Information for exporters

Responsibilities and obligations

Exporters must ensure that they have a valid licence before any export of products, technology or services to which the licensing requirement applies. Please contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs if you have questions about licensing and the export control system.

As a first step, exporters must themselves assess whether a product, technology or service is in one of the categories in List I or List II. An exporter who comes to the conclusion that a specific product, technology or service does not require an export licence must be able to provide documentation to substantiate this. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs can also provide assistance with such assessments, which are called product assessments.

Norway has implemented a number of sanctions and restrictive measures, some of which involve arms embargoes. In addition, they may ban exports of certain other types of products, for example products for use in the petroleum sector. Which products are banned varies, but they are always clearly specified in regulations implementing the sanctions or restrictive measures. Exporters are responsible for complying with the rules on exports of products to countries that are subject to arms embargoes or sanctions.

Read more about sanctions and restrictive measures.

Responsibilities relating to export licences

The Export Control Regulations set out a number of obligations for exporters. See more details in the regulations, particularly sections 16-21.

Penal provisions

Failure to comply with the export control legislation may result in criminal liability. Under section 5 of the Export Control Act, contraventions are punishable by fines or a term of imprisonment not exceeding five years, unless more severe penal provisions apply.

The Norwegian Police Security Service is the prosecuting authority in the event of contraventions of the export control legislation.