The Transparency Act: When Businesses Grow Into New Requirements

Most growing businesses find that their demands grow with them. Suddenly, you'll pass the threshold for the Transparency Act, and then you'll have to document how your business impacts human rights and working conditions. Including all your suppliers.

That sounds significant. For most people, it's about doing what you should already be doing, just with a system that remembers it for you.

Does the Transparency Act apply to you?

Love applies to companies that meet at least two of these criteria:

  • Turnover over 70 million kroner
  • Balance sum over 35 million Danish kroner
  • 50 or more employees on average throughout the financial year

Many growth companies hit this threshold faster than they think. And then the requirements apply from day one.

Hva krever Åpenhetsloven i praksis?

The law requires you to conduct due diligence assessments of your own business and supply chain, in line with the OECD Guidelines. You shall report on your findings and the measures you have taken. The report shall be appended to the annual report and updated in the event of significant changes.

Everyone also has the right to request access. You have three weeks to respond. The Consumer Authority enforces the law and can impose penalty fines.

These are not things you fix in the weeks before the June 30 reporting deadline. It requires ongoing work throughout the year.

In addition, anyone has the right to request access. You have three weeks to reply. The Consumer Authority enforces the law and can impose penalty fines. Since 2023, the Consumer Authority has carried out checks of
companies that have not published a statement, and several have received orders.

Two colleagues are reviewing the supplier assessment for the Transparency Act on a laptop.

The supply chain is the most difficult

Documenting your own business is manageable for most people. It's the suppliers that take time.

A customer with their own procurement department for Asia said: «There's a lot of documentation we need to handle. Supplier mapping, signed documents, test reports, compliance. We didn't have a system for it.» If you have ten suppliers, it's manageable. If you have a hundred, you need a system.

A company working with sustainability reporting described the problem as follows: «Many are good at documenting compliance. Where it often falls short is in showing that you are actually doing what you say you are doing.»

Most people have the will. What's missing is a place to do the job.

This is how supplier evaluation in Business Online works

Business Online has its own supplier evaluation module, built into CRM. You do not need a separate system.

First, you categorise the suppliers. Who is critical for operations, and who can be replaced tomorrow? The critical ones are evaluated on seven criteria. The system provides a total score. If they score too low, they cannot
approved. It forces a conversation with the supplier instead of the risk remaining.

The risk mapping links geographic risk to industry risk and provides an overall score that directly supports the due diligence assessment. When it's time for a new evaluation, the system sends a reminder. Evaluations are locked after submission. Over time, you build up a history that an auditor will see.

Soiltech uses Supplier Evaluation for the Transparency Act

The growth company Soiltech uses Business Online and the supplementary function Supplier Evaluation as support functions for the requirements of the Transparency Act. Read more about Soiltech's customer story.

Not another system

The Transparency Act is a typical growing pain. The company has crossed a threshold, and suddenly something is required that wasn't needed yesterday. The answer shouldn't be yet another system.

In Business Online, supplier evaluation is linked to what you already do. Supplier deviations in KHMS provide documentation for the evaluation. CRM provides an overview of the supplier relationship. Templates for access requests.
is versioned in the document library. When the request comes, the answer is clear.

When you work in the system, you work according to what you say you will do. An ISO audit becomes a formality, not a project.

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See how the Transparency Act is supported in Business Online

With Business Online and the extra feature Supplier Evaluation, you can achieve a structured way of working to keep your business compliant with the Transparency Act regulations.