The Norwegian Transparency Act ("NTA") was passed on June 18^th 2021 and will enter into force on July 1^st 2022. The NTA places due diligence and other information sharing obligations on "larger enterprises' that are either:

• resident in Norway and that offer goods and services in or outside Norway, or
• liable to tax in Norway pursuant to internal Norwegian tax laws and offer goods and services in Norway.

"Larger enterprises' are defined as those enterprises that exceed two of the following three thresholds:

1. Sales revenue exceeding MNOK 70 (appx. 7.8 million USD / EUR 6.9 million).
2. Balance sheet total exceeding MNOK 35 (appx. 3.9 million USD / EUR 3.5 million).
3. 3. An average number of employees in a financial year exceeding the equivalent of 50 full-time employees

Under the NTA, in-scope entities will be required to:

• Carry out a human rights due diligence assessment;
• Publish an annually updated account of the human rights due diligence assessment; and 
• Provide written information to anyone who requests it (with some limited exceptions) regarding how the company addresses actual and potential adverse impacts on fundamental human rights and decent working conditions.

It is not yet clear whether companies will be required to publish first reports based on conditions in 2021 or 2022, but this question has been raised by stakeholders and is expected to be clarified by the time the NTA enters into force.

Due diligence: As part of the due diligence assessment, in-scope entities must:

• embed responsible business conduct into the enterprise's internal policies;
• examine whether business operations adversely impact fundamental human rights and decent working conditions;
• implement and track suitable measures to cease, prevent or mitigate adverse impacts;
• communicate with affected stakeholders and rights-holders on measures to address adverse impacts
• provide for- or cooperate on remediation and compensation where this is required.

The published account of the human rights due diligence assessment must, at a minimum, include a general description of the enterprise's structure, area of operations, guidelines and procedures for handling actual and potential adverse impacts. It must also include information on any actual adverse impacts and significant risks, and any mitigating measures implemented or planned to address the risks identified.

Requests may be general or relate to specific products or services offered by an enterprise. There are some narrow exceptions to the duty to provide information, i.e. where the request is clearly unreasonable. However, in cases where the information requested relates to actual adverse impacts on fundamental human rights with which the enterprise is familiar, it will not be able to rely on any exemption.

The Norwegian Consumer Authority and the Market Council has been tasked with enforcing the obligations set down in the NTA. Where a breach of the NTA occurs, these entities are empowered to issue prohibitions or orders to ensure compliance, or various penalties (either a running charge or lump sum).

The supervisory department within the Consumer Authority will be officially established 1 January 2022. Reports from the Authority however indicate that the department might not be fully operational until Q2 2022. The head of the department has stated that any official written guidelines on the NTA might not be available until Q4 2022.