TRANSPARENCY ACT REPORT– AIZE AS

This report has been prepared in accordance with the Norwegian Transparency Act, which entered into force on 1 July 2022 (the “Transparency Act”). The report summarizes the policies and procedures in Aize AS (“Aize”) with respect to safeguarding human rights and decent working conditions. In addition, this report provides information on the implementation and results of Aize’s mapping of its suppliers and partners.  

 

1. About Aize

1.1  General

Aize is a Norwegian limited liability company with subsidiaries in United Kingdom (UK) and in the United States (US). Aize’s sole shareholder is Aize Holding AS. The largest shareholder of Aize Holding AS is Aker Capital AS, with Aker ASA as the ultimate parent company. As a part of the group, Aker supports Aize through expertise input on a functional level.

Aize has approximately 150 employees, all located in its offices at Fornebu, Norway. Aize UK Limited has approximately 80 employees, and Aize US Ltd. has 3 employees.

1.2  Product and production

Aize is a software company. Aize’s main product is Aize Workspace, a shared workspace which allows the customer to integrate their data, visualize and navigate the asset model and collaborate with suppliers, stakeholders and other third parties within the workspace. As of the date of this report, Aize’s customers are primarily within the oil and gas sector.

1.3  Aize’s Code of Conduct

During 2022, Aize has reviewed and strengthened its efforts to safeguard human rights and decent working conditions. While Aize already had certain policies and systems in place before the Transparency Act, Aize’s governing documents, particularly the Code of Conduct, have been further strengthened.

Amongst other items, the updated Code of Conduct includes a whistleblowing system and an email-address for whistleblowing. The system may be used by employees and non-employees to report potential or suspected breaches of basic human rights and decent working conditions. 

Aize is also working on a supplier Code of Conduct, which will be a part of the due diligence process going forward. The supplier Code of Conduct will set the standard for what Aize expects from its suppliers and partners.

 

2. The Transparency Act

2.1  Responsibilities

The Board of Directors in Aize (the “Board”) has the overall and oversight responsibility of the company management, including oversight of risks related to adverse impact on human rights and decent working conditions.

In 2022, the Board nominated a role within Aize as the operative Transparency Act Responsible and established internal instructions for the role. The role includes a primary responsibility for replying to requests for information pursuant to the Transparency Act, and for initiating and preparing risk assessments in accordance with the Transparency Act. If any need for mitigation is found, the Transparency Act Responsible shall inform the Board, who will be responsible for assessing the mitigation measures.

2.2  Policies and procedures

In addition to the general strengthening of Aize’s Code of Conduct, Aize has developed and implemented new procedures and policies directly related to the Transparency Act. This work has been anchored with the Board.

The policies and procedures include:

• anchoring the Transparency Act work with the Board;
• nominating an operational Transparency Act Responsible;
• contact information on Aize.io in case of information requests;
• instructions for the Transparency Act Responsible;
• developing a Self-Declaration Form (see below); and
• procedures for assessing received Self-Declaration Forms, and instructions to the personnel responsible for assessing the forms.

2.3  Due diligence

Aize has also performed an overall impact analysis and a human rights due diligence as further described below.

 

3.  Requests for information

Per the date of this report, Aize has not received any requests for information, cf. the Transparency Act section 6. Aize has included contact information on its webpages to ensure that any information requests are received and handled in accordance with the Transparency Act. The contact email is transparency@aize.io.  

 

4. Human Rights Impact Assessment

Aize, with headquarters in Fornebu, Oslo, and offices in Aberdeen, Scotland, and Houston, Texas, offers oil and gas companies software for operational data collection and systemization. Aize is committed to adhering to high working conditions and human rights standards in each region, complying with local laws and international standards.

In Fornebu, Aize operates under Norwegian laws known for strong labor protections. In Aberdeen, Aize upholds UK labor laws, and in Houston, it aligns with US federal and state-level labor standards. For the supplier and business partner assessments, reference is made to section 5.

The data within Aize Workspace is primarily third-party information related to customers’ physical assets. Aize implements stringent data privacy and protection measures. Aize is mindful about the potential challenges related to monitoring of individual users, and whether customers shall get access to information about the individual user’s use of Aize Workspace. Aize is currently only reporting usage on an anonymized basis, and all users log on as individual users. As such, the data is unlikely to be misused for breach of human rights or decent working conditions.

While Aize operations is considered low risk, the oil and gas globally have some higher risks in certain markets. Aize is continuously considering and mitigating this risk when entering business partnerships with customers and suppliers.

 

5. Mapping of suppliers and customers 

5.1  Mapping of Aize’s suppliers

In 2022-2023, Aize initiated a risk-based mapping of suppliers that provided an estimated annual delivery to Aize of more than NOK 100 000. The mapping 4has mainly been conducted by asking the suppliers to reply to a self-declaration form (the “Self-Declaration Form”), and a subsequent assessment of the received forms and other relevant information. The Self-Declaration Form includes various questions relating to company size, location of business, health and safety issues, labour rights and other issues.

The general risk of breach of basic human rights in relation to Aize’s suppliers is considered low. The same applies to basic working conditions. A large portion of Aize’s suppliers are software companies and suppliers related to ordinary office operations. Reference is made to Aker’s Transparency Act report, which includes a risk analysis of different county-sector areas.

The supplier due diligence has contributed to giving Aize a better overview of its suppliers and partners. Aize will continue its work related to suppliers to identify and assess risks of adverse impacts on human rights and decent working conditions and to take measures to stop, prevent or reduce such risks.

The Self-Declaration Form has not been sent to any of the supplier’s sub-contractors.

5.2  Summary of the mapping

Aize has performed a due diligence as described above. The due diligence relates to a number of topics, including (but not limited to) human rights and decent working conditions.

Per the date of this report, 13 suppliers have replied with filled-out Self-Declaration Forms.

The overall assessment is that the supplier responses do not indicate any risk of actual or potential adverse impact related to human rights and decent working conditions. Accordingly, the supplier responses have not triggered the need for any further investigation by Aize.

Aize will continue to do supplier due diligence on a running basis. Going forward, Aize will also continue to develop its supplier due diligence.

The Board has found the risk of breach of basic human rights and basic working conditions by Aize’s suppliers to be low. Aize has not identified any actual or potential adverse impacts on human rights and decent working conditions related to its business. Consequently, the Board has not found a need for initiating any mitigation measures as of the date above.