Who we are
Our website address is: http://vaq.no/en
Below is the new law on transparency – and general guidelines regarding the processing of information on websites and our relationship to it. As for the latter: Although we do not allow comments or tracking on our website, we still post information on how this works due to requirements as a result of Norway’s membership in EQS.
Transparency Act
On July 1, 2022, the new Norwegian Act relating to enterprises’ transparency and work on fundamental human rights and decent working conditions (the transparency act) came into force. It “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 public access to information on how enterprises handle negative consequences for fundamental human rights and decent working conditions.”
This law is applicable for VAQ, and we are obliged to perform due diligence assessments and define areas in our business that involve a risk of violations of fundamental human rights and decent working conditions. These due diligence assessments shall be incorporated into an annual report that we shall publish so that our customers and the public in general have access to it. Our first report was published in 2022.
At VAQ, we build RAS facilities for customers, and we purchase input factors in the form of goods and services from many different countries. We estimate that this constitutes our absolute largest risk areas and is where we place the main emphasis of our work. It is an ongoing process to follow up and ensure that we have good routines for detecting and handling risk in our own supply chain and among the goods and services we purchase from others.
As a Norwegian company with a supply chain that can stretch far, also in a global perspective, there is a limit to how much influence we as a business can have on the various links. By giving clear requirements and expectations to our suppliers and business partners in the form of Code-of-Conduct documents, as well as careful selection of which suppliers we want to work with, we will have good control over risk in our own business.
People who want insight into the work being done can send a written request to VAQ AS. People who send a request have the right to information on how the business handles actual and potential negative consequences according to the law’s §4. This includes both general information and information related to a particular good or service that the business offers.
For more detailed information about the law’s purpose, scope, definitions, etc., please refer to:
https://lovdata.no/dokument/NLE/lov/2021-06-18-99
Comments – privacy
When visitors leave comments on VAQ’s web site, the information given in the comment form is filed in addition to the visitor’s IP address and the visitor’s browser version. This is done to help avoid insincere comments.
An anonymous string generated based on your email address (also called a “hash”) may be sent to the Gravatar service to check if you have an account there. Gravatar’s privacy policy is here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After your comment has been approved, your profile picture will be visible to anyone in connection with your comment.
Media
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images that contain location information (EXIF GPS). Visitors to the site can download and extract such information from images on the site.
Cookies
If you post a comment on this website, you can ask us to remember your name, email, and website. This information is filed in a cookie and is there to make things easier for you. You will not need to enter this information again the next time you post a comment. These cookies expire after one year.
If you visit our login page, we will create a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal information and disappears as soon as you close your browser.
When you log in, cookies are created that store your login information and choices you have made regarding how content should be displayed. Cookies with login information expire after two days, while those with display choices last for one year. If you check “Remember Me,” your login information will be retained for two weeks. If you log out of your account, these cookies will disappear.
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be stored in your browser. This cookie contains no personal information, but only the ID of the article you just edited. It expires after one day.
Embedded content from other websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g., videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor had visited the website from which the embedded content comes.
These websites may collect information about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking systems, and monitor your interactions with the embedded content, including tracking your interactions if you have an account and are logged in to the website.
Who we share your information with
If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.
How long we retain your information
If you leave a comment, the comment and its related information are stored indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users who register on our website (if this option exists), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, and delete their own personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
Your rights regarding your information
If you have an account on this site or have left comments, you can request to receive an export file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Where your data is sent
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.