Supplier Expectations Compliance Areas

Walmart believes in fair, free and open markets. We also believe in promoting good government. We do not tolerate bribery, corruption or unethical practices of any kind.

Our stance on improper benefits is firm — regardless of local practice or custom, or even harm to our business.

Walmart strictly prohibits anyone acting on behalf of Walmart, whether directly or indirectly, from making or receiving bribes or improper payments. Walmart’s Global Anti-Corruption Policy forbids us from paying, offering or authorizing payment of money (or anything that has value) to improperly influence anyone. This also applies to payments made through someone unaffiliated with Walmart, such as a third party acting on Walmart’s behalf. Our prohibition also covers small or minor benefits to influence someone improperly. Our stance on improper benefits is firm — regardless of local practice or custom, or even harm to our business.

Never Engage in Bribery

We expect suppliers to support Walmart’s compliance with applicable anti-corruption laws and policies. We also expect suppliers to uphold these same values in their business.

• Never offer, pay, or receive a bribe.
• Do not give, offer, authorize, or promise to give money or anything else of value to any person—including any government official—in order to improperly influence any act or decision or to otherwise gain an improper benefit.
• Comply with relevant anti-corruption laws. These may include the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the United Kingdom Bribery Act.
• Report bribery to Walmart, even if the attempted bribe was not successful.

You can find a copy of Walmart’s Anti-Corruption Policy here.

Walmart is committed to complying with all antitrust and competition laws and the conduct of its suppliers plays a critical role in this compliance. Walmart expects its suppliers to understand and fully comply with antitrust and competition laws. These laws are designed to promote free and fair competition, and they help enable open markets, enhance productivity, and promote innovation and value for customers. Violations of these laws can lead to severe financial and reputational consequences for individuals and companies. If you have any questions about how to ensure full compliance, speak to your company’s legal counsel.

Walmart takes the following prohibitions seriously and violations will be treated accordingly, including potential termination and reporting to appropriate authorities.

No Anticompetitive Agreements with Competitors

As a supplier, you are prohibited from….

• Reaching anticompetitive agreements with your competitors regarding sales made to Walmart.
• Sharing non-public pricing, costs or other competitively sensitive information with your competitors regarding doing business with Walmart.

Appropriately Protect Sensitive Information – both Walmart’s and that belonging to others!

As a supplier, you are prohibited from….

• Providing or offering to share with Walmart another third party’s non-public, commercially sensitive or proprietary information. This includes a competitor’s future pricing or product strategies.
• Sharing confidential information received from Walmart with any third party, including other retailers. This includes terms of supply, product rollout or development plans, Walmart’s future or otherwise non-public retail prices, promotions, sales, marketing or promotional plans or strategies, category advisor recommendations, production or sales volumes or forecasts, or trade secrets.
• Asking a Walmart category advisor to share non-public, sensitive information.
• Discussing with Walmart your sales plans or strategies that you have with your other customers.

Proper Independence in Decision Making

As a supplier, you are prohibited from….

• Attempting to influence Walmart’s retail price. Walmart independently sets its retail prices.
• Recommending or suggesting that Walmart agree to limit sales of its private label products.
• Suggesting that you and/or Walmart should influence, require or coerce third-party retailers, including sellers on Walmart’s marketplace platform, to raise their retail prices. All retailers, including third-party sellers, independently set their retail prices.

Walmart is committed to complying with consumer protection laws everywhere we do businesses. Providing clear and accurate information to our customers and members is an important component to maintaining their trust and loyalty.

As a supplier to Walmart, we expect you to meet our expectations of complying with all consumer protection laws and regulations, including the following:

• Research and assess legal conditions of sale to understand how they apply to the products you sell and ensure compliance with same.
• Ensure all content on product labels and on eCommerce website listings is clear, accurate, and not misleading to customers.
• Make only truthful and substantiated claims on product labels and on eCommerce website listings, and provide us with substantiation when requested.
• Include any appropriate disclaimers, disclosures, warranties, registrations, and instructions for products.
• Follow all requirements for creation, set-up, and display of merchandise for both in-store and online.

For U.S. Suppliers

Please see our Prohibited Items Policy. This page identifies some types of products that cannot be listed on Walmart’s Marketplace. Products that are not included in this policy must still comply with all applicable laws.

For reference, the updated Standards for Suppliers includes the following…

Label and Market Products Accurately

Earning and maintaining customer trust requires being accurate and transparent about the products we sell. Walmart cannot do it alone—suppliers play a key role in helping our customers make informed decisions.

• Provide Walmart with timely and accurate information about the products you provide to Walmart and our customers. We rely on this information to make business, legal, and compliance decisions, among other purposes.
• Provide only genuine products that are what they claim to be.
• Comply with relevant labeling laws and regulations and be honest with Walmart’s customers. Make sure all product labels and descriptions are clear, accurate, truthful, and not misleading. Include all appropriate disclaimers, disclosures, and warranties, and support any claims you make with adequate substantiation. Private brand substantiation requirements are available for our suppliers here.
• Where appropriate, products must contain instructions adequate to use or consume the product safely.

