1.3 Main specifics of the constitutional system

The Parliament
Afrter recent changes in the Constitution the Parliament is divided into two cambers, the Odelsting and the Lagting. These changes will be working from Oct. 1st. 2009. Until then the existing order from 1814 will be continuing. When a Parliament first convenes following an election, it elects one quarter of the representatives to serve as members of the Lagting. The remaining three quarters of the representatives become members of the Odelsting. Each of the elected representatives serves on one of the 12 permanent committees. In addition there is an enlarged committee on foreign affairs. Most of the matters presented to the Parliament and the Odelsting for plenary discussions are deliberated and prepared by these standing committees. Together with the party groups, the permanent committees are the most important arena in which the real decisions on current matters are being made. One important criterion for addressing particular tasks to one or several specific committees is that this or these committee(s) deals(-) with matters originating in the ministry of the same or similar name as the committee(s) of the Parliament. For instance Environmental protection and regional planning can thematically be submitted to the standing committee on Energy and the Environment, referring to the Ministry of Oil and Energy and the Ministry of Environment respectively. Local government administration, regional development, housing, building and construction will in most cases belong to the standing committee on Local Government referring to the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, while transportation should be under the standing committee on Transport and Communication referring to Ministry of Transport. Two or even more committees can be responsible for preparing one particular matter. Thematically there will regularly be some discretion behind the submitting of tasks to the different committees.

The responsibilities of the Parliament in matters of legislation, state budgeting and governmental supervising decide more or less its internal working procedures:

(1) A legislative procedure starts when the Government introduces a bill formalized as a proposition to the Odelsting. This proposition is the product of an exhaustive preparatory process that normally begins with the appointment of an expert committee who prepares a report including a proposal on the legal subject. It ends with targeted hearings and final approval by the King in Government Council Meeting, or shorter King in Council. After receiving the proposition the Odelsting submits it to the appropriate standing committee(s). The committee considers the proposition and prepares requirements and justifications in the form of a recommendation addressed for the Odelsting debate. If the Odelsting accepts the recommendation, eventually with amendments, an Odelsting resolution is prepared for deliberation in the Lagting. If approved, the resolution is again sent to the King in Council Meeting, which has to sanction the adopted resolution before it becomes valid law. There are several variants of this more or less idealized procedure depending on the character of the matter. The conclusions of the expert committee and the outcomes of the discussions in the standing committee (s), in the Odelsting and in the Lagting are important factors in this regard. When the recent revisions are coming into force in 2009 the handling of legal matters within the Parliament will be changed. New law proposals should then be directly introduced to the Parliament, either by members of the Parliament or by the Government through the minister in charge.

 (2) The fiscal budget procedure starts after the Parliament convenes in the autumn when the Minister of Finance on behalf of the Government appears to present the budget proposition in his Budget Statement for the coming year. This proposal for the Fiscal Budget allocates resources to activities within all sectors of the State system, including state sectoral planning. Before submission to the Parliament the budget proposal has undergone an extensive preparation in which all governmental entities and administrations of this system have been involved. The Government's budget proposal receives the official approval in the King in Council Meeting, whereupon it is submitted to the Parliament as Proposition No. 1. In the Parliament, the Working Procedures Committee, which comprises the Presidium, the chairmen of standing committees and the party group leaders, is responsible for assigning the various budget chapters to the appropriate standing committees. This committee sets also the deadlines for the completion and return of the budget recommendations by the standing committees. The standing committee on Finance and Economic Affairs coordinate the fiscal budget proceedings and presents a recommendation concerning the National and Fiscal Budgets, with a proposed resolution on budget limits for an appropriation in accordance with the spending program laid down by the Parliament. This resolution on the budget's limits is binding for the subsequent considerations of the budget. A plenary budget debate in the Parliament is concluded by a vote on the proposals submitted in the recommendations. The amounts for all the separate spending programs are fixed collectively in a single resolution. When the standing committees later on make their recommendations concerning spending programs allocated to them, they can only make reallocations within the decided budget limits. These final budget recommendations of the standing committees should be considered by the Parliament at latest by Mid-December. The Parliament's power in fiscal matters includes the authority to place funds at the disposal of the Government and even order such expenditures. In general the representatives of the Parliament have fairly wide opportunities to order expenditures and initiate items for the Fiscal Budget.

