The Legal 500

Norway is not a member of the European Union (“EU”), but it is a member of the European Free Trade Association (“EFTA”) and the European Economic Area (“EEA”). This means that most EU regulations concerning M&A transactions has been and will be implemented in Norwegian law, including MIFID and the Transparency Directive.

The banking sector is regulated by the Ministry of Finance and the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority (the FSA). The FSA is responsible for the supervision of banks.

The Supreme Court of Norway has recently turned down the appeal against the judgement of Borgarting Court of Appeal in the case Pharmaq AS v Intervet International BV et al.

Doing business in Norway contains a summary of the aspects of Norwegian law that are most likely to interest foreign companies or individuals that are contemplating doing business or engaging in commercial activities in Norway. A publication of this kind can obviously only provide a limited outline of certain legal areas. The information contained in the publication is not exhaustive.

The growing Chinese economy and Chinese investments is object of debate in Europe. Focus has especially been on alleged strategically-motivated takeovers by Chinese State-Owned-Enterprises (SOEs). Attorney-at-law Odd Stemsrud has written an article concerning the Commissions’ handling of acquisitions by Chinese SOEs.

The Norwegian Supreme Court issued its ruling in the so-called “Dell-case” on 2 December 2011. The main issue if the case was whether the Irish company Dell Products could be considered to have a taxable presence in Norway under article 5 (5) of the Tax Treaty between Ireland and Norway (permanent establishment), as a consequence of the activities of the Norwegian company Dell AS.

On 14 February 2012, a committee appointed to undertake a broad review of the Norwegian Competition Act issued a report proposing several important amendments to Norway's merger control regime, including significantly increased filing thresholds.

Norway is on the verge of involuntarily allowing the advertising of alcoholic beverages on television, contrary to the country’s strict alcohol policy. This change, which may take place as a result of pressure from the EU Commission, would have a significant impact for owners of alcohol brands.

Ruling by ECJ November 24th 2011.

Update 2011 - Competition law in Norway

On 26 October 2011 Oslo Børs issued a circular setting out new guidelines on the reporting of IR information for issuers of shares and equity certificates on Oslo Børs and Oslo Axess. This Code of Practice replaces the information symbol and the English symbol as standards for good practice in relation to reporting of IR information for companies listed on a Norwegian regulated market.