Walmart requires any merchandise that is or may contain a chemical, aerosol, pesticide or battery item to be submitted to UL-WERCSmart, a third-party company, for review and assessment prior to an item number being created.

As part of the UL-WERCSmart review and assessment, suppliers are required to submit formulation information. These assessments ensure Walmart has the necessary information to store, transport, dispose and otherwise manage products in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations. This information also allows Walmart to support environmental sustainability and product stewardship initiatives.

Suppliers must provide accurate information regarding the above outlined merchandise, as may be deemed necessary by Walmart, to properly store, transport, handle, or dispose of merchandise. Accurate item information must be maintained within UL-WERCSmart for at least three years after the last date of shipment and the assessment must not be archived. Walmart may assess additional charges based on the additional costs of storing, transporting, handling, and/or disposing of such merchandise.

To get started, (1) navigate go to the UL-WERCSmart website at ULWERCSmart.com, (2) setup a company account using the first 6 digits of your host vendor number, (3) create an assessment for the merchandise, (4) attach all applicable UPCs, (5) pay and complete the process. The UL-WERCSmart assessment must be completed prior to item creation or the process will be halted, resulting in delays in item creation. To ensure the item(s) complete the UL-WERCSmart assessment process as quickly as possible, please ensure all fees associated with the supplier are paid as soon as possible and Walmart is listed as a “Retailer".

Review Walmart's Chemical definitions and Environmental Health and Safety Compliance policies here.

At Walmart, food safety is more than a priority or a regulatory requirement, it’s part of our culture. Providing safe and affordable food to our customers and members is one of the reasons we continue to be successful in an increasingly competitive environment. As leaders in the retail food business, maintaining a progressive and effective food safety supply chain is a critical part of our continued success.

Learn More

Walmart is committed to providing safe, high-quality health, wellness, and personal care products so our customers and members can live better. All companies supplying prescription products, over-the-counter drugs, medical devices, vitamins, dietary & nutritional supplements, or cosmetics must meet our Health & Wellness Product Safety requirements to become a supplier. Please see the guide below for complete requirements for your product type.

Supplier Requirements for Over-the-Counter Drugs, Vitamins, and Dietary & Nutritional Supplements.

Prescription Product Supplier Requirements.

Supplier Requirements for Cosmetics, Beauty, and Personal Care Products.

For help, please contact us at HWSCSAFETY@wal-mart.com.

Walmart is committed to providing our customers and members with access to safe and affordable merchandise. As a supplier to Walmart, we expect you to deliver products that meet that commitment. We require our suppliers to meet all laws, mandatory standards, applicable voluntary consensus standards, and Walmart-specific requirements for all items offered for sale. We also expect our suppliers to:

• Research and assess laws, regulations, standards, and other requirements to understand how they apply to the products you sell and ensure compliance with same.
• Understand and comply with the laws and regulations at all jurisdictional levels (local, state, and federal). For example, products sold by Walmart must comply with all requirements of California’s Proposition 65.
• Implement appropriate risk management systems to protect against product safety hazards. Suppliers should have these systems independently validated and verified.
• Provide documented verification of the compliance of the products you sell, when requested.
• Submit products for testing, where required.
• Avoid undue influence or any attempt to persuade, pressure, suggest, or instruct anyone to withhold or change safety or regulatory test results.
• Inform Walmart immediately if you become aware that any of your products violate or fail to meet any regulatory standards or Walmart-specific requirements or pose an unreasonable risk of injury.
• Participate actively in the inquiry, investigation, or removal of products identified as not meeting regulatory, legal, or safety requirements.

Additionally, we expect our private brand suppliers to hold their supply chains to the same rigorous standards to which we hold you.

For U.S. Suppliers

Our U.S. Product Quality and Compliance Manual contains full details on our product safety-related processes and procedures.

For reference, the updated Standards for Suppliers includes the following…

Uphold High Standards for Safety and Quality

Walmart earns customer trust by providing safe, high-quality products our customers love. We expect our suppliers to help us maintain trust by:

• Providing us with products that meet all legal, industry, and Walmart safety, quality, and technical requirements.
• Implementing appropriate risk management systems to protect against food and product safety hazards. Suppliers should have these systems independently validated and verified.
• Monitoring products you produce for safety and quality and promptly reporting material issues to Walmart. Material issues include failing to meet recognized safety standards and defects in product labeling or instructions that increase the risk of unsafe use. In the case of food products, material issues also include product specification deviations and microbiological, chemical or physical hazards that affect the safety of the product.
• Notifying Walmart of voluntary and mandatory product recalls and removals where you identify products as not meeting applicable requirements.
• Participating actively with Walmart and with regulatory authorities in the recall and removal of products.

