Adevinta adheres to internationally recognised principles and guidelines such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the principles of the United Nations Global Compact. On 1 July 2022, the Norwegian Transparency Act (the “Act”) came into force. The Act provides that companies should:
The latter requires companies to respond to enquiries from the public about how the company is dealing with actual or potential human rights impacts in its organisation and supply chain.
Adevinta is committed to being open and transparent about how we conduct our due diligence and promote respect for essential human rights and decent working conditions. We reject modern slavery in all its forms and are committed to maintaining and developing appropriate safeguards against the mistreatment of people within our business and supply chain.
We are a leading online classifieds specialist, operating digital marketplaces in 11 countries and providing digital services to connect buyers with sellers and facilitate transactions. Our portfolio spans more than 25 digital brands, attracting approximately 2.5 billion average monthly visits. Noted assets include top-ranked leboncoin in France, Germany’s leading classifieds sites mobile.de and eBay Kleinanzeigen, Marktplaats in the Netherlands, Fotocasa, Habitaclia and InfoJobs in Spain and Subito in Italy. We employ around 5,700 people, including some 3,000 working in product and technology teams, committed to supporting users and customers daily. For more information on our organisation structure, please visit our Annual Report 2022.
We reviewed Adevinta’s Code of Ethical Conduct and the related Principles of Corporate Responsibility and merged these separate documents into a new Adevinta Code of Ethical Conduct (the Code). This document was approved by the Board of Directors and is applicable across Adevinta ASA and all consolidated subsidiaries. The Code sits at the core of Adevinta’s culture and encompasses Adevinta’s Key Behaviours and the sustainability agenda. Structured in three main sections, the Code sets out the basic requirements for business conduct and serves as a foundation for company policies, procedures and guidelines. The Ethics and Compliance team rolled out mandatory e-learning training across the Group, to help every employee understand their responsibilities.
The Speak Up policy informs employees of the various channels available to raise concerns, and it outlines how these concerns are managed and investigated. We have also set up different reporting channels for individuals to report actual, or suspected, breaches of the Code, other group policies or any other laws or regulations.
Before entering new markets, Adevinta always conducts country risk assessments and adequate due diligence. Our due diligence procedure is based on the UN Global Compact principles and Adevinta’s Principles of Corporate Responsibility, as well as applicable and relevant sanctions regimes from the UN, the EU and the US. For more information:
● Read our Code of Ethical Conduct
● Read our Modern Slavery Statement
Adevinta clearly recognises its responsibility regarding its supply chain. Given that our business is to run online marketplaces, the bulk of our procurement activity comprises the provision of services, such as IT and professional services; only a smaller part relates to physical products such as ICT equipment and office supplies.
Our Global Procurement Policy sets out the principles and processes that must be followed by Adevinta employees when sourcing services from third parties and for the ongoing management of those suppliers. We conduct various risk assessments to ensure sustainability, compliance, data privacy, vendor information security, and business criticality. Our goal is to identify higher-risk suppliers and assess their sustainability and compliance through a comprehensive questionnaire. We also engage third-party providers for screening, including sanctions, PEPs, and adverse media. Additionally, we prioritise data privacy by respecting individuals’ rights and conducting a Data Privacy Risk Assessment. The vendor’s cybersecurity maturity is evaluated through a Vendor Security Risk Assessment. For critical suppliers and products, we develop business continuity plans based on a Business Criticality Risk Assessment to protect operations, personnel, and assets in the face of threats or disasters, minimising the impact on our operations and revenue.
We have also developed a Sustainable Sourcing Policy for our employees to spread, promote and embed the consideration of environmental, social and ethical factors throughout the sourcing lifecycle for supplier evaluation and prioritisation. This Sustainable Sourcing Policy is complementary to Adevinta’s Supplier Code of Conduct and together they define the set of environmental, social, and ethical standards for suppliers to have a relationship with Adevinta. When dealing with suppliers, employees are required to ensure that they accept the Supplier Code of Conduct during the onboarding process (or renewal process as applicable).
The Supplier Code of Conduct is applicable to all suppliers, who in turn are responsible for ensuring that suppliers and other participants in their own supply chains adhere to the same responsibilities set out in the Code. The Supplier Code of Conduct embodies our commitment to conduct business with integrity, openness and respect, in line with internationally recognised corporate sustainability principles on human rights, labour rights, the environment and anti-corruption, while also focusing on key aspects which are essential to the Group.
A key requirement of the Transparency Act is the duty to conduct integrity due diligence in accordance with the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. This includes the duty to determine whether Adevinta’s activities could have actual or potential adverse consequences in relation to human rights and decent work conditions, to take preventive measures to avoid or limit such consequences, to monitor third parties on an ongoing basis and to communicate with affected parties. This is why in the near future we plan to:
If you have any questions about how Adevinta addresses and manages human rights and decent work, please send your enquiry in writing to: sustainability@adevinta.com
