The EFTA Surveillance Authority finds that Norwegian rules are in breach of two directives concerning labour law.

Norway has acknowledged the breaches. Nevertheless, it has not yet brought its national law in line with EEA law. As a consequence, the Authority today issued two reasoned opinions to Norway.

Firstly, the Authority finds that the Norwegian Wage Guarantee Regulation is in breach of the Employer Insolvency Directive by requiring employees to register as job‑seekers, in order to receive the payment of outstanding wage claims.

The Employer Insolvency Directive ensures payment of employees' outstanding claims in the event of employer insolvency, and thus improves employees' rights in this field. The Directive requires EEA States to set up an institution to guarantee the payments. However, it does not allow for EEA States to impose additional limitations on the payment of employees' entitlements, such as provided for by the Norwegian rules.

Secondly, the Norwegian Annual Holidays Act does not fully ensure the four weeks annual leave provided for by the Working Time Directive. In the event employees fall sick during their scheduled annual leave, Norway lays down a minimum threshold of days which must pass before employees may demand to have their annual leave prolonged by a corresponding number of days.

Moreover, the Annual Holidays Act requires that the compensatory annual leave must be taken in the same year. Accordingly, if an employee had been on a long-term sick leave, he may not be able to use all of the annual leave guaranteed by the Working Time Directive.

A reasoned opinion is the second stage in infringement proceedings. The Authority may bring the matter before the EFTA Court if Norway fails to take the measures necessary to comply with the reasoned opinions within two months.

For further information, please contact:

Mr. Andreas Kjeldsberg Pihl
Press & Information Officer
tel. (+32)(0)2 286 18 66
mob. (+32)(0)492 900 187