Norwegian business terms, in plain English.

— Identifier

Organisasjonsnummer (orgnr)

Aliases: org number · organisation number · company number

The unique 9-digit identifier every Norwegian legal entity gets from Brønnøysundregistrene at registration. Equivalent to a US EIN, a UK company number, or a German HRB number. The 9th digit is a mod-11 check digit — see our test-harness post for the algorithm and edge cases.

— Tax identifier

MVA (Merverdiavgift) / VAT number

Aliases: VAT registration ID · MVA-nummer

Norwegian companies registered for value-added tax get a VAT number derived from their org number: NO + orgnr + MVA. Equinor's VAT number is NO923609016MVA. Not every company is VAT-registered (small ones below the NOK 50,000 threshold aren't), so check identity.in_vat_registry first.

— Registry

Brønnøysundregistrene (Brreg)

Aliases: Brønnøysund Register Centre · Brreg · the company registry

Norway's central business registry, run by the government. Maintains the Foretaksregisteret (Register of Business Enterprises), the Enhetsregisteret (Central Coordinating Register), the Aksjonærregisteret (shareholder registry, via Skatteetaten), and several other registers. The data is public-by-design under Norwegian law; we redistribute it via API.

Updates flow as an event feed in near-real-time; we have under 5 minutes lag from authoritative source to API response.

— Registry

Aksjonærregisteret

Aliases: Norwegian shareholder registry · shareholder register

Norway's shareholder registry, maintained by Skatteetaten (the tax authority). Lists who owns shares in every Norwegian limited company. Updated annually — the snapshot for fiscal year N is published in April of year N+1. This is the data layer behind any Norwegian UBO (ultimate beneficial ownership) chain.

Important: the snapshot can be up to 11 months stale through no fault of ours. We tag every shareholder edge with its snapshot_year.

— Registry

Doffin

Aliases: Database for offentlige innkjøp · Norwegian public procurement

Norway's official public procurement notice database. Every Norwegian government body — state, county, municipality — publishes its tenders here. Includes both above-EU-threshold notices (also visible on TED) AND below-threshold municipal tenders that TED never sees. If you want to track Norwegian public-sector buying or selling, Doffin is the source.

— Classification

NACE (Norsk standard for næringsgruppering)

Aliases: industry code · næringskode · SN2007

The EU's hierarchical industry classification system. Every Norwegian company is assigned at least one NACE code at registration. Equinor's primary NACE is 06.100 — "Extraction of crude petroleum". Format: section letter + 2-digit division + 1-digit group + 1-digit class + 1-digit subclass.

— Compliance

UBO (Ultimate Beneficial Owner)

Aliases: reell rettighetshaver · beneficial owner

The natural person who ultimately owns or controls a company, traced through any chain of corporate ownership. In KYB and AML compliance, you need to identify every natural person owning >25% of the entity, directly or indirectly. Our recursive ownership traversal in Aksjonærregisteret lets you find these in one API call.

— Identifier

LEI (Legal Entity Identifier)

A 20-character global identifier issued under ISO 17442. Not all Norwegian companies have one — only those engaged in regulated financial activity. When present, the LEI lets you cross-reference the Norwegian entity against international datasets (GLEIF). Equinor's LEI is OW6OFBNCKXC4US5C7523.

— Classification

Legal form (organisasjonsform)

The legal structure of the entity. Common codes:

AS — Aksjeselskap (private limited company, like UK Ltd)
ASA — Allmennaksjeselskap (public limited company, like UK PLC)
ENK — Enkeltpersonforetak (sole proprietorship)
ANS / DA — Ansvarlig selskap (general partnership)
NUF — Norskregistrert utenlandsk foretak (Norwegian-registered foreign branch)
KS — Kommandittselskap (limited partnership)
SE — Europeisk selskap (European company)
STI — Stiftelse (foundation)

— Status

Konkurs / Slettet

Aliases: bankruptcy · dissolved

Three distinct status states often confused with each other:

Konkurs: bankruptcy proceedings in progress. The legal entity still exists. Don't extend credit but the entity is technically active.

Slettet etter konkurs: dissolved post-bankruptcy. Entity legally gone.

Slettet etter avvikling: dissolved after voluntary wind-down (solvent).

We normalise these into status: active | bankrupt | dissolved with a dissolution_reason sub-field. More detail in our data architecture post.

— Legal form

Aksjeselskap (AS)

The Norwegian private limited company. Minimum share capital NOK 30,000. Limited liability for shareholders. Most Norwegian SMEs are AS. The Norwegian equivalent of UK Ltd, German GmbH, French SARL. The plural is "aksjeselskaper".

— Legal form

Enkeltpersonforetak (ENK)

A Norwegian sole proprietorship. One natural person, unlimited liability, no minimum capital. Often used by consultants and small service businesses. Important: ENKs are usually NOT VAT-registered until they cross the NOK 50,000 annual revenue threshold.

In our API responses, ENKs show identity.legal_form.code = "ENK" and frequently identity.in_vat_registry = false.

— Filings

Regnskap (annual accounts)

Aliases: årsregnskap · annual financial statements

Norwegian companies file their annual accounts with Regnskapsregisteret (the accounts registry, also at Brønnøysund) within 6 months after fiscal year end. Includes income statement, balance sheet, notes, and the auditor's report. Available publicly. We surface the headline numbers (revenue, operating profit, equity ratio) and link to the original filing.

— Governance

Styre (the board)

Aliases: board of directors · styremedlem (board member)

The board of directors of a Norwegian company. Roles:

Styreleder — Chair of the board
Styremedlem — Board member
Varamedlem — Alternate member
Nestleder — Vice chair

Norwegian law requires every AS to have a board with at least one member (small AS) or three members (larger). The 40% gender balance rule applies to ASA and large AS.

— Governance

Daglig leder

Aliases: managing director · general manager · "CEO" in Norwegian usage

The day-to-day operating leader of a Norwegian company. Registered with Brønnøysund. Not the same role as the chair (styreleder); a single person can hold both, but they're distinct. When Norwegian press refers to a "konsernsjef" (group CEO) of a large parent company, that person is usually the daglig leder of the parent AS or ASA.

— Authority

Signatur / Prokura

Aliases: signing rights · power of attorney

Signatur grants the right to sign on behalf of the company in any matter, registered with Brønnøysund. Can be held jointly (two people together) or severally (any one alone). Prokura is a more limited commercial signing authority — covers ordinary business but not real estate transactions or mortgages.

Both are publicly registered. Useful for KYB workflows that need to verify "is this person actually authorised to sign for this company?".