(3) Finally, the Parliament has the mandate to supervise the Government and the public administration. Some of the duties originating from this mandate are mentioned in the Constitution, like the authorities to examine the Records of the Government Council Meetings, to review treaties concluded with foreign powers and to audit state accounts. Others are not formalized in the Constitution but follow more or less as a consequence of the political accountability of the Government to the Parliament, and the necessity to inform and communicate through mass media, particularly in relation to the Parliament's control over public administration. Parliamentary debates, questions and interpellations regarding executive matters are public accessible arrangements that give the Parliament opportunities to review and evaluate Government policies. A particular kind of control is exercised through the Ombudsman who is an official appointed by the Parliament. The duty of the Ombudsman's office is to ensure that individuals do not suffer injustice at the hands of the public administration whether central state, county state or municipal. Annually the Ombudsman gives account to the Parliament.

The mandate of the Saami Parliament comprises matters of interests for the Saami population. It is up to this parliament to define its matters of interests. Such matters of interests provided the Saami Parliament is entitled to raise questions, undertake investigations, and give its opinion and present proposals to public authorities as well as private organizations. Authority to administer budget items connecting to Saami purposes in the Annual Fiscal Budget of the State is delegated to the Saami Parliament. The Government decides rules and regulations for the financial management of the Saami Parliament.

The Government
The establishing of a new Government will either take place after an electoral defeat or after a majority vote of no-confidence in the Parliament. Most commonly the Prime Minister of the defeated or no-confidence Government will be in a position to consider the political situation and propose his or her candidate of succession. Alternatively, the King or the President of the Parliament can undertake considerations for a candidate to set up a new Government. The leader of the party who is able to achieve support to the program for a new government from the biggest number of seats, majority or not, will normally be the accepted candidate for the prime minister position, and can if he or she accepts start appointing ministers to the Government. In addition to the Prime Minister, the Norwegian Government should consist at minimum of 7 ministers. At least 50 per cent of the Government members should be members of the State Evangelical Lutheran Church.

After WWII the number of ministers in the Government, and as consequence the number of ministries, has gradually increased. In the Government, the politically appointed positions consist of the ministers, secretaries appointed for each ministry and advisers to the ministers. Currently there are 19 ministers and 18 ministries in the existing Government. Responsibilities for planning and building according to the Planning and Building Act are divided between the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development. The fields of pollution, natural protection, cultural heritage and planning belong to the former ministry, while housing, regional development and building permitting belong to the latter. Public works is under the Ministry of Modernization.

Officials within each Ministry are responsible for the preparation of matters for decisions in the Government. Their political constituencies decide proposals for discussions or decisions. Meetings for organizing decision-making of the Government are of two kinds:

Originating from practical needs the members of the Government meet regularly twice a week to discuss prioritized political issues. As in any collegial meeting of the Government these Government Conferences are coordinated by the Prime Minister's Office and led by the Prime Minister. The constitutionally important meeting however is the King in Government Council.

Although decisions taken in Government Conferences are political binding for the members of the Government, they are not valid as formal conclusions. The mandate of the Government for making conclusions in a particular matter is either executed within each Ministry in the hands of the Minister or within the King in Council Meeting. It means that the discussions in the Government Conferences have to be completed through final conclusions in the Ministries or through the collegiums of ministers in the King in Council Meeting. The Parliament is the sole legislative body, but the Government is empowered to issue subordinate legislation. According to the Planning and Building Act both ministries in charge are entitled to issue subordinate rules and regulations as supplementary legislation to this Act.


The Government addresses the Parliament through three different kinds of bills: propositions to the Odelsting in legislative matters, propositions to the Parliament when asking for a non-legislative decision and finally reports or white papers for discussions.

Norway is a monarchy where a king or queen is the formal ruler of the state. This ruler is exempted political power. In main the responsibilities of the monarch are of symbolic, ceremonial and representative character. The regular executive duties are limited to the proclamation of a new Government that takes place in a particular council, the declaration of the annual opening of the Parliament and finally to the presiding of the King in Council Meetings.

The Courts
The judicial authorities are organized in the Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal and District Courts or City Recorder Offices. Some special courts like the Land Court and the Labor Court exist. All courts are territorially delineated to a fixed area of jurisdiction. There is no Constitution Court or Administrative Court in Norway.