The EU-Norway Agreement on administrative cooperation, fight against fraud and assistance on recovery of claims in the field of VAT entered into force on 1 September 2018 after being initialled in May 2017.
The content of the Agreement reflects the administrative cooperation tools, laid down in Council Regulation (EU) No 904/2010 on administrative cooperation and fight against fraud in the field of VAT and Council Directive 2010/24/EU on mutual assistance for the recovery of claims relating to taxes, duties and other measures, with the exclusion of mutual access to electronic databases and systems.
The Agreement is the first of this type between the EU and a third country. It allows the tax authorities of the EU and Norway to exchange information and carry out joint activities in order to fight VAT fraud.
Article 41 of the Agreement sets up a Joint Committee (JC) composed of representatives of both parties to ensure the proper functioning and implementation of the Agreement.
- 1st meeting of the Joint Committee (Brussels on 10 April 2019)
- 2nd meeting of the Joint Committee (Oslo on 25 November 2021)
On 26 April 2022, the Commission published its recommendation to reopen negotiations on the EU-Norway Agreement in order to strengthen cooperation even further. Once the Council has authorised the Commission, negotiations can be opened.