When marketing and selling goods and electronic services to Norwegian customers your business must ensure that your e-commerce is in compliance with applicable legislation. Here are some of the relevant issues when your online store wants to target Norwegian customers.
Marketing
The Marketing Control Act applies when the marketing is aimed at Norwegian consumers. The Act regulates which acts and omissions are considered misleading, unfair and/or prohibited as commercial practices, and the Act have special provisions relating to the protection of children.
It is important to notice that it is prohibited to direct electronic marketing to persons without prior consent. As a main rule the box in your online store for receiving marketing material, such as news letters, must therefore not be pre-ticked. Exceptions apply to larger capital goods for which customer follow-up is usually required, or for contracts that are extended automatically.
If your business is considering to market products through sponsoring bloggers, be aware that bloggers must follow certain guidelines not to be in breach of the ban on hidden advertisement. These guidelines can be found here.
Sales terms
There are also requirements for what information that must be given to the customer before entering into a contract, and to the specific contract between the buyer and seller. An example of Standard Sales Conditions that are in compliance with Norwegian law has been issued by the Consumer Ombudsman. The Standard Sales Conditions can be found here and Guidelines for the use of these can be found here.
Privacy policy
Online shops should have a privacy policy that is easy accessible in the shop. This policy should include information on what personal data will be registered and why, what the personal data is used for, who the personal data will be available for and if the personal data can be deleted. If the data is to be transferred to a country outside the EU/EEC the consumer must consent to this.
VAT
Businesses that are not established in Norway must add Value Added Tax when providing certain electronic services, such as downloading of film, music, digital books and other electronic publications. The current EU VAT regime, were the retailer only needs to register in one EU country, does not apply in Norway, with the consequence that all foreign suppliers of these electronic services must register in Norway. A company representative is not necessary when using this simplified system of VAT-registration. For more information on this subject see the Norwegian Tax Administration webpage here.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
