NORWAY Law and Practice Contributed by: Kristian Lindhartsen, Lilly Kathrin Relling and Tobias Kilde, Kvale Advokatfirma DA
Vessels with foreign ownership may register in NIS. The conditions for registration are set out in Section 1 of the NIS-law. To be eligible for reg - istration, the owner must satisfy the conditions for a vessel to be regarded as a Norwegian ship (even when the owner is a Norwegian national) contained in Section 1 of the Norwegian Mari - time Code. If these conditions are not met, the vessel can still register in NIS if the owner: • is a limited company, public limited company or a limited partnership with its head office in Norway; • is a ship-owning partnership with a managing reder (person or company) who satisfies the provisions relating to managing reder (person or company) in Chapter 5 of the Norwegian Maritime Code; or • has appointed a representative who is author - ised to accept writs on its behalf, if the owner does not satisfy the two previous conditions. The representative must fulfil the national - ity requirements for managing reder (person or company) as set out in Section 103 of the Norwegian Maritime Code. If the vessel is registered in accordance with these options, it is a legal requirement that the vessel be operated by a Norwegian shipping company, which is understood to mean either its technical management (manning, outfitting, maintenance, etc) or its commercial operation (chartering, marketing, etc). The vessel can also be operated wholly or part - ly from management offices abroad, assuming they are owned by a Norwegian shipping com - pany with its head office in Norway.
The foregoing requirements are in place to avoid NIS becoming a flag of convenience, and to ensure that a vessel can only be registered where the Norwegian authorities can exercise a certain level of control. A vessel under construction in Norway, or a contract for the construction of a vessel in Nor - way, can be registered in a separate register, the Ship-Building Register (BYGG), which is a sub-division of NOR. Vessels under construction abroad cannot be registered in BYGG. The pre - requisite is that the vessel is at least 10 metres long. The application must be submitted by the owner (if the vessel is under construction) or by the buyer (if it is a ship-building contract). 1.5 Temporary Registration of Vessels Bareboat registration in and out of the Norwe - gian ship registers has been permitted since 1 July 2020. Foreign vessels (both passenger and cargo ships), as well as drilling platforms and other mobile offshore units, may be bareboat- registered in NIS and NOR while having perma - nent registration in another state. To be regis - tered, a vessel must be at least 15 metres long, and both the ship-owner and the mortgagee(s) must give their consent before permission to register is granted. 1.6 Registration of Mortgages The registration of mortgages is under the administrative control of the Norwegian Mari - time Authority, and the registration can be in either NOR, NIS or BYGG. Voluntarily estab - lished mortgages can only obtain legal protec - tion through registration. The registries include information about all reg - istered rights in a vessel, as well as their priority. The registry will also contain information if it has been agreed that a sale or further mortgages are
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