The Norwegian Transparency Act, Section 1. Purpose of the Act:
The Act shall promote enterprises' respect for fundamental human rights and decent working conditions in connection with the production of goods and the provision of services and ensure the general public access to information regarding how enterprises address adverse impacts on fundamental human rights and decent working conditions.
AS Uglands Rederi joined the UN Global Compact during 2012, and the Company’s foundational commitment to respect international human rights and labour standards is anchored in a Letter of Commitment addressed to the UN Secretary-General.
The UN Global Compact is a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption. This has been integrated, as part of the AS Uglands Rederi Company Policy, and the corporate culture.
In 2012, we adopted a Policy Principle to counteract Child Labour and Human Rights Violations. In this policy, we make a statement to do our utmost to make sure that we are not complicit in human rights abuses. The risk of complicity in human rights abuse may be particularly high in areas with weak governance and/or where human rights abuse is widespread. However, the risk of complicity exists in every sector and every country.
The Company Principles for Responsible Investment & Supplier Declaration are important tools in this process. The Supplier Declaration encourages suppliers to focus on high ethical and environmental standards in their respective value chains, enabling the Company to choose suppliers that support a precautionary approach, as Global Compact expresses: “The risk of an allegation of complicity is reduced if a company becomes aware of, prevents and mitigates risks of complicity through adopting a systematic management approach to human rights, that is, by exercising due diligence”.
The Company has recently executed a due diligence analysis (aktsomhetsvurdering), focusing on human rights and decent working conditions. The analysis shows that a continuously focus on human rights and decent working conditions is important so as to contribute to prevention and mitigation of any adverse impacts. A considerable number of goods and services are required in order to build or acquire, operate worldwide and sell or recycle a vessel. This makes a comprehensive overview of possible breaches and adverse impacts on human rights and decent working conditions through the whole value chain difficult. The main shipping related risks have been identified and will prioritize and focus on the five areas listed below:
Ship Recycling
Newbuilding
Dry Docking
Procurement
Labour
The first due diligence exercise has been executed and is being foundationally anchored in the Company’s annual review process. Responsibility for the individual areas have been allocated and initial actions identified. In general, the Company has limited influence in the subject areas, however identified actions have the objective of pushing in the right direction. As this is part of the annual review process the areas and considerations noted are and will be subject for re-evaluation and updating.
To maintain the Company’s commitments in the areas of human rights and decent working conditions, several operational documents and principles have been developed that explain and anchor responsibilities and corporate governance in this respect. The main documents are:
