NORWAY Law and Practice Contributed by: Trond Hatland, Per Ole Svor, Henrik Fabian Torgrimsby and Anders Eide Røyneberg, Advokatfirmaet Thommessen AS
13.2 Ethical Codes Norwegian qualified lawyers acting as legal counsel in arbitration must act in accordance with the ethical codes generally applicable to lawyers. These ethical rules are set out in Chapter 12 of the Regulations for Advocates. 13.3 Third-Party Funding There are no general rules or restrictions on third-party funding in the Arbitration Act, nor under Norwegian law. It is not common in Norway for third parties to fund litigation in return for a share of the possible outcome of the case. That being said, a party to an arbitration is free to agree to such funding and sharing of the potential outcome. 13.4 Consolidation There is no basis under the Arbitration Act for the tri - bunal to decide that separate arbitration proceedings will be consolidated into one case. There are con - solidation rules under the Dispute Act but these will not apply under the Arbitration Act, unless agreed by the parties. Therefore, a consolidation will require an agreement between all the parties involved – that is, one agreement that covers all claims and parties sub - ject to the consolidated disputes. As stated in 7.1 Governing Rules , Section 25, last paragraph of the Arbitration Act provides for a wide right to bring new claims into the arbitration, but this presupposes that the parties and the claims are initial - ly subject to the same arbitration proceeding. Article 25 does not give a basis upon which the case can be expanded to new parties. 13.5 Binding of Third Parties The general principle under Norwegian law (which is in line with the doctrine of privity) is that a contract cannot confer rights nor impose obligations upon any person who is not a party to the contract; correspond - ingly, only parties to the contract are able to sue or seek enforcement of their rights or claim for damages as such. Therefore, a third party is not bound by an arbitration agreement or an award issued pursuant to this agreement, provided that this third party has not signed the agreement nor otherwise accepted to be bound by it.
The enforcement process is initiated by the claim - ant filing a petition for enforcement with the execu - tion and enforcement commissioner. The application must include the information set out in Section 5-2 of the Enforcement Act. If the basis for enforcement is a foreign arbitral award, the claimant must also attach documentation to show that the award is enforceable in the relevant foreign jurisdiction. Recognition and enforcement of an award is dependent on a party pro - viding the original award or a certified copy thereof. If the award is not made in Norwegian, Swedish, Dan - ish or English, the party must also provide a certified translation thereof. The court can require documen - tary proof of the existence of an agreement or other basis for arbitration; see Section 45 of the Arbitration Act. The execution and enforcement commissioner will, on their own initiative, ensure that they are competent to handle the case, that the parties have the capacity to sue and be sued, and that there is a valid basis for enforcement. Besides this, the parties are respon - sible for clarifying and presenting the relevant facts and documentation that may affect the decision of the execution and enforcement commissioner in the matter; see Section 5-3 of the Enforcement Act. 12.3 Approach of the Courts The New York Convention is implemented in Norwe - gian law via the Arbitration Act. Pursuant to the Arbitration Act, arbitral awards are recognised and enforceable under Norwegian law subject to exhaustively listed exemptions, regardless of the country in which they were made; see 12.2 Enforcement Procedure . 13. Miscellaneous 13.1 Class Action or Group Arbitration The Arbitration Act does not contain provisions allow - ing class action arbitration or group arbitration. In gen - eral, the agreement between the parties will be the determining factor. It is possible to consolidate claims between the same parties or to include more parties in the same arbitration process, if agreed upon.
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