NORWAY Law and Practice Contributed by: Hedvig Moe, Pål Lieungh, Espen Randen and Elin Ibsen Gustavsen, Advokatfirmaet Thommessen AS
7.6 Debarment and Exclusion From Future Procurement Under FOSA, a contracting authority must exclude a supplier convicted of participation in a criminal organi - sation, corruption, fraud, terrorism, money laundering or terrorist financing. Discretionary exclusion is avail - able where the supplier has been convicted of profes - sional conduct offences, committed serious miscon - duct such as breach of classified information or supply security obligations, or is not considered sufficiently reliable. Unlike FOA, FOSA contains no self-cleaning provision. However, a narrow public interest exception permits proceeding with an excluded supplier where overriding public interests make it necessary. 7.7 Civil Litigation and Dispute Resolution Defence procurement disputes under FOSA are resolved through ordinary civil courts. KOFA handles complaints but its role is primarily advisory; its FOSA decisions are not legally binding except for adminis - trative fines for unlawful direct awards. Courts may declare contracts without effect, but can refrain where this would threaten a major defence or security pro - gramme. Arbitration may be agreed contractually. The Dispute Act prohibits evidence that is held secret in the interests of national security unless the King consents, and the court is able to order closed hear - ings where required by the state’s relations with a for - eign power or where military operations are at stake. The Criminal Procedure Act imposes a correspond - ing evidentiary prohibition in regular criminal proceed - ings, but sets out a specific procedure for cases that include CLASSIFIED information.
7.8 Whistleblower Protections Norway has no defence-specific whistle-blower leg - islation. The general framework in the Working Envi - ronment Act Chapter 2A applies to all employees, regardless of the sector. An employee has the right to report censurable conditions, which encompass - es breaches of legislation, written ethical guidelines and broadly accepted ethical norms. Employees may always report internally – to the employer, through the entity’s whistle-blowing procedures, or via a safety representative, union representative or lawyer – and may always report externally to a public supervisory Norwegian law provides for corporate criminal liability through the general regime in the Norwegian Penal Code. When a criminal offence has been committed by a person acting on behalf of an enterprise, the enterprise itself may be subjected to criminal sanc - tions. The available sanctions for enterprises are fines, forfeiture of the right to conduct business, and con - fiscation. This regime applies across all the principal defence-related offence categories: export control violations and sanctions breaches, breaches of the Security Act, and corruption in defence procurement. authority or other public authority. 7.9 Corporate Criminal Liability
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