Volkswagen Group Ireland
Modern Slavery Statement
Volkswagen Group Ireland (VGIE) is a private limited company incorporated in Ireland and headquartered in Dublin. VGIE is a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG (“VWAG”), and is an importer of VWAG products.
VGIE trades as Volkswagen Ireland, Audi Ireland, SEAT Ireland, CUPRA Ireland, ŠKODA Ireland and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Ireland.
This statement sets out our activities and work on Modern Slavery completed within the financial year which ended 31 December 2021. This statement also incorporates the Business and Human Rights statement of VWAG, which sets Volkswagen Group’s global approach, processes and principles to combat slavery and human trafficking. The VWAG statement is a global statement which is updated annually. Where applicable, VGIE has adopted these or similar processes in its operations in Ireland.
Furthermore, VGIE has taken additional steps throughout 2021 to combat the risk of slavery or human trafficking within its supply chain:
- The continuing communication about the whistleblowing system responsible for receiving and processing reports of serious regulatory violations. Our employees, business partners and other third parties may use various channels within the whistleblowing system to report modern slavery concerns or incidents;
- The promotion of sustainability and compliance regulations within the on-boarding of new suppliers by the provision of a Supplier Code of Conduct. This sets out VGIE’s expectations of our business partner’s conduct with respect to social, compliance and modern slavery standards;
- The inclusion of Human Rights obligations within all of our standard contractual terms with our Business Partners, including the ability to conduct on-site audits where appropriate.
As a business, VGIE maintains its zero tolerance approach to any form of modern slavery and this is enshrined as one of the core principles of its purchasing policy. However, VGIE acknowledges that modern slavery exists and is a risk to all businesses. To that end, during the course of 2022, VGIE will continue to monitor the modern slavery risk of its supplier base and suggest actions to mitigate any risks arising.
In the event that any of VGIE’s business partners are found to be engaging in slavery or other unethical working practices, it will take steps to address those issues with this business partner, seek to drive improved standards and, if necessary, terminate its relationships with any such business partners.
VGIE Board of Management