The Transparency Act is intended to promote businesses’ respect for fundamental human rights and decent working conditions, while ensuring public access to relevant information.
Among other requirements, the Act obliges companies to provide information and to carry out due diligence assessments, which must be documented in a publicly available report.
Under the Transparency Act, anyone may request information from companies regarding how they address actual and potential adverse impacts identified through their due diligence assessments. This is referred to as an information request.
A due diligence assessment is a process or working method used to identify, prevent, account for, and follow up on how a company manages actual and potential adverse impacts related to human rights and decent working conditions arising from its business activities.
Ottobock Care Norway: Due Diligence Assessments – Method and Results
Ottobock Care Norge AS is a member of the Norwegian Association of Orthopaedic Technology Companies (OVL). OVL is a member of Ethical Trade Norway and has focused on ethical trade within the industry for many years. The work related to the Transparency Act is a continuation and further development of these efforts.
OVL member companies collaborate on ethical trade initiatives and due diligence assessments concerning their shared suppliers. This cooperation gives the industry greater influence in addressing any identified non-conformities or concerns. A working group consisting of representatives from the seven largest member companies participates in the due diligence process. The Transparency Act representative of Ottobock Care Norge AS is part of this working group.
To date, no adverse impacts have been identified within the supply chain for orthopaedic devices and assistive products.
For more information on the assessments and mapping activities that have been carried out, please refer to the OVL report:
Statement on Due Diligence Assessments (see link below).
