Registration in the Register of Non-Profit Organisations

Requirements for registering an association in the Register of Non-Profit Organisations

• The association must be registered in the Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities with a board
• The association cannot have a majority of board members appointed due to their position in public office.
• Only non-profit organisations have the right to register.
  • The organisation cannot distribute funds to private individuals.
• You must submit the organisation’s statutes to complete the registration, but registering them is voluntary.

If you choose to register the statutes, you must:

• Submit updated statutes to the Register of Non-Profit Organisations each time they are changed.
  

Requirements for statutes to be registered

The statutes must include information about the association’s:

• name
• objective
• rules for the board and general meeting
• rules regarding members’ relationship with the organisation
• rules for amendments to the statutes
• rules for dissolution
• information about the fact that the organisation is self-owned (ensuring that no individual can dispose the organisation’s assets, claim distributions, or be liable for debts).

See example of statutes for associations (pdf) – in Norwegian

Associations may voluntarily submit the annual accounts

Most non-profit organisations that are not engaged in commercial activities are not required to submit the annual accounts to the Register of Company Accounts.

If you choose to undertake a voluntary reporting obligation, you must register this in the Register of Non-Profit Organisations. The annual accounts must then be submitted to the Register of Company Accounts annually.

There are specific annual accounts requirements for associations. More information about these rules can be found at lovdata.no, under Regulations concerning the Register of Non-Profit organisations, Chapter 6

If the association opts for financial reporting obligations, you must specify the end date of the fiscal year.

Requirements for registering a foundation in the Register of Non-Profit Organisations

• The foundation must be registered in the Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities with a board.
• The association cannot have a majority of board members appointed due to their position in public office.
• You must submit the organisation’s statutes to complete the registration.

Public foundations

• Only public foundations that do not make distributions, or that exclusively distribute funds to voluntary activities, have the right to register in the Register of Non-Profit Organisations.

Commercial foundations

• Only commercial foundations that exclusively distribute funds to voluntary activities have the right to register in the Register of Non-Profit Organisations.

If the foundation makes distributions, it cannot distribute funds to private individuals or organisations that do not themselves qualify for registration in the Register of Non-Profit Organisations. The funds cannot be used for private financial gain.

Requirements for registering a limited company in the Register of Non-Profit Organisation

• Only limited companies that exclusively make distributions to voluntary activities are eligible to register in the Register of Non-Profit Organisations.
• The limited company must be registered in the Register of Business Enterprises with a board.
• The board cannot have a majority of members appointed due to their roles in public office
• The majority of the shares cannot be owned by the public sector
• When registering in the Register of Non-Profit Organisations, you must submit the organisation’s statutes.

If the limited company makes distributions, it cannot distribute funds to private individuals or organisations that do not qualify for registration in the Register of Non-Profit Organisations. The funds cannot be used for private financial gain.

The organisation must provide information about category or area of activity that fits the activity the organisation is running. Have a look at the table of available categories.

It is optional to register an account number, but if you want to participate in the grassroots share programme, you must register the organisation’s account number in the Register of Non-Profit Organisations.

When your association applies for registration in the Register of Non-Profit Organisations, you may also apply for participation in the Grassroots share programme, if the participation terms are met according to the grassroots share regulations .

Here you can read more about the Grassroots share programme.

• Only central levels of non-profit organisations with several organisational levels (regional and/or local levels) are required to report affiliations to the Register of Non-Profit Organisations. This means that a non-profit organisation, which is the central level of a non-profit organisation, must register the organisational links it has with local and regional levels in its organisation.

Instructions on how to report affiliations in the Register of Non-Profit Organisations.