Our ability to create value depends on applying high ethical standards to create a trust-based relationship with our people, our owners, our business partners and our communities.
In all our business activities we will comply with applicable laws, act in an ethical, sustainable and socially responsible manner, practice good corporate governance and respect internationally recognised human rights. We will maintain an open dialogue on ethical issues, internally and externally.
We continuously encourage and remind our employees and any external third party that interact with us, to raise concerns or report any suspected or potential breach of law or company policies.
Our Code of Conduct sets out our expectations, commitments and requirements for ethical conduct. The Code applies to Equinor’s board members, employees and hired personnel.
The Code reflects our values: Open, Collaborative, Courageous and Caring, and provides guidance on issues individuals may face in their daily work.
Some important principles in our Code are:
We have zero tolerance for corruption in any form and take active steps to ensure that corruption does not occur in relation to Equinor’s business activities. We are committed to conducting business in accordance with the high ethical standards reflected in our Code. In recognition of this commitment, we have implemented a comprehensive programme to prevent corruption in our business activities. The programme summarizes the laws, policies and procedures to which everyone working for us must adhere. It also identifies the resources and tools that are available within Equinor, such as risk assessments, ethics committees and standards for training of employees, directors and relevant third parties.
We will comply with all applicable anti-money laundering laws. Money laundering is the process of disguising the proceeds of crime in order to hide its illegal origins. Criminal proceeds include not only money, but all forms of assets, real estate and intangible property that were derived from criminal activity.
We will always comply with all applicable sanctions, trade restrictions and export controls in the countries in which we operate. As part of our efforts to comply with such laws and regulations, Equinor assesses whether government authorizations are required to undertake business in a particular country and will obtain and comply with all such authorizations.
We believe in fair and open competition and we conduct our business in accordance with applicable competition and anti-trust laws in the markets in which we operate. We will not engage in or tolerate anyone who engages in anti-competitive behaviour such as price fixing, bid rigging, market sharing, exchange of competitively sensitive information or abuse of market power.
We will conduct our business consistently with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. Read our Human Rights Policy and more about our human rights work here.
We do not tolerate fraud in any form. We expect that employees do not engage in any fraudulent activities to benefit either themselves, Equinor, or others, and that they do not use Equinor’s property or resources for personal advantage or for the purpose of competing with Equinor.
We expect our suppliers and business partners to comply with applicable laws, respect internationally recognised human rights and be guided by the ethical standards set forth in our Code when working for or together with us. We will only establish or amend business relationships if the relationship meets our Integrity Due Diligence (IDD) requirements.
The IDD process includes collecting information to help us understand who our counterparties are (including risk-based verification of beneficial owners), their values and how their business is conducted. In some instances, the IDD may also include the processing of personal data. Processing of personal data in relation to IDD is conducted in strict compliance with applicable data protection regulations, and Equinor ASA, as the controller, holds a licence from the Norwegian Data Protection Authorities.
In Equinor we raise ethical dilemmas and act with integrity. We want you to speak up whenever you see unethical behaviour that conflicts with our values or threatens our reputation.
To underline this, we continuously encourage and remind our employees and any external third parties interacting with us to raise concerns or report any suspected or potential breaches of law or company policies.
Examples of such breaches are harassment, discrimination, conflicts of interest, corruption, violations of competition laws, misuse of Equinor property, safety or security hazards, breaches of confidentiality, fraudulent accounting or insider trading.
The Ethics Helpline has been set up to ensure confidentiality and to protect the rights of both the caller and the potential subject of a report.
You may choose to be anonymous where permitted by law. The Ethics Helpline enables a two-way communication between the caller and the company. Equinor will not implement sanctions against anyone reporting in a responsible manner.
The Ethics Helpline is hosted by a third-party helpline provider, and is a multi-language service available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is open for all and provides a phone service and a web portal.
Regardless of the method of reporting you choose you will be given a report number, which acts as a personal identification number (PIN). Please ensure that you keep this PIN as this will enable you to log into the website, check the status of your report, submit any follow-up questions or update the report.
Processing of personal data is conducted in compliance with applicable data protection regulations.
Our values embody the spirit and energy of Equinor at its best. They help us set direction, and they guide our decisions, actions and the way we interact with others. Our values express the ideals we strive to live up to every day.
You can find comprehensive information about compliance with Equinor's terms and conditions on our Suppliers-page.