Apply for authorisation of a staffing enterprise

From 1 January 2024, all staffing agencies that hire out labour in Norway must apply for authorisation from the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority. It is illegal to hire labour from a staffing enterprise without such authorisation.

Who must apply for authorisation?

From 1 January 2024, all staffing enterprises that hire out labour in Norway must apply for authorisation from the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority. Only staffing enterprises that have such an authorisation can legally hire out workers.

This means that staffing enterprises registered up to and including 31 December 2023 must have authorisation from the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority to operate legally from 1 January 2024.

A staffing enterprise is an enterprise whose purpose is to hire out labour. Hired-out labour means workers who are employed by the staffing enterprise, while their work is directed by the principal/client or entity hiring them.

Apply for authorisation of a staffing enterprise

Apply for authorisation (altinn.no, only in Norwegian)

In the application, everyone must include

  • documentation of your internal safety service (vernetjeneste)
  • examples of different types of contracts of employment
  • proof of insurance showing that you have active occupational injury insurance
  • procedures that show that you ensure equal treatment of pay and working conditions

Staffing enterprises that are not registered as a limited company (aksjeselskap, AS) or public limited company (allmennaksjeselskap, ASA) in Norway, or an equivalent AS or ASA in another EEA country, must attach a guarantee from a bank or an insurance company.

Staffing enterprises that are registered abroad must attach documentation of their registration from their home country.

Read more about the attachments and the content of the application below.

Roles that have access to forms in Altinn

Those who are to submit forms and read e-mails from us must hold the following roles in Altinn:

  • You must hold the "reporter/sender" role to fill in and submit forms.
  • You must hold the "mail/archive" role to read digital mail.

Read more about the different Altinn roles.

Give rights or rights to others

People who have the "acess manager" role can

  • give the roles "filler/submit" or "mail/archive" to others in the business
  • give rights to a spesific form or service

Read more about how to give rights to others in Altinn (altinn.no)

Get rights for a spesific form or service

If the person submitting the form does not have the roles described above, they can get rights for a specific form or service. It is those who have the roles of "access manager" who can pass these rights on to others.

The person who gets such rights does not get access to the inbox where receipts or replies arrive.

Follow the steps described under "Give rights for a specific form or service" at Altinn to give rights (altinn.no)

All staffing enterprises that hire out labour as staffing enterprises in Norway must be officially authorised from 1 January 2024. All companies whose purpose is to hire out labour must apply to the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority for authorisation.

It is the main legal entity (hovedenhet) in the company that applies for authorisation as a staffing enterprise on behalf of all sub-entities (underenhet) in the company.

Companies without employees should not apply for authorisation

Companies without employees do not need to apply for authorisation as a staffing enterprise.

Sole proprietorships and public limited companies where the owner is the sole employee do not apply for authorisation

Sole proprietorships (ENK) without employees and public limited companies (AS) where the owner is the sole employee do not need to apply for authorisation as a staffing enterprise.

This is because the purchase of services from an organisation consisting of only one person (ENK or AS where the owner is the sole employee) will not be considered hiring (innleie) under the Working Environment Act.

This is in line with the Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion's guide Innleie av arbeidskraft (Hiring of labour, regjeringen.no, in Norwegian only).

The application form was amended on 13 December 2023 to make it clearer that public limited companies (AS) where the owner is the sole employee should not apply for authorisation.

Below you will find more information about what you need to include in your application and how your application will be processed.

What do you need to include in your application?

There are different documentation requirements for being approved as a staffing enterprise, based on the type of company you have and whether the company is registered in Norway or not.

Below you will find information about what the application must contain to fulfil the documentation requirements.

You must have a safety representative

You must have a safety representative (verneombud) to be authorised. The requirement for a safety representative applies to all employees in the entire organisation, regardless of their work tasks and employment percentage (full-time equivalent percentage).

If you have fewer than five employees, you can choose between having a safety representative or agreeing on another arrangement.

If you regularly have 30 or more employees, you are also obliged to have a working environment committee (arbeidsmiljøutvalg, AMU).

On 1 January 2024, the rules regarding internal safety services (vernetjeneste) in the Working Environment Act was changed. The new requirements are that you must have a safety representative if you have 5 or more employees. Previously, the requirement was 10 or more employees. If you now have 30 or more employees, you must also have a working environment committee. Previously, the requirement was 50 or more employees. You must fulfil the new requirements to be authorised.

Provide information about the safety representative

If you have a safety representative, you must provide this information about the safety representative:

  • name
  • telephone number

Provide the information for the safety representative you have at the time you apply for authorisation. If you have several safety representatives, you must enter information about the main safety representative.

Attach an agreement on another arrangement

If you have another arrangement than a safety representative, you must upload a written agreement on this arrangement. The agreement must be signed by all employees.

Attach information about the working environment committee

If you have a working environment committee, you must attach a meeting notice or an overview showing

  • the names of the participants
  • the date of the meeting

The meeting notice or overview must be from the most recent meeting of the working environment committee.

