Observation of Siemens concluded

In 2007, the Council on Ethics recommended the exclusion of Siemens AG due to corruption. The Ministry of Finance decided to place the company under observation in March 2009. The Ministry has now decided to end the observation of Siemens, based on a recommendation from the Council on Ethics.

The decision to observe was occasioned by the company's implementation of anti-corruption measures whose effect it was appropriate to assess over time. The specified observation period was up to four years. The Ministry asked both Norges Bank and the Council on Ethics to observe the progress of the company's anti-corruption efforts. The reports of the Council on Ethics and Norges Bank on progress achieved by Siemens in 2010 and 2011 have been published on the Ministry's website.

The Council on Ethics has now recommended to the Ministry of Finance that Siemens be removed from the observation list. The Council on Ethics points out that, during the observation period, Siemens had demonstrated both a willingness and an ability to transform the company's culture by designing and implementing an entirely new monitoring and compliance system, putting into action recommendations by the company's control unit on an ongoing basis and communicating clearly a zero tolerance for corruption.

Since Norges Bank also observed the company, the Ministry sent the recommendation of the Council on Ethics to Norges Bank. The Bank had no comments on the recommendation.

On this basis the Ministry has decided to end the observation of Siemens.

Read more:

• The recommendations of the Council on Ethics
• The Council on Ethics for the Government Pension Fund Global