520 TOURISM LAW IN EUROPE Like in the rest of the world, the tourism industry in Norway was greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This article is meant to give a more general overview of the regulatory framework covering the tourist industry in Norway and will therefore not go into details on the legal specificities in the wake of the pandemic. 2. LEGAL ENVIRONMENT Although Norway is not part of the EU, Norway is part of the European Economic Area (EEA). Through the EEA Agreement, Norway is obliged to take on-board all EEA relevant legislation from the EU. All relevant EU-legislation in this field will therefore also be relevant for Norway and implemented into Norwegian law and will apply in the same way in Norway as in EU Member States. There is no general tourism act in Norway. There are however a lot of special acts which need to be complied to by companies offering tourist services in Norway. In general, there are not many areas where a formal licence or authorisation is needed to perform a tourism service in Norway. There are, however, both general requirements to register businesses in the Company Register of Norway2 and more specific requirements to register certain businesses with the relevant authorities, such as for restaurants and cafes serving food and alcohol. There are also not any formal requirements for guides, meaning that anyone may call themselves a tour guide in Norway. However, due to the specificities in nature- and wildlife on the island of Svalbard, the government is currently looking into a new regulation requiring a licence to offer guided activities here. 3. INSTITUTIONAL ORGANISATION Tourism and travel trade is in Norway organised under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries. The Ministry has set up the company Innovation Norway which has been given the mandate and responsibility to develop and maintain the website 2 The Brønnøysund Register Centre.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE4NzM5Nw==