Vodafone engages with regulators and governments on a number of issues relevant to our industry, as well as issues of broad public interest.
We seek to inform policymakers – including legislators, government officials and regulators – about the nature of our business, the mobile industry and the business environment generally. Vodafone develops policy positions which explain clearly what outcomes the Company seeks from the public policy process.
Many of our written submissions are made public by the government organisation to which they are submitted. Vodafone believes in transparency in government relations and will provide copies of any formal submissions in the public domain to regulators and governments on request to responsibility@vodafone.com. The views expressed on this website and in our Corporate Responsibility review are consistent with the views presented by Vodafone to governments.
For more on our engagement on public issues in 2007/08 and a summary of our positions, see performance.
Public policy principles
All engagement with governments and regulators is subject to our Group Public Policy Principles.
The principles cover:
- Political donations
- The nature and disclosure of our policy positions
- Funding of corporate events to which public officials are invited
- Employee conflicts of interesτ
- Adherence to principles by external advisors
- Membership of trade associations
Industry associations and international organisations
We work with key industry trade associations on public policy issues. Vodafone is a member of:
Political donations
It is Vodafone’s Group policy not to make political donations or support particular party political interests, and does not participate in public policy activities in which it has no legitimate business interest.
Local engagement
Public policy engagement takes place within local operating companies and at Group level. The public policy agenda differs in detail between countries, depending on the local context. We are developing a programme to increase engagement activity in all local markets to increase our public participation.