All the processes around responsible sourcing are managed by and anchored in the Salling Group's quality department, under the leadership of our director of 'Quality & Responsible Sourcing', who acts as a support function for our commercial units.

The 'Responsible Sourcing' team works systematically to map our supply chains to ensure that our Code of Conduct and policies within responsible procurement are adhered to. The Code of Conduct is a set of ethical guidelines for how an employee must be treated properly, including affecting conditions around pay, safety, the right to organize, working hours, etc. The content is based on international conventions such as the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the OECD's guidelines for multinational companies, as well as the ILO conventions.

Risk assessments are necessary to understand where and when our business activities (sourcing) have potential negative impacts on the people involved in the actual production. At the same time, it is important to look deeper into the scope of the individual negative impacts, as we want to intervene where it has the greatest significance and impact. In our risk assessments, we particularly focus on high-risk countries and industries. Basically, we use amfori's risk countries list, which is revised on an annual basis.

In addition, we regularly supplement with internal risk assessments with the aim of uncovering special challenges that often reoccur across the same industry - this could, for example, be the use of migrant workers in the fruit and vegetable industry, in European countries, or child labor in the cocoa industry, in Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

The next step after the risk assessments is to develop and implement necessary measures to minimize or completely eliminate the identified risks. As we touch many different supply chains, our Responsible Sourcing team keeps a sharp eye on widespread problems and possible solutions. In this work, we gain a lot of sparring and valuable knowledge through our memberships of various organizations that have ethical trade on the agenda. This is also instrumental in keeping us updated on relevant topics that must be taken responsibility for.

In cases where challenges of a critical nature are identified, Salling Group first of all engages in close dialogue with the involved manufacturer and the associated supplier. When the findings have been thoroughly mapped, a more detailed plan is drawn up for how to subsequently rectify the situation. It is expected of our suppliers that, in such a process, they implement the necessary measures with rapid entry into force. Initiatives that are very likely to set a precedent for how Salling Group handles similar cases in the future.

In Salling Group we aim to use a solid base of production sites, as it creates a reasonable basis for the further development of the individual production stages, both according to working conditions, but also quality and other parameters. We emphasize capacity building, as the individual producer often needs support, knowledge and practical tools in the work of creating the best framework for their employees, and thus living up to our Code of Conduct.

In order to ensure an effective implementation of our 'due diligence' procedures, it is mandatory for employees with purchasing responsibilities to participate in training courses that address Salling Group's Sustainability strategy, human rights, product risks, as well as responsible purchasing practices. The aim is to increase awareness of positive and negative consequences as a result of the individual buyer's decisions, as well as to align our work with the Code of Conduct across the organisation. The training course runs in two tracks for Nonfood and Food respectively.