Our Ethical Commitment
People are, without question, the most essential part of our company. There are over 160,000 of us, spanning 174 nationalities and sharing the same values of entrepreneurial spirit, non-conformism, innovation, inclusion, humility and ethics -all of which are built into each of our operations.
We’ve always believed that fashion is personal—a tool for self-expression, identity inspiration and community empowerment. We take that responsibility to heart. Our philosophy of ethical improvement is what defines us and inspires us to constantly evolve, innovate and leverage the power of fashion to create positive change in the lives of people, societies and culture at large.
We hold a steadfast belief that the how matters and it’s our responsibility to make a community better for us having been there.
In all dealings without stakeholders, we go far beyond our legal obligations, and build relationships guided by our commitment to our ethics.
Rules of Conduct. Policies
Our Code of Conduct, and our Code of Conduct for Manufacturers and Suppliers are the cornerstones of our corporate ethics culture and the responsible conduct towards our teams and our supply chain. They define the principles and values that govern our relations with our main stakeholders; and are underpinned by respect for human and labour rights. Every specific facet is then addressed through internal rules (policies or procedures).
Anti-Corruption and Integrity
We have approved several policies that set down our unwavering commitment to preventing any form of corruption, fraud, money laundering or illegal financing.
Criminal Risk Prevention
The Compliance Function is spearheaded by the Ethics Committee, as the decision-making body, and the Compliance Department, under the General Counsel's Office, whose mission is to oversee the execution of the Group's Compliance Model. It implements the Criminal Risk Prevention Model, a by-product of the Code of Conduct, to foster ethical conduct on the company and its employees, mainly on the prevention of white-collar crime. It relates the conduct commitments assumed in that Code with the specific crimes which must be prevented within the company.
Ethics line
The Ethics Line is the communication channel made available by the Inditex Group for the purposes of:
/ Raising questions or submitting enquiries about the Group’s Codes of Conduct and other internal rules of conduct.
/ Reporting breaches of the Group’s Codes of Conduct and other internal rules of conduct.
The Ethics Committee is made up of the General Counsel and Secretary of the Board of Directors, the Chief Compliance Officer, the Chief Internal Audit Officer, the Chief Sustainability Officer, the Chief People Officer and the Ethics Line Manager. Its mission is to ensure that the entire staff is compliant with the Code of Conduct and familiar with its contents and manage the Ethics Line, being the preferred reporting channel, and the remaining internal reporting channels.
The Ethics Committee can act at its own initiative or at the behest of any employee, director, shareholder, manufacturer or supplier of Inditex or any third party looking to report a potential breach or noncompliance they have been aware of.
The Ethics Committee must act independently and autonomously at all times. In carrying out its duties, it guarantees the people affected by any of its actions:
/ Confidential handling of all data and proceedings.
/ Exhaustive and objective analysis of all data.
/ Respect at all times for the right of anyone affected to a fair hearing and the presumption of innocence.
/ Protection from retaliation against any reporter or other person involved.