Tick the boxes for the types of employment contracts you have

All employees must have written employment contracts. You must tick off which of these types of employment contracts you have in your enterprise:

  • full-time
  • part-time
  • temporary employees (e.g. seasonal workers and extra staff)

Attach one contract of employment per group

You must attach one contract of employment per group of employees (e.g. full-time, part-time and temporary) you hire out to companies. You do not need to attach employment contracts for all employees at the staffing enterprise.

Attach filled in employment contracts

The contracts of employment you attach must be filled in.

Do you have employees in particularly independent posts?

In the application form, you must state how much overtime supplement the employees have. If you only hire out employees in particularly independent posts (særlig uavhengige stillinger), you must select at least 40 per cent overtime supplement to be able to proceed in the application form.

If you have a combination of employees in ordinary posts and particularly independent posts, select the overtime supplement for the employees in ordinary posts.

In your application, you must answer questions about how you as a staffing enterprise ensure equal treatment of pay and working conditions in connection with the hiring-out of labour. In your application, you must include a written procedure showing how you ensure this. 

The procedure must ensure that you fulfil the rules on equal treatment of pay and working conditions. It must describe how you ensure that the hired-out employees have at least the same conditions as they would have had if they had been employed by the hirer to perform the same work. 

The procedure must state how you as a staffing enterprise obtain information about pay and working conditions from the hirer, and what information you obtain. As a staffing enterprise, you must obtain information from the hirer about:  

  • the length and location of working hours  
  • overtime work  
  • duration and location of breaks and rest periods  
  • night work  
  • holiday time and holiday pay  
  • days off and remuneration on such days  
  • wages and expense coverage  

These are minimum requirements for a written procedure for equal treatment of pay and working conditions. 

Read more about equal treatment of pay and working conditions for staffing enterprises.

You must have private occupational injury insurance

All employers must take out private occupational injury insurance (yrkesskadeforsikring) for their employees. You must document that you have taken out such insurance. The insurance is intended to ensure financial compensation for employees in the event of occupational injury.

Upload a copy of the insurance certificate

You must upload a copy of the page in the insurance certificate that shows that the organisation has an active occupational injury insurance. The page must show the insurance period and the name of your organisation.

These enterprises must include documentation of their legal form in the application:

  • Companies registered in another EEA country
  • Companies registered outside the EEA

The documentation that must be attached to the application is a certificate of registration from the public registration authority in the home country. The documentation must be in Norwegian or English.

These enterprises do not need to submit documentation of their legal form in the application:

  • Enterprises that are registered as limited liability companies (aksjeselskap, AS), public limited companies (allmennaksjeselskap, ASA) or other types of companies in Norway

These enterprises do not need to provide a guarantee from a bank or insurance company:

  • Enterprises that are registered as a limited liability company (aksjeselskap, AS) or public limited company (allmennaksjeselskap, ASA) in Norway
  • Enterprises registered in another EEA country with a corporate form equivalent to AS or ASA

These enterprises must attach a guarantee from a bank or insurance company:

  • Enterprises that are registered with a company form other than AS or ASA in Norway
  • Enterprises registered in another EEA country with a company form that is not equivalent to AS or ASA
  • Enterprises outside the EEA

Documentation of a guarantee from a bank or insurance company must show that you fulfil the minimum guarantee requirement of NOK 30,000. Such documentation may, for example, be a bank statement from the bank. The documentation must be in Norwegian or English.

All foreign enterprises that do not have a permanent place of business or registered office in Norway must have a Norwegian representative. The representative must be

  • be authorised to receive claims and take legal action on behalf of the company
  • domicile or permanent business address in Norway

You must provide the name, address and contact information of the Norwegian representative.

How will the application be processed and what kind of response can you receive?

You will automatically receive an authorisation decision as soon as you have submitted your application. To be able to submit an application, you must fulfil all the requirements for authorisation.

You will receive a response to your application in Altinn (altinn.no).

This is what happens if you get the authorisation

If you fulfil the requirements for authorisation, you will

What happens if you fail to submit your application?

If you do not meet the requirements for authorisation, you will

  • not be allowed to submit the application
  • not be granted authorisation and thus operate illegally

What happens if it later turns out that you do not fulfil the requirements?

Even if you have been granted authorisation, the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority can subsequently manually check that you meet the requirements for authorisation. If it turns out that you still do not fulfil the requirements, you will

If your authorisation is withdrawn, you will not be able to legally hire out labour as a staffing enterprise. To be authorised, you must fulfil the requirements and reapply for authorisation.

A withdrawal of authorisation is an individual decision that can be appealed. Normal case processing rules apply. How to appeal (only in Norwegian).

After you have submitted your application, the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority can manually check whether you meet the requirements for authorisation. We may also request further documentation. If it turns out that you still do not fulfil the requirements, we may withdraw your authorisation.

All applicants will be listed in a public register

After the application has been submitted, all authorised staffing enterprises will be included in the public overview of authorised staffing enterprises (in Norwegian)

Regulations

Regulations on public authorisation of staffing enterprises (in Norwegian)

Further information

Questions and answers about the application for authorisation as a staffing enterprise (in Norwegian)


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