NORWAY Law and Practice Contributed by: Andreas Stang Lund, Per Conradi Andersen, Alexander Daae and Emilie Wilberg, Kvale Advokatfirma DA
actions, individuals are automatically included unless they actively withdraw. 7.3 Relief Class actions may seek the same types of relief as individual proceedings, including declaratory relief, damages and other civil remedies. Damages are calculated on the basis of the individual loss suffered by each class member, in accordance with the ordinary principles of Norwegian law. Where appropriate, the court may structure the proceedings to determine common issues collectively, while leav- ing the individual quantification of damages to a sub- sequent stage. 7.4 Class Actions, Mass Claims and Arbitration Class actions and mass claims are rarely brought in arbitration in Norway. Arbitration is based on party consent and is therefore generally not well suited to collective proceedings involving multiple parties who have not all agreed to arbitrate. 7.5 Trends Class actions remain relatively limited in Norway, but their use has gradually increased in recent years. They are most commonly seen in consumer, competition and financial services disputes, often supported or driven by interest organisations. There is also a growing focus on co-ordinated mass claims as a strategic tool to handle multiple similar claims efficiently. However, individual proceedings continue to be the dominant approach in practice. It should be noted that individual proceedings may include numerous parties on the claimant side, which may help procedural efficiency.
dence to be disclosed, by way of document requests. Such requests may be put forward at any time during the process. To evaluate the sustainability of a claim, a party may request access to evidence before litigation is initiated and formally brought to the court. Evidence may only be secured if it can be of significance in the dispute, and there is a clear risk that the evidence will be lost or considerably weakened, or there are other reasons why it is particularly important to obtain access to the evidence before legal proceedings. In any instance, the requesting party will have to cover the costs con- nected to the disclosure in the first hand, although that party may later on include the costs in the final cost submission, if the matter goes to court. 8.2 Privilege Communication between certain professionals (eg, attorneys, medical doctors and priests) and a party is privileged and may not be disclosed to the court, unless the privilege is waived by the party concerned. Also, documents to and from privileged professionals may be withheld and not disclosed. It is worth noting that, if the privilege is waived, all relevant communication and information must be dis- closed, including communication and information that may be assumed to be contrary to the interests of the party concerned. 8.3 Confidentiality Evidence may be withheld by a party, partly or in full, if the evidence includes trade or business secrets. If the counterparty maintains that evidence should be submitted all the same, the court must decide on its admissibility. A confidentiality clause will, in itself, not be considered decisive, or even relevant, in such a connection. The party claiming confidentiality or privilege will bear a burden of proof when the facts are not clear, if that is a result of the party’s denial to submit evidence based on privilege or confidentiality. The court may also decide on a full disclosure within a closed court- room during the oral hearing, to prevent third parties from receiving the information.
8. Evidence 8.1 Disclosure
Any party to litigation has a duty of disclosure and a duty of truth, pursuant to the Dispute Act. All relevant material must be disclosed ex officio and voluntarily by the individual party. A party may also request addi- tional relevant and specific documents or other evi-
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