NORWAY Law and Practice Contributed by: Christian Reusch, Jenny Sandvig, Oda Lauksund Engamo and Therese Sætre Løfsgaard, Advokatfirmaet Simonsen Vogt Wiig
Lugano Convention 2007 is applicable. Norway is a party to this convention, which authorises the recogni- tion and enforcement of judgments made by a court in a Lugano country. The convention mandates that judgments rendered by courts in a convention country should be recognised without any special procedure (Article 33 (1)). A judgment that is enforceable in a convention state should also be enforced in another convention state when it has been declared enforce- able in that state upon request from a party with a legal interest (Article 38). There are a number of exceptions and grounds on which a foreign decision may not be recognised or enforced, such as: • public policy reasons; • if the decision was given in default of appearance; or • if the decision is incompatible with a judgment given in a dispute between the same parties in Norway. 10. Appeal 10.1 Levels of Appeal or Review to a Litigation In Norway, there are mainly three instances for court proceedings: • the first instance, consisting of the district courts; • the second instance, consisting of six courts of appeal; and • the Supreme Court. Decisions handed down by district courts can be appealed to one of the six courts of appeal. Deci- sions from the courts of appeal can be appealed to the Supreme Court. In exceptional cases, an appeal of a decision from a district court can be made directly to the Supreme Court. 10.2 Rules Concerning Appeals of Judgments The court to which the case is appealed decides whether the appeal should be granted. Appeals to the Supreme Court are determined by the Appeals Committee of the Supreme Court.
The main rule is that any decision can be appealed to a court of appeal by the parties. A decision can be appealed on the basis of errors in the assessment of the facts, the application of the law or the procedure on which the decision is based. An appeal to a court of appeal can be denied if the court of appeal finds that there is a clear preponder- ance of probability that the appeal will not succeed (Section 29-13 of the Dispute Act). Appeals to the Supreme Court can only be granted if the appeal concerns issues that are of significance beyond the scope of the case at hand or if it is impor- tant for other reasons that the case is decided by the Supreme Court. 10.3 Procedure for Taking an Appeal Appeals can be submitted through a notice of appeal to the court that handed down the decision being appealed. The main rule is that notices of appeal must be in writing. The appeal must normally be submit- ted within one month after the parties are served the original decision. 10.4 Issues Considered by the Appeal Court at an Appeal The appellant court can allow appeals of an entire decision, or only parts of it. The main rule is that the appellant court in a civil case can review and recon- sider all aspects of the case that the appeal concerns. The appeal can normally only concern claims that have been decided on in the lower court. If new claims are linked to the claims already decided on and can be processed under substantially the same procedural rules, exceptions can be made, inter alia, if the new claims cannot be tried in a separate case, if the change of claims is related to circumstances that occurred or became known so late that the claim could not have been brought into the case earlier or if the other par- ty does not object to the inclusion of the claims. For appeals to the Supreme Court, new claims can only be included if special reasons justify such inclusion. 10.5 Court-Imposed Conditions on Granting an Appeal The court cannot impose any conditions on granting an appeal.
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