Apply for authorisation of a staffing enterprise

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.

Roles that have access to forms in Altinn

To be able to send forms and read mail from us, you must hold these roles in Altinn:

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

Read more about the different roles in Altinn (altinn.no)

Give rights or access to others

People who have the roles "main administrator" or "access manager" can

• give the roles of "reporter/sender" or "mail/archive" to others in the organisation
• give access to a specific form or service

Get access to a specific form or service

If the person submitting the form does not have the roles described above, they can gain access to a specific form or service. It is those who have the roles "main administrator" or "access manageer" who can give this access to others.

The person who is granted this access does not have access to the inbox where receipts or responses are sent.

Read more about how to grant access to others in Altinn (altinn.no)

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.

You must ensure that you are listed in and have updated information in relevant public registers:

• The Register of Legal Entities (brreg.no)
• The Register of Business Enterprises (brreg.no)
• The VAT Register (Value Added Tax Register) (skatteetaten.no)
• The Aa Register (Register of Employees and Employers) (nav.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.

Foreign staffing enterprises must also apply for authorisation as staffing enterprises if they intend to hire out labour in Norway.

Companies without employees shall not apply for authorisation

Companies without employees shall not apply for authorisation as a staffing enterprise.

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

Sole proprietorships (ENK) without employees and public limited companies (AS) where the owner is the sole employee shall not 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 shall not apply for authorisation.

May apply if the enterprise plans to hire employees in the near future

Enterprises without employees, sole proprietorships and limited companies where the owner is the only employee may apply for authorisation if they plan to hire employees in the near future. This will be checked by the Labour Inspection Authority afterwards. If the Labour Inspection Authority finds that no more employees have been hired, this will be grounds for withdrawing an authorisation as a staffing agency.

Recruitment enterprises are not covered by the scheme

Enterprises that only provide recruitment services (arbeidsformidling) are not covered by the regulations on public authorisation of staffing enterprises. They should therefore not apply for authorisation.

Recruitment enterprises are not covered by the regulations because this is not hiring. A recruitment service actively connects a job seeker and an employer to establish an employer/employee relationship. The person who is to perform the work is employed directly by the enterprise that needs labour and is not employed by the intermediary enterprise.

However, enterprises that engage in both recruitment services and the hiring out of labour as staffing enterprises, are covered by the regulation because their purpose is to hire out labour. They must therefore apply for authorisation.

Read more in section 25 of the Labour Market Act (in Norwegian), (lovdata.no).

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.

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.

This is what happens if you get the authorisation

If you fulfil the requirements for authorisation, you will

• have your application approved
• be given the status “approved” (“godkjent”) in the overview of authorised staffing enterprises (in Norwegian).

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

• have your authorisation withdrawn
• you will be given the status “not approved” (“ikke godkjent”) in the overview of authorised staffing enterprises (in Norwegian).
• it will be illegal for you to hire out labour as a staffing enterprise .

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.

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