Internal Control (Self Regulatory System)-Weakness and Possibilities

Abstract

Abstract In order to sort of setting the stage I find it necessary to give a short introduction to the Trade Union's choice of theme for this conference. I have been told, that the reason for our proposal beeing ranked as an Alternate, was that this subject is an old case that everybody knows enough about for a long time already. If this is the reason for an Alternate ranking this strenghten me in my opinion, which is that we, and we in this matter means all of us, have a long way to go. Our, and now I am refering to the Trade Union, our opinion is that Internal Control is a key to jointly deal with most of the challenges we seek a solution for today as for those we must prepare for to meet in the future. Without beeing boasting I just want to inform this conference that in our opinion there is no better legislation within international offshore oil and gas industry than the Norwegian Internal Control-based offshore legislation. According to our contact with the world-wide Trade Unions our view is supported by them. Therefore we feel that we are in a position where we can speak on behalf of more than just our Norwegian members. The Norwegian legislation has come out from a process with good contact to the politicians as well as the Authorities has worked together with the industry partners, Employers and Employees, in order to find the balance where the authorities' objections are taken care of while the industry partners are given a framework for cooperation to fulfil the obligations set. Since the Norwegian offshore oil and gas industry is carried out in the the neighbourhood of the UK, the Nederlands and Denmark it is natural to draw a few paralells in this respect. These countries are all within the EU/EEA and covered by the legislation that prevails.