Personal and material scope

• Author: Løvdal, Lene
• Pages: 36-44

36

3 PERSONAL AND MATERIAL SCOPE

3.1 Personal scope

3.1.1 EU a nd non -EU nat ionals (Recit al 13 and Article 3(2), Directive 2000/43

and Recital 12 and Article 3(2), Directive 2000/78)

In Norway, no residence or citizenship/nationality requirements are applied for protection

under the relevant national laws transposing the directives. Citizenship/nationality

requirements are not a ground for protection, but nationality will often be assessed as

ethnicity, if negative value is placed on non-Norwegian citizenship. Those with an

irregular status are protected against discrimination in the same way as other

immigrants.

This has been specifically raised as an issue in relation to the grounds of protection o f the

Equality and Anti-Discrimination Act (GEADA): citizenship is not explicitly mentioned as a

basis for discrimination under the GEADA and therefore requiring Norwegian citizenship

does not fall within the prohibition of direct discrimination in Article 7 of the GEADA.

Discrimination based on citizenship is however discussed in the a ct’s prepara tory works,

which state that discrimination based on citizenship may be subject to the prohibition

against indirect discrimination based on ethnicity.134 It is left to the enforcement agencies

to determine the point at which discriminatory treatment based on citizenship comes

under the prohibition of indirect discrimination based on ethnicity etc. The Equality

Tribunal or the courts must assess each case on its own merits. A case involving the

requirement of Norwegian citizenship was assessed by the Equality Tribunal in Case N o.

18/2006 (as described in section 3.2.10 below).

3.1.2 Natural and legal persons (Recital 16, Directive 2000/43)

a) Protection against discrimination

In Norway, the personal scope of anti-discrimination law covers natural persons, but not

legal persons, for the purpose of protection against discrimination. As of 1 January 2018,

the prohibition against discrimination (GEADA Article 6) in Norway is directed towards

natural persons only, as ‘treatment of a person’ is specified in Articles 7 and 8 of the

GEADA.

b) Liability for discrimination

In Norway, the personal scope of anti-discrimination law c overs (certain) natural and/or

legal persons for the purpose of liability for discrimination. Legal persons are liable for

discrimination under the GEADA (Article 6) and WEA (Article 13-2). The Ombud has

accepted complaints from legal entities, in which it has been clear that the reason for

possible discrimination is the discrimination gr ound related to the members of the

entities.

3.1.3 Private and public sector including public bodies (Article 3( 1))

a) Protection against discrimination

In Norway, the personal scope of anti-discrimination law covers private and public

sectors, including public bodies, for the purpose of protection against discrimination (see

Article 13-2 of the WEA and Article 2 of the GEADA on factual scope and WEA Article 13-

1 and GEADA Article 6 on the prohibition against discrimination).

134 See the preparatory works to the GEADA, Prop. 81 L (2016-2017) Chapter 11.2.3.