The Norwegian Transparency Act (NTA) entered into force on July 1, 2022. It aims to ensure that companies uphold fundamental human rights and decent working conditions in their upstream supply chains, in line with OECD Guidelines. The NTA also highlights the right of the public to obtain information on how companies address potential and actual adverse impacts resulting from their products or services.
IntegrityNext provides you with a systematic and efficient approach to ESG risk management. Our highly automated and easy-to-use platform allows you to carry out regular risk analyses, implement preventive and corrective measures and disclose your due diligence efforts. In doing so, we help you to fulfill the key obligations of the NTA with minimal effort.
Implement the Norwegian Transparency Act
with IntegrityNext
Our solutions help you to carry out all the critical steps of supply chain risk management and meet the following fundamental requirements of the NTA:
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Confirmed by a legal opinion
ESG Risk Management Process
IntegrityNext draws on a continuous and easy-to-follow ESG risk management process to ensure compliance with the NTA.
KONGSBERG
Streamlining regulatory compliance and carbon reduction in one platform
"IntegrityNext has been instrumental in our journey towards sustainable excellence. By fulfilling the latest regulatory requirements, including the Norwegian Transparency Act, and enabling the launch of CO2 Science Based Targets with our supply chain, the platform has empowered us to forge stronger supplier relationships and embrace a more sustainable future.”
Objective
KONGSBERG aimed to transform its supplier sustainability management process into a seamless, efficient, and digital approach. The objective was to select a strategic digital supplier portal that would replace the paper-based system, facilitate collaboration with suppliers (both direct and indirect), and enable compliance with the latest regulatory requirements such as the Norwegian Transparency Act (NTA).
The company identified the need for a comprehensive and adaptable platform that could cater to the diverse ESG and sustainability needs across its global businesses.
How IntegrityNext helps
As an integral part of KONGSBERG’s supplier engagement and onboarding program, IntegrityNext provided a unified platform for managing all ESG and sustainability requirements with suppliers worldwide. Over 1,500 suppliers were registered and the data is seamlessly integrated into PowerBI for better analysis and reporting. Suppliers can digitally approve KONGSBERG’s Supplier Conduct Principles, streamlining the approval process, and ISO certificates can be easily shared and verified, ensuring adherence to international standards.
Is your company
affected?
The Norwegian Transparency Act applies to large enterprises that are
- resident in Norway and
- offer goods and services in or outside Norway and
- are liable to pay tax in Norway pursuant to Norwegian legislation
Large enterprises are those covered by Section 1-5 of the Norwegian Accounting Act or companies exceeding at least two of the following thresholds:
- annual sales revenues: NOK 70 million
- balance sheet sum: NOK 35 million
- average number of employees in the financial year: 50 full-time equivalents
Parent companies are affected if the above-mentioned conditions are met for the parent company and subsidiaries as a whole.
Key elements of the Norwegian Transparency Act
The NTA imposes the following obligations on affected companies:
Duty to conduct due diligence:
Due diligence shall be carried out on a regular basis, in line with the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and with a view to the principle of proportionality, taking into account the size and nature of the enterprise, the context of its operations, and the severity and probability of adverse impacts.
Duty to account for due diligence:
Affected companies are required to publicly report on their due diligence process no later than June 30 of each year and whenever significant changes are made to their risk assessments. The first reports were due by June 30, 2023.
Duty to provide information:
Upon written request, affected companies are obliged to disclose to any individual how they address actual and potential adverse impacts. This includes both general information and information relating to a specific product or service offered by the companies. Certain exceptions apply.
Relevant standards
The NTA requires companies to respect fundamental human rights and decent working conditions. The definitions and conventions referred to include:
Fundamental human rights
Internationally recognized human rights enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966 and the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) core conventions on fundamental principles and rights at work.
Decent working conditions
Work that safeguards fundamental human rights pursant to the relevant conventions (see left) and health, safety and the environment in the workplace, and that provides a living wage.
Note that the NTA points to the above-mentioned conventions in their entirety and fails to specify the actual human rights that derive from those frameworks.