The Council on Ethics recommends that the Italian company Fincantieri SpA be placed under observation due to the risk that it is contributing to serious or systematic human rights abuses. It has shipyards in Italy, Brazil, Norway, Romania, USA and Vietnam.
A series of legal proceedings have revealed that several thousand people who have been employed by subcontractors at Fincantieri’s shipyards have been subjected to grossly exploitative working conditions. The Council accords weight to the fact that these practices have, in particular, impacted immigrants who are dependent on employment contracts to obtain residence permits in Italy.
Fincantieri’s new initiatives may reduce the risk of labour rights violations at its shipyards, but the Council finds that substantial uncertainty remains. This is due both to the paucity of information about actual employment conditions and the fact that many of the company’s initiatives are of recent date or are still at the planning stage.
The Council on Ethics issued its recommendation on 5 November 2024. Norges Bank announced its decision to place the company under observation on 6 February 2025.