挪威《透明法》之立法分析──談公眾參與在企業與人權領域之初試啼聲

Legislative Analysis of Norway's ''Transparency An Initiative of Public Participation in Business and Human Rights

挪威《透明法》之劃時代意義，除了在於將「自願性」的國際人權盡職調查標準（軟法）逕行內國法化，成為「強制性」的本國法外，亦在於由下而上推動的透明規範與監管模式等當地特色。這與本法之政治期程最早係由挪威國會以請願決議的方式，要求政府評估「原產地透明度及對於消費者與公民團體之生產倫理資訊」之立法可行性有關。然而，在兒童與家庭事務部審查倫理資訊委員會所提出法案的過程中，則可見倫理資訊公開的重要性與強制力遭調降的痕跡。值得稱許的是，由於未採列舉清單之立法模式，《透明法》之保障範圍相當廣泛，不限於特定的人權或勞權。但如同歐盟執委會《企業永續盡職調查指令》草案「抓大放小」之監督模式，本法之主觀範圍僅適用於在挪威登記或納稅之「中大型企業」。其「供應鏈」與「業務合作夥伴」等射程範圍雖與歐盟草案之「價值鏈」相當，即納入了下游的商業關係，但由於立法目的之限制，本法之管制將無法迄及商品銷售及服務提供「後」之後續階段。在監督方法上，則係以專屬之行政程序為手段，包含禁令、命令、怠金與罰鍰等個別行政處分。但主管機關亦強調，消保署負有較《行政程序法》更為普遍的指導義務，並應採用「協商模式」，即優先透過對話與協商設法使企業自願遵守新法之規定。

The significance of Norway's ''Transparency Act'', in addition to its transferring of ''voluntary'' international standards for human rights due diligence (soft law) into a ''mandatory'' domestic law, lies in its local characteristics of emphasising public disclosure and a more bottom-up monitoring model promoted by its civil society. This relates to its political agenda when the Norwegian Parliament first asked the Government to evaluate the legislative feasibility of the ''disclosure of production sites and ethics information to consumers and organisations'' through a Petition Resolution. However, during the consultation process, the Ministry of Children and Families downgraded the importance and enforcement of the disclosure of ethics information to the public compared to the bill proposed by the Ethics Information Committee. It is nevertheless commendable that the scope of protection provided by the Act is not limited to specific human rights or labour rights since an exhaustive list of relevant legal instrumentsis not provided. Like the proposal adopted by the European Commission for a Directive on corporate sustainability due diligence, the duty bearers of the Act only apply to ''larger enterprises'' registered in or taxed by Norway. Although its definitions of ''supply chain'' and ''business partners'' together are close to the definition of ''value chain'' in the proposed Directive, which includes downstream business relationships, due to the limitation of its purpose, the Act does not apply to future stages ''after'' the product is sold and the service is provided. An exclusive administrative procedure is adopted in monitoring and enforcement pursuant to the Act, including issuing individual decisions regarding a prohibition or an order, an enforcement penalty, and an infringement penalty. However, the Ministry also emphasised that the Consumer Authority has a more general duty to provide guidance, which extends further than the one under the Public Administration Act and should conduct the ''negotiation model'', prioritising attempting to get businesses to comply with the new law through dialogue and negotiations voluntarily.