 
• We build awareness through training and communication. 
• We monitor compliance and ethical culture through our control framework and reporting. 

Our Code of Ethics and our global policy framework define ethical business conduct for our Brands and Associates. At least annually we review these global policies to ensure that they are relevant to our business and the risks we face. We also believe it is important to create awareness of these policies through regular training and communication on specific issues and our ethical principles. Each year, all manager level and above associates at Ahold Delhaize and our brands are assigned our Code of Ethics training. Additionally, we regularly communicate to all associates about the importance of ethical business practices that are relevant to their role.

Our global ethics team is responsible for supporting and growing an ethical culture, including our Code of Ethics, our global policy framework, and the Speak Up line. The head of global ethics and compliance is a member of the global GRC (Governance, Risk Management and Compliance) committee, which provides oversight and executive level support for our ethics and compliance activity.

 Our Code of Ethics supports this commitment by outlining four ethical principles that can be applied in our everyday work.

We respect each other

 People are our most valuable assets. We are committed to provide a safe, secure and inclusive environment where   all associates and customers are respected and appreciated.

We follow the law

We comply with applicable laws and regulations everywhere we do business and do not tolerate violations of the law.

We act ethically in all our relationships 

We act ethically in all our relationships, both within the Company and in our interactions with our customers, communities and suppliers.

We have the courage to speak up

We have the courage to speak up when misconduct or ethical violations are observed, or when there are questions regarding the interpretation or application of the Code of Ethics or other external laws and regulations and internal policies and standards.

Membership contributions

Ahold Delhaize and its brands collaborate with a number of retail sector associations and trade organizations across all operating markets. These organizations support Ahold Delhaize and its brands in their representation efforts, taking positive (societal) initiatives, defining policy positions and providing useful information to policy-makers. In 2022, total membership fees amounted to approximately EUR 3.70 million.

The contributions to such associations in the years since 2017 can be categorized as follows:

Consistent with our global anti-corruption and bribery policies,  Ahold Delhaize does not make any contributions or charitable donations that could act as means of bribery and corruption.

Largest expenditures in 2022:

Reporting misconduct or raising concerns

We encourage everyone to report misconduct or raise a concern. For more information on how to do that, click here.

For more information about our whistleblower lines, click here.

Questions?

If you want to know more about Compliance & Ethics at Ahold Delhaize please send an e-mail to: ethics@aholddelhaize.com