Transparency Act Report

Knutsen Ballast Water Transparency Act Report

About Knutsen Ballast Water AS

Knutsen Ballast Water AS (“KBAL” or “the company”) is a technology company that develops solutions for treatment of ballast water. KBAL is located in Haugesund, Norway, and has 7 employees.

Introduction

KBAL is committed to conducting business with respect for human rights and decent working conditions. We work to ensure that our business operations, both in our own operation and our relations with business partners, does not cause or contribute to, or is directly linked to, actual or potential adverse impacts on human rights or decent working conditions. Our employees shall be treated with respect and given orderly working conditions. Forced labour, child labour and all forms of discrimination are strictly forbidden.

KBAL regularly carries out risk-based due diligence assessments in accordance with the obligations pursuant to the Act relating to enterprises’ transparency and work on fundamental human rights and decent working conditions (LOV-2021-06-18-99) section 4. The due diligence assessments cover the operations in the company.

Our policies and commitments

KBAL purchases goods and services from a range of suppliers, mostly Norwegian and European suppliers. We have performed a mapping of suppliers and business partners in the supply chain to identify and assess any risk of actual or potential adverse impacts associated with our operations. The suppliers have been categorized as low, medium or high risk according to an assessment relating to type of supplier, geographical location, degree of cooperation and level of transparency from our suppliers. In 2024, we are continuing the work on strengthening our procedures for risk assessment.

KBAL’s employees are managed by Knutsen OAS Shipping AS through a separate agreement. It is our position that equal treatment of all employees is applied, and that discrimination based on a person’s gender, race, colour, national origin, age, religion, sexual orientation, or any other characteristics protected by applicable law is unacceptable. We have zero-tolerance for corruption and bribery. The policies and guidelines define the core legal and ethical standards and applies to all Knutsen Group’s directors, managers and other employees. Knutsen Group’s Code of Conduct can be found here: https://knutsenoas.com/content/uploads/2023/06/ADM03-02-Code-of-Conduct-KOAS-i.pdf.

Findings

In the process to ensure that we are compliant with the Norwegian Transparency Act, we have assessed and strengthened our procedures. Based on the risk assessments carried out, no actual adverse impacts on human rights or decent working conditions have been uncovered. We have not identified any significant risks of such impacts in our own operations or in our supply chain, however we acknowledge that monitoring concerns and potential risk is an ongoing process.

Areas with potential heightened risk and adverse impacts have been assessed and prioritized based on the severity and likelihood of the adverse impact. The following categories, where we have identified risks and mitigating measures that KBAL will follow up on and continue to assess further, have been recognized as the most relevant:

Results and Expected Results

As a result of this review, we have increased awareness of fundamental human rights and decent working conditions, and how these potentially can be influenced. We have gained awareness of our power of influence, not only internally, but throughout the supply chain.

During this process we have strengthened our existing procedures, uncovered weaknesses that have been adjusted with mitigating measures as well as strengthening the existing and future operations.

For the future, the expected results are an increasing awareness as well as a continual improvement of our procedures and operations. This is with an increased focus on transparency and always working towards ensuring fundamental human rights and decent working conditions in the entire value chain.