The purpose of Koninklijke Ahold N.V.’s ("Ahold") 2007 CSR Report ("this CSR Report") is to provide stakeholders with a fair and balanced picture of Ahold’s corporate social responsibility strategy, practices and results for the period from January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2007.The preparation of this CSR Report was overseen by the Ahold CSR Coordinating Committee.

Following the publication of the Interim Corporate Social Responsibility Report 2005 published in 2006, this CSR report is the sixth CSR report published by Ahold. Ahold strives to follow the guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative G3 (C level). From this CSR Report onwards, Ahold has committed itself to publish a CSR report annually, in conjunction with its Annual Report.

Ahold's reporting system permits the collection of qualitative and quantitative information from the various countries and retail banners and reporting on best practices. This CSR report covers Ahold's operating companies, including ICA. It does not cover Schuitema, Peapod, Etos, Gall & Gall, Albert.nl, Albert Heijn franchise stores and our operations in Slovakia.

At the quantitative level, assigned content owners at each operating company are responsible for coordinating the CSR reporting of those companies. They ensure that those responsible for reporting in accordance with various indicators are familiar with the procedures, definitions and guidelines. In addition, internal reviews on reported data are performed. These reviews are focused on both the reported data as well as the reporting process.

The scope of the reported indicators is primarily based on the existing data gathering procedures. Ahold aims to expand the scope in the future. Compared to the Interim Corporate Social Responsibility Report 2005, U.S. Foodservice, Albert/ Hypernova in Poland and Tops are out of scope due to the divestment of these operating companies.

This CSR Report presents data on Corporate brand natural and organic products, refrigerants installed in stores, diesel consumption and CO2 emissions from transport between warehouses and stores, electricity consumption in warehouses and stores, water consumption, waste and donations. We are currently working to augment our corporate social responsibility reporting abilities and are developing systems to enhance our capacity to provide consistent group-wide information in future reports. Data sourced from the Ahold Annual Report 2007 and included in that report as audited or unaudited information, are referred in this CSR Report as Source: Ahold Annual Report 2007. The other data in this CSR Report has not been audited and, in some cases, is based on extrapolations or estimates.