Compliance

Areas of expertise

Compliance relates to implementing laws and regulations that a company is subject to. Being "compliant" is important for all companies and is a key part of risk management, as it prevents breaches of regulatory requirements and contributes to lower risk overall. In addition, one see a development where many businesses go further than the requirements to comply with what is considered best practice in the individual industry. To ensure this, many companies establish stricter internal guidelines than they are obliged to by external laws and regulations. The fact that companies act in accordance with such internal routines also falls under the concept of compliance.

Tenden Advokatfirma assists businesses in their compliance work, for example with:

  • Mapping of the business to clarify the rules that apply to the business and which compliance risk the company is particularly exposed to
  • Preparation of internal regulations and routines for compliance
  • Management and staff training
  • Public affairs
  • Strategic advice on compliance in transactions, contracts and similar
  • Dispute resolution
  • Investigation
  • Sanctions

We have strong professional expertise in key parts of the legislation that our clients typically are subject to and offer interdisciplinary cooperation in, amongst others:

Anti-money laundering

Companies subject to anti-money laundering legislation are obliged to implement measures to uncover whether their customers are involved in money laundering or terrorist financing. Effective compliance with the regulations requires that the companies understand the company's risk, establish routines, and ensure that these are complied with in practice. We find that companies and industries with a risk of complicity in money laundering are subject to an increasing focus from the supervisory authorities, and high demands are made on routines for identifying and preventing money laundering. We assist with advice, preparation of routines, follow-up during audits, as well as training and lectures related to anti-money laundering legislation.

Anti-corruption

Regulators around the world prioritize the investigation and prosecution of corruption. Increasingly stringent due diligence requirements are imposed on private businesses to prevent corruption or complicity in corruption.

Responsible business and human rights

The authorities are introducing increasingly stringent requirements for businesses to comply with human rights, secure decent working conditions and protect the environment. The Transparency Act, which promotes companies' respect for fundamental human rights and decent working conditions, is an example that includes several thousand Norwegian companies. In practice, the obligation to comply with the law entails that companies carry out a review of their suppliers and their own operations to ensure that there are no risk factors indicating that there may be violations of key human rights or indecent working conditions. We continuously assist several of our clients with this work.

Public procurement

The procurement regulations set out several requirements for the businesses that are to enter into contracts with the public sector. For example, we see that environmental considerations shall weigh heavily when choosing a supplier, and this requires that companies familiarise themselves with the regulations to ensure that their production and operation comply with the requirements set.

The procurement regulations also set out rules for rejection where a supplier has been legally convicted or has been fined for certain criminal offences, such as money laundering. In addition, the contracting authority may in certain cases choose to reject a supplier that has outstanding tax, duty or social security obligations, has committed a breach of environmental or working environment provisions or if the contractor has not followed up previous contractual obligations in a satisfactory manner. In certain cases, the contracting authority may also be obliged to reject the supplier as a result of companies or persons with close ties to the supplier having committed said acts, and there are circumstances indicating that these should be identified with each other.

We assist businesses that enter into contracts with the public sector to ensure that they are in the best possible position in the competition for these contracts. We can assist with clarifications regarding the regulations, and any adaptation to the specific business.

Competition law

Breach of the competition law rules can result in heavy fines from the control authorities. In addition, affected businesses risk compensation claims, exclusion from tenders, negative press coverage, loss of reputation and loss of customers.

Tenden Advokatfirma assists our clients with advice and dealing with any breaches of the regulations.

Labor law

The Working Environment Act requires the employer to make arrangements for whistleblowing if the conditions in the company so require. Employees have the right to report incidents in accordance with the employer's routines for notification. The routines should therefore be satisfactory and well incorporated. We assist with internal routines, training, and advice when the notification is a fact.

Privacy

The amount of personal data processed today is increasing, while at the same time we see that inadequate compliance with privacy legislation can have major consequences for the company's reputation and result in high fees. We are happy to assist in establishing a practice that safeguards both privacy considerations and commercial interests.