Norway
A. Progress in the implementation of the minimum standard
Norway has 85 tax agreements in force, as reported in its response to the Peer Review questionnaire, including the multilateral Nordic Convention concluded with Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland and Sweden (the “Nordic Convention”).1 Twenty-one of those agreements, including the Nordic Convention, comply with the minimum standard.
Norway signed the MLI in 2017 and deposited its instrument of ratification on the 17 July 2019, listing 28 of its agreements in force. The MLI entered into force for Norway on 1 November 2019. The agreements modified by the MLI come into compliance with the minimum standard once the provisions of the MLI take effect.
Norway has not listed its agreements with Albania, Austria, Barbados, Belgium, Benin, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Curaçao, Egypt, France, Germany, Greenland, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea, Malaysia, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Qatar, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, Ukraine, Viet Nam and Zambia to be covered under the MLI. These agreements will therefore not, at this stage, be modified by the MLI. Albania, Barbados, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Curaçao, Egypt, France, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea, Malaysia, Morocco, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Senegal, Singapore, the Slovak Republic, Tunisia and Ukraine have listed their agreements with Norway under the MLI.
Norway has signed a bilateral complying instrument with respect to its agreement with Ghana*.
Norway indicated in its response to the Peer Review questionnaire that steps have been taken (other than under the MLI) to implement the minimum standard in its agreements with Austria, Belgium2, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Pakistan.
Norway indicated in its response to the Peer Review questionnaire that the agreements with Azerbaijan*, Bangladesh*, Gambia*, Malawi*, Nepal*, Uganda*, Venezuela*, and Zimbabwe* do not give rise to material treaty-shopping concerns for Norway.
Norway is implementing the minimum standard through the inclusion of the preamble statement and the PPT.3
B. Conclusion
Albania, Barbados, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Curaçao, Egypt, France, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea, Malaysia, Morocco, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Senegal, Singapore, the Slovak Republic, Tunisia and Ukraine have listed their agreements with Norway under the MLI, which amount to requests to implement the minimum standard.
Norway has developed a plan for the implementation of the minimum standard in its agreements with Albania, Barbados, Benin, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Curaçao, Egypt, Greenland, Hungary, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Montenegro, Morocco, the Republic of North Macedonia, Qatar, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Ukraine, Viet Nam and Zambia. Norway indicated in its response to the Peer Review questionnaire that bilateral discussions would be pursued with respect to those agreements.
← 1. See the Multilateral convention concluded by Denmark, Finland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway and Sweden: for the avoidance of double taxation with respect to taxes on income and on capital (1996, 1997, 2008 and 2018). In total, Norway identified 89 "agreements" in its List of Tax agreements: 84 bilateral agreements and the Nordic Convention concluded with five of its treaty partners.
← 2. A complying instrument was signed with respect to the agreement with Belgium on 8 September 2021.
← 3. For its agreements listed under the MLI, Norway is implementing the preamble statement (Article 6 of the MLI) and the PPT (Article 7 of the MLI). Under Article 7(7)(a) of the MLI, Norway is also implementing the simplified LOB (Article 7(8 to 13) of the MLI) in agreements concluded with treaty partners that adopted the simplified LOB. Norway expressed a statement, in accordance with Article 7(17)(a) of the MLI, that while it accepts the application of PPT alone as an interim measure, it intends where possible to adopt an LOB provision in addition to or in replacement of the PPT through bilateral negotiation.