Latest developments in 2019

• Author: Løvdal, Lene
• Pages: 97-102

97

12 LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN 2019

12.1 Legislative amendments

From 3 October 2019 a new Act on municipalities and regional administrations, the

Municipality Act, 344 entered into force, and thereby introduced a duty for each

municipality and regional administration to have an advisory council for the elderly and

one for persons with disabilities, as well as a youth council or similar to ensure that

young people have a say in the decisions of the municipality or regional administration

(Municipality Act, Article 5-2(2)).

More detailed rules are provided in the Regulations on municipal and regional councils for

the elderly, persons with disabilities and youth (Regulations on advisory bodies),345 These

councils are elected by the municipal or regional Parliament in question (Municipality Act,

Article 5-12(1) and have the right to voice their opinion in cases concerning elderly

people, persons with disabilities and youth respectively. A joint council for the elderly and

persons with disabilities may be created if this is necessary due to local circumstances,

such as the municipality being very small.

The municipal or regional Parliaments must present all such cases for the respective

councils as early as possible (Regulations on advisory bodies, Article 2(3)) and the every

year the council will prepare an annual report to be presented to the municipal or

regional Parliament in question. The members of the councils may be given the right to

participate and speak before the relevant Parliament.

Civil society organisations representing the elderly, persons with disabilities and youth

have a right to propose members to the council representing their interests (Article 3).

The regulations also have a number of rules to ensure that these councils will be able to

function effectively, such as a duty to provide sufficient support from a secretariat.

12.2 Case law

SELECTED COURT CASES

Name of the court: Supreme Court

Date of decision: 12 February 2019

Name of the parties: Trot horse driver Åsbjørn Tengsareid and the Norwegian Horsetrot

Society v. the Norwegian Tax Authority (Skattedirektoratet)

Reference number: HR-2019-273-A

Address of the webpage: https://lovdata.no/pro/#document/HRSIV/avgjorelse/hr-

2019-273-a (login required)

Brief summary: The case concerns the principle of equal treatment in public

administration in general, rather than discrimination law. The case concerned tax law,

with a focus on the principle of equal treatment and when it applies in the public

administration’s decision-making. The tax authorities had interpreted the law in a way

that the claimant saw as unjustified differential treatment. The VAT Appeals Board had

reassessed outgoing VAT for a jockey's fixed pay for each race (oppsittpenger) and his

shares of the cash prizes won (Section 3-1(1), cf. Section 1-3(1)(a) of the VAT Act). The

Supreme Court concluded that the payments were taxable income from sale of services,

and that the decision was valid. The fixed payments for each race were considered a

form of start money (startpenger). The Court referred to the fact that a fixed and clear

public administration practice assumed that start money in a competition constituted

payment for a service and thus taxable income. The share of the cash prize was

344 Municipality Act (Lov om kommuner og fylkeskommuner (kommuneloven)) of 22 June 2018 No. 83.

345 Regulations on advisory bodies (Forskrift om kommunale og fylkeskommunale råd for eldre, personer med

funksjonsnedsettelse og ungdom (forskrift om medvirkningsordninger)) of 17 June 2019 No. 727.