RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/STR/Q1/NOR/1
3July1996
ORGANIZATION(96-2543)
Original: English Working Party onState Trading Enterprises
REPLIES TOQUESTIONS FROM THE UNITED STATES1
ONTHE ARTICLE XVII NOTIFICATION OFNORWAY2
Thefollowing communication, dated 26June1996, hasbeenreceived from thePermanent
Mission ofNorway.
_______________
Could Norway explain whyAPOTEK wasomitted fromthequestionnaire? Weunderstand that
APOTEK hasamonopoly onthedistribution ofpharmaceuticals.
Pursuant tosections 3and4ofActNo.17of21June1963 concerning theoperation of
pharmacies (thePharmacies Act), pharmacies havearight andanobligation tostock allmedicinal
products. These provisions mean thatpharmacies haveamonopoly onsalestothepublic. However,
from1January 1995direct salesfromwholesalers tohospitals havebeenpermitted forselected groups
ofmedicinal products which hospitals useonalarge scale.
Section 7ofthePharmacies Actstates thatanyperson whooperates apharmacy must have
alicence issued bytheKing. TheKingmaydecide thatalicence tooperate apharmacy maybegranted
toaperson whofulfils therequirements setoutinsection 8,or,ifjustified onspecial grounds, toa
municipality orcounty. Section 8.1requires thataperson whoreceives alicence tooperate apharmacy
must haveaNorwegian cand.pharm. degree oranequivalent qualification.
Attheendof1995, there were 250privately-owned pharmacies inNorway, withatotalof
78branches. There were also27publicly-owned hospital pharmacies, twoowned bytheState and
theremainder bythecounties. Thelicensee ofaprivately-owned pharmacy isself-employed, and
thepharmacy orcompany isregistered asapartnership.
Given thecurrent situation, pharmacies incertain geographical areas mayinpractice belocal
monopolies, butthere isnoformal obstacle toprevent anypharmacy from offering itsservices to
customers throughout thecountry, forexample byfilling prescriptions bypost.
Themonopoly currently conferred onpharmacies asregards retail salesofmedicinal products
isnotaffected bytheEEA Agreement. Itisuptothenational authorities todetermine thescope of
themonopoly, andtheownership structure andlocation ofthepharmacies.
Onthebasis oftheabove, theMinistry ofHealth andSocial Affairs doesnotconsider that
thecurrentorganizationofthecountry'spharmaciescreatesproblemsrelatingtotradebetweencountries.
1G/STR/W/18+Corr.1.
2G/STR/N/1/NOR.G/STR/Q1/NOR/1
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Through theEEA Agreement, themonopoly exercised bytheNorwegian Medicinal Depot
wasabolished. Thishasmade possible realcompetition attheimport andwholesale stage, andanumber
ofnewimporters andwholesalers haveinfactbecome established.
Inaddition, thepharmacies arerequired tostock allnewmedicinal products.
Weunderstand thatVINMONPOL, thestate-owned company thatdeals inwineandliquor,
retains itsmonopoly onretail salesofthese products (although itsmonopoly onwholesale and
importation waseliminated early thisyear). Why wasVINMONPOL omitted from the
questionnaire?
TheState Wine andSpirits Monopoly
A/SVimonopolet (theStateWine andSpirits Monopoly) usedtohavethefollowing exclusive
rights:
Production, export, import, wholesale andretail ofspirits (other thanethylalcohol, seebelow),
liqueurs, wines andfruitwines containing morethan2.5percentalcohol byvolume (CCCN No.2207).
Import, wholesale andretail ofwineandfruitwine containing more than2.5percentalcohol
byvolume (CCCN No.2204, 2205 and2206).
Retail ofbeercontaining more than4.75percentalcohol byvolume.
Import andwholesale ofethylalcohol (CCCN No.22307) andisopropanol (CCCN 2905).
Private traders 'engagement inexports andimports
Asaconsequence oftheEuropean Economic Agreement, A/SVinmonopolet nolonger has
anexclusive righttoimport beer. Such import isregulated bycustoms rules only. Asaleslicence
is,however, needed inorder topermit salesofimported beertoconsumers.
Private agents mayactasintermediaries between exporters andtheMonopoly orbetween
exporters andpotential consumers (restaurants andothers). Sales agreements brought about bythe
agents areeffectuated bytheMonopoly.
Theexport market (demand) determines theamount ofliqueurs exported. (Wine isnotproduced
onacommercial basis inNorway. Nomonopoly fortheexport ofbeerexists.)
There arenorestrictions astowhich quantities thatmaybeimported. Thisdepends entirely
ondomestic demand.
Fixation ofprices
Export prices arefixed onamere commercial basis.
Domestic prices arefixedonthebasisofdifferent costs, levies andtaxes. TheMonopoly does
notaimatmaking profit onbehalf oftheGovernment.
Retail prices aredetermined bytheoverall costs oftheproduct concerned, withtheaddition
oftaxes related toalcohol strength andvolume.G/STR/Q1/NOR/1
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Long-term contracts
When spirits/beverages areimported inbulk, contracts between thecompany andtheexporter
arenormally signed foroneyearatatime. These contracts aremade forpurely commercial reasons.
State-trading methods arenotused.
Newsystem
A/SVimonopolet 'sexclusive rights withregard toimport, export andwholesale ofalcoholic
beverages havebeenabolished andreplaced bytheestablishment ofanewcontrol system.
Boththeretail monopoly foralcoholic beverages andtheproduction monopoly forspirits are,
however, maintained asindependent units without anyinstitutional links between them.
Thereorganization ofthecompany andtheestablishment ofthenewcontrol system forthe
production andwholesale ofalcoholic drinks were completed bytheendof1995.
Statistical information about theretail monopoly cannot beprovided until1997, when itwill
havebeeninoperation foroneyear.