§ 3-55. Supervision of the Financial Contracts Act: the Norwegian Consumer Authority and the Market Council

The Financial Contracts Act (Finansavtaleloven)·LOV-2020-12-18-146

Machine-translated from Norwegian. The Norwegian text is the one that applies. Read the original in Norwegian.Norsk English العربية Polski Українська

In brief

The Norwegian Consumer Authority (Forbrukertilsynet) and the Market Council (Markedsrådet) supervise service providers (tjenesteyter) under this Act.
An administrative fine (overtredelsesgebyr) can be imposed for intentional or negligent breaches that are material or repeated.
Rules on impartiality and confidentiality in the Financial Supervision Act (finanstilsynsloven) apply correspondingly to the employees and members of the supervisory bodies.
The supervision by the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway (Finanstilsynet) is not limited.

The text of the law (unofficial translation)

§ 3-55. Supervision

(1) The Norwegian Consumer Authority and the Market Council shall, out of consideration for consumers (forbruker), supervise that the provisions laid down in or pursuant to this Act are complied with by a service provider acting in the course of business. Supervision is carried out in accordance with the rules in the Marketing Control Act (markedsføringsloven) §§ 32 to 41, § 42 first paragraph second sentence and §§ 43 to 43 c, unless otherwise provided by the third paragraph or by regulations (forskrift) under the fourth paragraph.

(2) A service provider may be imposed an administrative fine for an intentional or negligent breach of the rules referred to in the first paragraph if the breach is considered material or has occurred repeatedly. The administrative fine shall be paid by the service provider to whom the decision is directed.

(3) The provisions laid down in or pursuant to the Financial Supervision Act §§ 2-4, 2-5, 2-6 and 2-7 apply correspondingly, as far as appropriate, to employees of the Norwegian Consumer Authority and members of the Market Council, unless otherwise provided by regulations under the fourth paragraph.

(4) The Government (Kongen) may by regulations lay down further rules on the supervisory powers of the Norwegian Consumer Authority and the Market Council, on the relationship to other supervisory bodies and to supplement the rules referred to in the third paragraph. The Government may by regulations lay down further rules on the calculation of administrative fines, cf. the second paragraph.

(5) The rules in this section entail no limitations on the supervision by the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway under otherwise applicable rules.

Source: Lovdata — Finansavtaleloven (the Financial Contracts Act) § 3-55

What does this mean?

This section states who supervises that service providers acting in the course of business comply with the Act. It is the Norwegian Consumer Authority and the Market Council, and the task is based on consideration for consumers. Supervision is carried out under the rules in the Marketing Control Act, unless otherwise provided by regulations or by the third paragraph. The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway's own supervisory role is not limited by this section.

A service provider may be imposed an administrative fine for an intentional or negligent breach, but only if the breach is material or has occurred several times. The fine is paid by the service provider to whom the decision is directed. The Government may lay down further rules on the supervisory powers, on the relationship to other supervisory bodies and on the calculation of fines. An example using the roles in the Act: a service provider breaches the same rule repeatedly through negligence. In that case, an administrative fine may be relevant.

The Marketing Control Act § 32 states that the Norwegian Consumer Authority and the Market Council shall monitor the commercial practices and contract terms of businesses. They are professionally independent bodies, and neither the Government nor the ministry can instruct them in individual cases. The Marketing Control Act § 41 concerns coercive fines (tvangsmulkt), a financial sanction that must be paid if a decision is not complied with. It can be set as a running fine or as a lump sum, and shall not make it profitable to breach the decision.

The third paragraph brings in the Financial Supervision Act §§ 2-4 to 2-7 for employees of the Norwegian Consumer Authority and members of the Market Council, as far as appropriate. The rules include, among other things, a ban on being employed by undertakings under supervision and restrictions on owning and trading financial instruments issued by them. They also include a duty to report loans and personal guarantees (kausjon) from such undertakings, and a duty of confidentiality about customers' (kunde) affairs. Mandatory nature in § 1-9 is listed as a section that refers here.

Related sections

All sections of the Financial Contracts Act →