Please note: The text below is a translation of the original
Norwegian Act. In the event of any cases where doubt may arise,
the Norwegian text of the Act is valid and binding.
Regulation for the Act regarding the Register of Business
Reporting Obligations
Section 1 Location
The Register of Business Reporting Obligations shall be located
at the Brønnøysund Register Centre.
Section 2 Delegation
Amendments to the Regulation can be made by the Ministry
of Trade and Industry.
Section 3 Exemptions to the scope of the Act
The information collection of county municipal and municipal
agencies are exempted from the scope and extent of the Act
regarding the Register of Business Reporting Obligations.
Section 4 The functions of the Register of Business Reporting
Obligations
The Register of Business Reporting Obligations shall perform
the functions laid down by the Act regarding the Register
of Business Reporting Obligations and this Regulation, as
well as other duties which are a natural consequence of these,
including serving as a consultation body for proposals for
amendments to the provisions which may imply new reporting
obligations or amendments to existing reporting obligations.
Through its co-ordination efforts, the Register of Business
Reporting Obligations shall endeavour to reduce the number
of reporting obligations incumbent on businesses.
The Register of Business Reporting Obligations shall, moreover,
advise collectors of information on how to design reporting
obligations and operate information activities for them, business
enterprises and others.
Section 5 Co-ordinating Council
The Co-ordinating Committee shall be an advisory body for
the Ministry of Trade and Industry in individual cases, cf.
Sections 19 and 20. The Co-ordinating Council shall be composed
as follows: The Ministry of Trade and Industry, head, The
Ministry of Finance and Customs, the Ministry of Planning
and Co-ordination and the Ministry in charge of the agency
compiling the information. The Register Centre at Brønnøysund
is given the status of observer in the Co-ordinating Council.
When needed, the viewpoints of the Norwegian Data Inspectorate
and the user group may be canvassed.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry shall act as the secretariat
for the Co-ordinating Council.
Section 6 User group
The Ministry of Trade and Industry shall convene a user group
including representatives from business and industry. The
user group shall have an advisory function.
The Register of Business Reporting Obligations, the Co-ordinating
Council and the Ministry of Trade and Industry may all seek
advice from the user group regarding the co-ordination efforts.
Furthermore, the user group may provide advice on co-ordination
efforts on their own initiative. The group must be informed
about co-ordination efforts on a regular basis.
Section 7 Issuing information and payment for the services
of the Register of Business Reporting Obligations
Information from the Register of Business Reporting Obligations
can be issued in writing, electronically or via hard copy.
The Registrar may lay down further conditions on how the information
should be issued. Information can only be provided orally
to the extent and in the form that the Registrar finds appropriate.
In the event that information is ordered as to which reporting
obligations a particular business enterprise has, the business
enterprise in question must be identified through its organization
number. If the information concerns a group which has reporting
obligations, the group must be delimited according to given
criteria, as for example organization form, business code
and the number of employees.
Business enterprises are entitled to receive free of charge
a listing of the business reporting obligations they have
under the public authorities. Information needed by a collector
of reporting obligations, the Co-ordinating Council, the user
group and the Ministry of Trade and Industry for their co-ordinating
efforts shall be issued free of charge. Information regarding
the actual co-ordination being undertaken shall also be issued
free of charge.
The Registrar may determine fees for the other services supplied
by the Register of Business Reporting Obligations in collaboration
with the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
Section 8 The duty of the public agency responsible for
collecting information (hereinafter called the "Collector
") to obtain workload estimates from business enterprises
When required, the Register of Business Reporting Obligations
may request the Collector to collect workload estimates from
business enterprises. Business enterprises are obliged to
furnish the required information for this work. The practical
implementation of collecting workload time estimates will
be organized in accordance with a more detailed agreement
between the Register of Business Reporting Obligations and
the Collector.
Should any dispute arise, the matter shall be resolved pursuant
to the provisions in Sections 19 and 20.
Section 9 The Co-ordination duty of the Collector for new
and amended reporting obligations
A reporting obligation lends itself for co-ordination when
it contains the same information as other reporting obligations.
When assessing whether the information is the same, an overall
assessment must be undertaken. Important assessment criteria
are: whether the information is appropriate for solving two
or more administrative tasks, linguistic similarity, the quality
of the information reported, the purpose of collecting the
information and formal rules. Co-ordination shall be implemented
when it is practically possible to co-ordinate reporting obligations.
Co-ordination shall be implemented as soon as possible.
Co-ordination of new and amended reporting obligations could
include drawing up action plans when co-ordination is not
practically feasible and in other special cases. Such action
plans must state clearly the measures which must be implemented
for co-ordination to come about. The provisions about action
plans in Section 10 apply correspondingly.
The co-ordination obligation lays down that that the Collector
shall issue information and the Collector shall collect information
in a manner specified when the conditions for co-ordination
have been met.
How co-ordination can be arranged in an individual case will
be determined by the Register of Business Reporting Obligations
and the Collector based on a concrete assessment. Should any
dispute arise, the matter shall be resolved pursuant to the
provisions in Sections 19 and 20. Co-ordination may involve
e.g. the transference of information from one Collector to
another, two or more Collectors joining in collecting joint
information or agreeing on a common deadline for sending in
reports.
Section 10 The co-ordination obligation of the Collector
for existing reporting obligations - action plans
If existing reporting obligations lend themselves to co-ordination,
cf. Section 5 of the Act regarding the Register of Business
Reporting Obligations, the Collector must draw up an action
plan for co-ordinating them. The Register of Business Reporting
Obligations may, in agreement with the Collector in question,
set a deadline for drawing up action plans. The action plan
must outline the concrete measures which must be implemented
for co-ordination to be feasible, including how measures are
to be implemented and a time schedule for the implementation.
