Procurement principles

1. Background and purpose

Corporate social responsibility

Eika Boligkreditt AS (EBK) aims to contribute to sustainable development for the environment, people and society, which includes accepting responsibility for ensuring that fundamental human rights and decent working conditions are respected in connection with the company’s business. To secure EBK’s corporate social responsibility and the value creation provided by the company along with the rest of the Eika Alliance, EBK will only collaborate with suppliers and business partners who meet the company’s requirements and standards. EBK aims to implement optimal and efficient procurement in terms of price, lifetime costs, quality and environmental impact. Compliance must also be ensured with national and international legislation and regulations related to human and labour rights, the environment, transparency, and combating corruption and money laundering. 

Application of these principles

These principles applies to ongoing agreements with EBK and procurement of goods and services for EBK from suppliers and business partners. This also includes agreements with investment banks/managers in EBK’s funding activities.

All purchases, including procurement, contract agreements, outsourcing, orders etc., shall be in accordance with these principles. Suppliers are duty-bound to see to it that sub-suppliers also meet the requirements specified by EBK.

 

2. Roles and responsibilities

The respective contract manger and manager are responsible for ensuring that all purchases within their area of operations are carried out in accordance with these principles.

The compliance manager is responsible for initiating necessary revisions of these principles.

 

3. General principles for procurement

Products or services procured must be environment-friendly and sustainable, with attention paid to the life cycle of a product related to such aspects as recycling.

EBK must ensure that contracts for procurement of goods and services are entered into on the best possible terms, and its purchases must be as cost-efficient as possible.

EBK must maintain the integrity of its procurement processes in relation to applicable regulations, and primarily make purchases on the basis of competitive tendering.

Procurement processes must meet requirements for equal treatment, predictability, transparency and verifiability.

In its procurement processes, EBK must ensure that no questions can be raised concerning conflicts of interest from the relationship between its employees and the supplier company or their personal interests. This must be assessed in light of EBK’s a policy for dealing with conflicts of interest.

Suppliers and business partners shall contribute to ensuring that EBK receives the necessary information where required for EBK to carry out a satisfactory due diligence assessment in accordance with the Transparency Act (Norwegian: Åpenhetsloven).

 

4. Requirements for suppliers

Labour rights, human rights and HSE

EBK’s suppliers must respect the UN principles on human rights, the ILO convention, and international and national legislation on pay, working hours and rights to organise. 

Prohibition of child labour

The supplier must not use child labour. This concept refers to children under the age of 15 who are below the minimum age for completing compulsory education or the legal age for employment in the relevant country.

Employees under the age of 18 must not do work which could be injurious to their health or hazardous, including night shifts and overtime.

Prohibition of forced labour

The supplier must not use forced, slave or other forms of non-consenting labour. Mental and physical compulsion, slavery or human trafficking are prohibited.

Prohibition of discrimination and harassment

The supplier must not discriminate against employees or others on the basis of such aspects as gender, age, ethnicity, religion, social affiliation, disability, sexual orientation, union membership or political views.

The supplier must ensure that no employees are subject to physical, mental or verbal harassment. It must also treat everyone equitably, and strive for gender balance, diversity and inclusion in its workforce. 

HSE

EBK’s suppliers must not expose employees to working conditions which could harm their life and health. The supplier must conduct health and safety assessments to identify significant risks in the company. All employees must receive training and information tailored to the risks they could be exposed to in their work.

On request, the supplier must document that HSE and safety inspections have been conducted and approved in accordance with applicable regulations.

OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on responsible business conduct

The company shall seek to use suppliers and business partners that adhere to the principles set out in the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on responsible business conduct.

The environment

EBK’s suppliers and business partners must ensure that their operations accord with local environmental management regulations. Large suppliers should have an environmental policy to reduce possible negative impacts on the environment in the form of resource use, waste handling, hazardous substances, greenhouse gases and other emissions.

The supplier and business partners should conduct its business in such a way that goods and services delivered to EBK maintain a high level of environmental quality in terms of material selection, production processes, life cycle and use as a waste product.

Data protection

The supplier must comply with Norwegian and international rules for storing personal and confidential information, and be GDPR compliant.

Financial crime

EBK does not tolerate any form of corruption, bribery, misappropriation or price-fixing. The supplier must actively oppose money laundering and undeclared (black) labour, and take the necessary precautions to avoid this. The supplier must be consciously opposed to corruption, and its employees must be able to identify corruption and know how to deal with it. 

Whistleblowing

The supplier must have a process for dealing with whistleblowing which is known to employees, and which allows employees to report irregularities without fear of reprisals. The supplier must ensure that anonymity and confidentiality are maintained. The whistleblower must receive the necessary protection.