Due diligence policy

Together with our stakeholders and our business partners, we strive to make our business more and more sustainable on a daily basis. We do this with the aim of respecting and strengthening social and environmental standards throughout the whole supply chain.

Primarily, we focus on the respect of human rights and on the mitigation of environmental risks along the supply chains of Lidl brand products, which make up the majority of our assortment and on which we can exert the greatest influence throughout the production chain.

We systematically analyse the potential risks arising from violations of human rights and from environmental impacts involved in the production of our own private label products. The results are used to define concrete and effective measures that can counteract, avoid and mitigate the impacts deriving from our activity.

After identifying the specific risks for raw materials, in collaboration with our local suppliers and stakeholders, we activate an accurate evaluation process, which translates into real binding position papers, available on our website. The position papers are continuously updated and define the objective and measures with which we intend to avoid and mitigate the specific risks for each raw material.

Also in the context of non-food purchases, we face the identified risks. For example, in the textile sector, we joined the Detox programme promoted by Greenpeace in 2014. Furthermore, we employ indipendent annual social audits for all manufacturers of own-brand items in non-European producing countries. Lidl’s broader commitment in the non-food sector includes various projects and initiatives and can be viewed here.

For Lidl, the application of due diligence is understood as a dynamic process, subject to continuous revisions and updates and the guarantee of transparency is fundamental for Lidl. In this regard, we will continue to work on the development of our systems, with particular reference to the following areas:

• Analysis of social impact on human rights for those supply chains most at risk;

• Programs to support small farmers along the most endangered supply chains;

• Periodic reports on the due diligence process.

As a company active in an international market we work in close collaboration with suppliers from all over the world. We consistently pursue our demand for transparency in our supplier relationships in our actions. For this reason, we provide extensive information about our suppliers in the nonfood sector.