Ethics and Compliance

As a business, we are committed to complying with all relevant laws and regulations while upholding the highest standards of ethics. We expect everyone who works with us, from our employees to our suppliers and contractors, to share our values and help promote a culture where people do the right thing as a matter of course. 

We train our colleagues to be able to recognise and speak up about inappropriate conduct. Our Asda Ethics team reviews, analyses and addresses any issues confidentially. 

To help our colleagues understand what we mean by acting with integrity, we also provide a Statement of Ethics. Our stakeholders can raise questions or concerns through a central helpline or via email. 

Asda’s Compliance programme focuses on evolving challenges in the retail sector and sets the tone for the behaviour we expect from our colleagues and partners. It is a crucial part of our ability to grow in the right way. Above all, it means treating people with respect, acting with personal integrity and complying with the laws of the communities in which we operate.

The Financial Crime compliance team is focussed on supporting the business to comply with the relevant laws, regulations and policies aimed at the prevention of financial crime, including but not limited to Money Laundering, Bribery and Corruption and Tax Evasion.

The Financial Services compliance team provide compliance programmes covering Asda Money & Mobile, including policies, procedures, training and advice to help the business operate within the relevant legal and regulatory frameworks, in particular the FCA Handbook and OFCOMs General Conditions.

The Code is legally binding and regulates the relationship between the UK’s largest grocery retailers and their direct grocery suppliers.  GSCOP is concerned with ensuring that retailers, including Asda, treat suppliers ‘fairly and lawfully’ in all aspects of the trading relationship from the point of onboarding through to de-listing. All direct grocery suppliers who supply goods into Asda benefit from the Code, irrespective of where in the world they are located.

The GSCOP team is responsible for ensuring Asda’s compliance with the Code. The team ensure the right controls are embed within the business and to facilitate a culture of Code compliance throughout the Asda business. The team works closely with the business units that have regular engagement with grocery suppliers, including Asda’s Commercial, Supply, Logistics and Finance teams.

Our team of environmental professionals develops and oversees programmes that ensure the company interacts with the external environment in a positive, sustainable and responsible manner. See the Environmental pages on this site as to how we go beyond compliance to protect the environment, including by delivering training to our colleagues to help manage waste in our stores and tackle any fuel spillages effectively.

Within our Optical and Pharmacy businesses we focus on complying with all regulation, legislation and professional bodies’ guidance and best practice in all areas. This helps to ensure we protect our patients, professionals and the business from claims, sanctions and reputational damage. 

Our Product Safety team is responsible for ensuring the launch of safe and legal products across our non-food areas (Non-Edible Grocery, General Merchandise and George). This includes clear communication and training to our technical teams on new and updated legislation, and the development of supplier policies and communications for Asda/George specific requirements. The team also implements a product surveillance testing programme and supports incident management, ensuring the right decisions are made for our customers; and manages two due diligence systems that ensure compliance with both chemical and timber regulations.

Customers are at the heart of Asda and are vital to our business. The Consumer Protection and Advertising team partner with the business to ensure that Asda is compliant with consumer protection and advertising legislation and guidance. For the team, this means working directly with Trading Standards to resolve operational complaints and concerns, as well as engaging with both the Competition and Markets Authority and the Advertising Standards Authority.

The Consumer Protection and Advertising team support the business by providing advice and guidance across a wide array of areas from advertising and promotions, for which the team provides advice against the CAP/BCAP Codes and ensures compliance with relevant laws and guidance, to age restricted sales; for which the team operates a Challenge 25 test purchase audit programme across our full retail estate.

At Asda, we are committed to having the right technical and organisational controls in place to make sure that colleague, customer and supplier information is suitably protected. We learn from best practice and use the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) to check how well we are doing. It’s a standard that is designed to help businesses manage and reduce cybersecurity risks. It also reflects the maturity of our business in terms of data protection.

We also comply with the Payment Card Industry’s Data Security Standard – a global standard designed to reduce card fraud by ensuring that businesses process card transactions securely. It’s an important way of protecting sensitive cardholder data. We also employ an internal security risk and compliance review as part of our IT project methodology to check systems are designed with security in mind. Following the separation from Walmart this is an area we are currently developing our new bespoke Asda programme. We will provide further information when it is available.