Summary

Public committees have a key position in the Norwegian model of government administration. Various sections of society, such as professional and industrial bodies and academia, participate on public committees. The aim of setting up public committees is to develop the knowledge base for the policy and propose specific measures, such as new legislation. The committees shall submit a public report (sometimes several reports) that formally speaking provide advice to the Ministry that has set up the committee. An additional benefit from the use of public committees is that they contribute to transparency as to who gives the government or ministers advice on how to develop and implement public policy and what advice they provide.

The reports are frequently published as Official Norwegian Reports (Norges offentlige utredninger, NOUs), but may also be published in another way, The NOUs are usually distributed for public consultation and therefore often form part of the technical basis of white papers and parliamentary bills the Government presents to the Storting. 

The public committees are set up by the Government or by a ministry. The committees have external representation and are established for a limited time period, such as one year. The external members may be stakeholders or independent experts. The committees may also have members from public authorities.

The purpose of this guide is to provide practical advice and tips on public committee work that may contribute to the efficiency of the committee work and to better compliance with the Instructions for Official Studies and Reports .

The guide is primarily intended for the chairperson and the members of the select committees, but also for the committee secretariat. The guide also provides advice to the ministries on creating mandates for the committees and on what the ministries are expected to do to assist the committees during their work. In addition, the guide says something about how the ministry is expected to follow-up reports from public select committees, such as by distributing them for public consultation.

It is important to emphasise that select committee shall have flexibility in the work, that the members of the committees are equal, and that they have the authority to find good solutions. This means that they can have dialogues and discussions with whom they wish, only limited by mandate.

The series of Norway Official Reports started in 1972. 1572 NOUs were published in the period 1972–2018. The reports became available in full text on the internet as of 1994, but some pre-1994 reports have also been published online. Since 1994, the annual number of reports has ranged between 35 in 2001 and 13 in 2013.