NORWAY Law and Practice Contributed by: Elisabeth Roscher, Tine Vigmostad, Geir Sviggum and Kristin Nordland Brattli, Wikborg Rein Advokatfirma AS
way, which culminated in an Official Norwegian Report (a type of preparatory work) in 2023 (NOU 2023: 17). The government has also signalled that such a commission will be established at regular intervals in the years to come (Meld St 9 (2024–2025) p 43). The Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) is an independent government regulator within the Norwegian petroleum industry; it is responsible for safety and emergency preparedness in the industry. 2.5 Transparency Requirements Crisis response actions from public authorities should in many cases be made available to the public under the Public Administration Act and the Freedom of Information Act. In addition, cer- tain laws and regulations require public authori- ties to make contingency plans available to the public – for instance, Section 15 of the Civil Pro- tection Act. Crisis response actions from private entities and individuals are generally not subject to report- ing and transparency requirements. However, certain aspects of crisis response actions may in some cases follow on from audits or other disclosure or reporting obligations – for instance, under the Transparency Act (see 6.7 Communi- In Norway, crisis management efforts and obli- gations are sectoral-based to a large extent. As outlined in 2.1 Legal Framework , the Health Emergency Preparedness Act and the Com- municable Diseases Control Act establish key requirements in the health sector with regards to (inter alia) emergency preparedness plans. cation With Affected Parties ). 2.6 Sectorial Requirements
In the finance sector, the Financial Institutions Act of 2015 requires financial institutions to have contingency plans that ensure financial stability during crises. With respect to infrastructure, the Regulation on the Quality of Electricity Supply of 2004 contains specific requirements relating to (inter alia) the resilience of the electricity supply system. Other sector-specific regulations also apply. Actions required by such sectoral regulations are subject to inspections and audits by responsible authorities – for example, the Financial Supervi- sory Authority. Reporting obligations for private entities may also apply – for instance, under Section 21-1 of the Financial Institutions Act. 2.7 Public-Private Co-Operation In January 2025, the Ministry of Justice and Pub- lic Security submitted an emergency plan to the Norwegian Parliament which (inter alia) includes plans on how to involve the private sector to a greater extent in relation to crisis management response plans. In particular, the Ministry has suggested including private parties (alongside governmental bodies) in a new cross-sectoral structure for assessments and emergency plan- ning in civilian sectors (Meld St 9 (2024–2025) p 44–45). Thus, there are certain pre-structured public-private co-operation frameworks for cri- sis prevention and response, but the exact exe- cution of such co-operation remains to be seen. 2.8 National Crisis Management Plan The government has announced that a long-term plan for civil preparedness shall be established, and that the work will commence in 2025 (Meld St 9 (2024–2025) p 40). There are certain sector- specific national crisis management plans and policies – for instance, in the health sector, to ensure energy security and as relate to nuclear accidents. The structure and implementation of
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