NORWAY Law and Practice Contributed by: Kristian Lindhartsen, Lilly Kathrin Relling and Tobias Kilde, Kvale Advokatfirma DA
9.3 Trade Sanctions In general, any sanction introduced by the UN or the EU will be incorporated into Norwegian law. The Law on Sanctions allows for UN sanctions, sanctions intro - duced by other intergovernmental organisations and sanctions aimed at maintaining peace and security that have broad international support to be incorpo - rated into domestic law. This gives the parliament the necessary legal grounds to implement sanctions intro - duced internationally into domestic law. EU sanctions are not included in the EEA Agreement, and the Norwegian state has therefore decided to implement these as a political decision, albeit with some exceptions. For instance, Norway has an excep - tion that allows for Russian fishing vessels to call at Norwegian ports. The prohibition on Russian vessels calling at Norwegian ports does not apply to Svalbard due to special considerations connected to the Sval - bard Treaty. There is very limited case law on the consequences of the sanctions imposed against Russia in Norwe - gian law. However, one exception is the court case brought by ship-owners Havila Kystruten. The ves - sel, Havila Capella , was operated by Kystruten but financed through a Hong Kong leasing company that was owned by Russian financing firm GTLK, which itself was owned by the Russian Ministry of Transport. Due to the financial leasing agreement, GTLK was listed as the formal owner of Capella . Following the increasingly strict sanctions on Russia, the insurance company terminated the vessel’s insurance. While the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs granted a dis - pensation from the sanctions for the use of the vessel, it did not grant a dispensation for the insurance of the vessel. In its rejection, it was stated that a dispensa - tion would entail money being placed at the Russian owner’s disposal. To operate the vessel, Kystruten therefore brought the issue to court, seeking arrest of the vessel to obtain ownership thereof. The court was also asked to con - sider whether the vessel should be subjected to forced use. In June 2022, Hordaland County Court decided to grant Havila Kystruten both arrest and forced use for a period of up to two years, giving Havila Kystruten
the possibility to insure the vessel and operate it as normal. 9.4 International Conflict The Norwegian Ship-Owners’ Association has report - ed that the war in Ukraine has had a significant impact on the Norwegian shipping industry, and has resulted in increased costs, delivery and supply complications, security risks and reduced availability of seafarers. Further, the Russian invasion has largely disrupted the maritime routes from Ukraine via the Black Sea, inevi - tably causing delays and cancellations. Consequently, numerous freight and transport contracts have been rendered unfulfillable. Given these challenges, most affected businesses have opted for voluntary contract revisions or sought freight and transport agreements with alternative entities. At this time, there has not been any substantive case law in Norway on non- performance of shipping contracts due to the war in Ukraine. Over the last couple of years, there has been signifi - cant growth of the “dark fleet”, which transports sanc - tioned oil, including from Russia, and has been taking large volumes away from legitimate Norwegian mar - kets. This fleet now accounts for a substantial portion of the oil transported by sea and significant exposure of the tanker fleet. In response to the geopolitical risks and the war in Ukraine, companies such as Front - line have refused to transport Russian oil, citing the high risk involved. Despite a weak tanker market and low contracting activity, several Norwegian shipping companies have seen their share prices rise. However, there has been little contracting of new-builds due to insufficient market rates. 10. Additional Maritime or Shipping Issues 10.1 Other Jurisdiction-Specific Shipping and Maritime Issues The latest and most significant update to the Norwe - gian Maritime Code was the proposal and acceptance of Norway’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisher - ies of updates to maritime and ship safety laws to enable electronic registration of ships and maritime
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