The Norwegian Transparency Act

From 1 July 2022, the Norwegian Transparency Act will enter into force. The purpose is to promote companies’ respect for basic human rights and decent working conditions for business associates and in supply chains. An essential part of the law is to ensure the public’s access to information regarding these matters and how companies handle them. Together with other measures, the legal requirement shall contribute to Norway’s work to meet and comply with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal no. 8 on decent work and economic growth, as well as goal no. 12 on responsible consumption and production. The core of the law entails the duty to perform and account for human rights due diligence assessments. Human rights due diligence assessments mean that companies must identify possible negative consequences for basic human rights and decent working conditions related to production and supply chains, implement improvement measures, follow up and report.

Human rights due diligence assessments – what does Orkla do?

Orkla has its own policy for human and workers’ rights, which covers our work with human rights in our own organization and the supply chain. The policy is based on the UN’s Guiding Principles for Business and Human rights and describes the main principles for how we will handle the human and worker rights that are most relevant to our day-to-day operations. In the policy, we describe how we want to carry out due diligence assessments and work with improvement measures both within our own companies and in the supply chain. Furthermore, we describe what we expect from the companies in the Group so that they can properly implement the policy. Every year, our companies analyze the risk of deviations from the policy. At the same time, they develop a plan for the further work of safeguarding human rights.

Orkla has over 25,000 direct suppliers and many subcontractors. We require all our direct suppliers to approve Orkla’s Supplier Code of Conduct, which describes our supplier requirements related to human rights and other issues within sustainability. This means that the supplier commits to carry out its production in accordance with internationally recognized standards related to human rights, working conditions, the environment and anti-corruption. We follow up our suppliers through regular dialogue, supplier evaluations and third-party ethical audits.

For more information, visit orkla.com