Suppliers are responsible for disclosing and scheduling audits for all facilities within Walmart’s disclosure and audit scope. If Walmart discovers a supplier producing merchandise in or subcontracting to an unauthorized facility, the supplier may become ineligible to do business with Walmart.

Review the disclosure requirements here.

Suppliers have primary responsibility for monitoring compliance throughout their supply chains and correcting non-compliances, including in facilities producing product for Walmart. Walmart takes a risk-based approach to auditing suppliers’ facilities, which requires suppliers with higher-risk facilities (facilities located in countries with greater potential risks and supplying direct import merchandise to Walmart) to submit audits to Walmart on a more frequent basis. Suppliers required to submit an audit must work with an eligible program, follow the program’s directions to schedule an audit, and send the completed audit report to Walmart.

Walmart assesses the findings in each facility audit report submitted to Walmart against our Standards for Suppliers. Non-compliances and failure to remediate may result in consequences, up to and including termination of the supplier’s business relationship with Walmart and/or a facility’s ability to produce goods for sale at Walmart. Walmart reserves the right to audit or inspect a supplier’s facility at any time.

Review the audit and assessment requirements here.

We expect suppliers to understand potential risks for the geographies and industries in which they operate. To help mitigate risk, Walmart provides tools and resources to suppliers.

Suppliers must also ensure that the services or products provided to Walmart comply with all restrictions imposed by the United States sanctions, as applicable, or the sanctions of any other relevant government.

Suppliers are prohibited from providing services or products to Walmart, including goods for resale and for Walmart’s own use, if the service, products, or any of the products’ components/ingredients are grown in, produced in, manufactured in, extracted from, processed in, sourced from, or transported through any Prohibited Territories. Doing so may lead to supplier consequences, up to and including termination of the business relationship with the supplier and/or the facility involved.

Additional sanctions restrictions may target specific industries and may prevent suppliers from providing certain types of services or products from territories other than the Prohibited Territories. Suppliers should not provide services or products to Walmart if the services, products, or any of the products’ components / ingredients are sourced by the supplier from sanctioned individuals or sanctioned companies located outside the Prohibited Territories. Walmart may communicate with suppliers about certain product restrictions, as applicable.

Security Exchange Commission (SEC) reporting requirements are mandated through the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 to provide detailed information about the source of raw minerals present within their company’s supply chain. These reporting requirements are intended to prevent exploitation and curb violence present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and its adjoining countries. Walmart Inc. expects its product suppliers to actively support Walmart’s conflict minerals compliance efforts by assisting in the following ways.

Suppliers should ensure that they do not source any of the 3TG minerals [Tin, Tantalum, Tungsten, & Gold] from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) or its adjoining countries to incorporate into its products being sold by or through Walmart Inc.

Suppliers should have mineral sourcing policies that align with the policy under Walmart Inc. and be able to provide evidence of compliance upon request.

Walmart believes its conflict minerals program will help drive necessary transparency in the supply chain and fully complies with the regulations enumerated by the Dodd Frank Act § 1502.

Please review the Global Conflict Minerals Policy here.

Suppliers must satisfy all applicable facets of Walmart’s Supply Chain Security program. Suppliers shall have and execute reasonable processes to provide the safe and secure manufacture and shipment of Merchandise.

Suppliers must comply with Walmart’s Standards for Suppliers, which, among other things, require suppliers to ensure that Merchandise is transported safely and securely. Suppliers providing Merchandise to Walmart, where Walmart is the importer of record, are required to satisfy these expectations through Walmart’s Supply Chain Security (SCS) program. This SCS program generally requires suppliers to disclose applicable facilities, schedule audits of said facilities, and provide the reports of those audits to Walmart.

Suppliers have primary responsibility for monitoring SCS compliance throughout their supply chains and correcting non-compliance, including in facilities producing Merchandise for purchase by Walmart. Walmart’s SCS program takes a risk-based approach to auditing suppliers’ facilities, which requires suppliers with higher-risk facilities (e.g., for facilities located in regions with greater potential supply-chain risks) to submit audits to Walmart on a more frequent basis.

• Suppliers required to submit an audit must choose one of the acceptable options to meet Walmart’s audit requirements and provide information to Walmart when requested.
• Walmart will review the information provided and communicate with suppliers regarding the results.
• Failure to comply with above or remediate identified non-compliances may result in consequences, up to and including termination of the supplier’s business relationship with Walmart and/or a facility’s ability to produce goods for sale at Walmart.
• Walmart reserves the right to audit or inspect a supplier’s facility—or the facilities where goods it is selling are made—at any time.

Learn More

Walmart is committed to complying with all applicable customs, trade and import/export laws and regulations that govern the movement of products across international borders. Critical to this is providing accurate information to regulatory agencies about the products we import and export. We rely on our suppliers and service providers to provide us true and accurate information. Conducting our international trade activities is critical to earning and maintaining trust in our business, allowing us to move these items as necessary to serve our customers around the world.

Suppliers should reference their supplier agreements for further guidance.