If amendments to provisions are required, these must also
be included. Other matters of importance for co-ordinating
existing reporting obligations must also be included in the
action plan.
The action plan must be forwarded to the Register of Business
Reporting Obligations, which shall ensure that the Collector
carries out the proposed measures in accordance with the plan.
The Collector shall, within 31 January, report on his co-ordination
efforts for the previous and current years pursuant to the
action plans.
The Register of Business Reporting Obligations shall collect
a statement from the user group and inform the Ministry of
Trade and Industry on the work with action plans and the user
group's assessment of this work no later than the end of February.
Stortinget [Parliament] shall be informed about co-ordination
efforts annually.
Section 11 Co-ordination of reporting obligations which
require legislative amendments
Co-ordination of reporting obligations which requires legislative
amendments must be undertaken through the drafting of action
plans. This applies to new, amended and existing reporting
obligations.
If co-ordination of reporting obligations requires amendments
to acts, the Ministry in charge of the area in question shall
ensure that a proposal regarding the necessary legislative
amendments is submitted. An agreement can be made with the
Ministry of Trade and Industry whereby this ministry may assume
the responsibility for drawing up and submitting the Bill.
Section 12 Exemptions from the co-ordination obligation
Information which comes under the obligation of secrecy pursuant
to the Act of 7 December 1956 no. 1 regarding the Commission
for credit institutions, insurance companies and securities
trade etc. (The Banking, Insurance and Securities Commission
- Finanstilsynet) is exempted from the co-ordination obligation.
Section 13 The duty of the collector to contact the Register
of Business Reporting Obligations in advance
A Collector planning to introduce a new reporting obligation
or to amend an existing reporting obligation shall contact
the Register of Business Reporting Obligations as soon as
possible to obtain assistance in designing the reporting obligation
and to assess the co-ordination opportunities.
Section 14 The requirement for information about co-ordination
on the Collector 's form
The Collector 's form must include a statement to the effect
that the information may be co-ordinated, state the authority
for co-ordination, and that information about any co-ordination
that is undertaken may be obtained from the Register of Business
Reporting Obligations. The telephone number shall be provided.
Section 15 The notification obligation of the Collector
When the design of a new or amended reporting obligation
has been completed by the Collector, the Register of Business
Reporting Obligations must be notified, cf. Section 4, paragraph
one of the Act regarding the Register of Business Reporting
Obligations.
Section 16 The information the notification shall include
On submitting information to the Register of Business Reporting
Obligations, a form approved by the Registrar must be used.
The form must include information on:
- the Collector's designation of the reporting obligation
and what the Collector will be using the compiled information
for
- the authorization for the information to be collected
- the form to be used for the information to be collected
- the use of computer registers for compiling and recording
information
- who is obliged to submit the form (the information sender)
- estimated use of time for filling in the form
The following must be appended:
- the reason for the information collection and a report on
financial and administrative consequences
- the form(s) connected with the report
The Register of Business Reporting Obligations may request
additional information when this is required in order to assess
co-ordination.
Section 17 Feedback and deadlines for processing the notification
The Register of Business Reporting Obligations shall provide
feedback to the Collector within twenty-one days on the possibility
of co-ordinating new or amended reporting obligations.
The time limit for processing the notification starts from
the point in time when the Register of Business Reporting
Obligations considers the notification to be complete. The
deadline is determined according to the provisions in Sections
148 and 149 of the Courts of Justice Act. If the Collector
does not receive an answer within twenty-one days, the reporting
obligation shall be considered to be approved, and the Collector
can implement the reporting obligation.
Section 18 Exemptions from the prohibition on implementation
The Ministry in charge may in special cases make exemptions
from the prohibition on implementation in Section 4, paragraph
two, of the Act regarding the Register of Business Reporting
Obligations so that a reporting obligation may be implemented
prior to being registered with the Register of Business Reporting
Obligations.
In the event that exemptions are made from the prohibition
on implementation, the Collector shall at the same time notify
the Register of Business Reporting Obligations as to the subsequent
registration and co-ordination assessment of the reporting
obligation.
The Register of Business Reporting Obligations shall inform
the Ministry of Trade and Industry when exemptions from the
prohibition on implementation have been reported.
Section 19 The case processing of the Register of Business
Reporting Obligations in the event of a dispute concerning
the co-ordination obligation
If the Register of Business Reporting Obligations and the
Collector cannot agree whether the reporting obligation lends
itself to co-ordination, the dispute shall be resolved according
to the provisions in this section.
Within five days after receiving the notification from the
Register of Business Reporting Obligations that the conditions
for co-ordination are present, the Collector shall provide
a written report stating his views and grounds.
The case shall be forwarded to the Ministry of Trade and Industry
at the latest five days after the Register of Business Reporting
Obligations receives the notification that the Collector is
not in agreement that conditions for co-ordination are present.
The report from the Register of Business Reporting Obligations
shall include the various points of view and the grounds stated.
The Collector 's report shall be appended to the case.
Section 20 The case processing of the Ministry of Trade
and Industry in the event of a dispute concerning the co-ordination
obligation
The Ministry of Trade and Industry shall forward the case
to the Co-ordination Committee as soon as possible after receiving
the case. The Ministry of Trade and Industry shall set a deadline
for the Co-ordination Committee's statement.
When the statement from the Co-ordination Committee has been
submitted, the Ministry of Trade and Industry shall review
the case and attempt to obtain agreement with the Ministry
involved.
Should there continue to be disagreement, the Ministry of
Trade and Industry shall decide whether the case shall be
brought to the Government for a final decision.
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