A significant part of this work involves certifying large parts of the purchasing, logistics and store processes to relevant standards for quality and the environment. The ISO 14001 environmental standard is used to certify operations, and in stores the Nordic Swan ecolabel is used along with Miljösmart butik (“Environmentally smart store”), the Group’s own environmental support tool. ICA Real Estate has a goal that all of its own newly built buildings will be certified according to Miljöbyggnad Guld, the Sweden Green Building Council’s environmental certification. The ISO 9001, ISO 22000 and BRC S&D quality standards are used to certify operations, while stores use the Swedish standard for food handling in stores. ICA Gruppen is working on several fronts to prevent food fraud, including through quality certificates, analyses and unannounced audits as well as collaboration with others in the industry. Animal welfare is a central issue in quality aspects. Animals are to be treated well and be protected from unnecessary suffering and be kept in an environment that promotes their health and allows them to behave naturally.

Social audit tool

ICA Gruppen has developed its own tool for social auditing of its corporate brand suppliers in high-risk countries: ICA Social Audit. The requirements are based on similar criteria to Amfori BSCI. By combining its own audits, performed by own employees or consultants, with third-party audits such as Amfori BSCI, ETI and SA8000, the often time-consuming process of completing social audits has been shortened. ICA Social Audit helps suppliers improve working conditions in production more quickly. In a long-term perspective, ICA Gruppen is working to ensure that all suppliers of corporate brand products in high-risk countries use a third-party system, which also benefits the suppliers in their other customer relationships.

Whistleblower service

All employees are responsible for adhering to ICA Gruppen’s business ethics policy and are encouraged to report any serious irregularities that are in violation of laws, regulations or ICA Gruppen’s policies and guidelines.

An external whistleblower service is in place for employees to anonymously report any irregularities they may become aware of and do not wish to report through normal channels.

You can find ICA Gruppens web-based whistleblower service here ›