Regulations for the Lovdata Foundation (1981)

The Lovdata Foundation has been created by the Royal Ministry of Justice and the Norwegian Statute Book Foundation at the University of Oslo. To the basic capital of the foundation the Ministry of Justice has contributed NOK 400,000 in cash and the Norwegian Statute Book Foundation has contributed NOK 200,000 in the form of machine equipment, office equipment and furniture. Moreover, the Norwegian Statute Book Foundation has transferred to the Lovdata Foundation the activities which, since 1979, have been carried out at the Data Office of the Norwegian Statute Book Foundation (Lovdata).

The creating institutions have stipulated the following regulations for the Foundation:

§ 1. The name of the Foundation is Lovdata.

§ 2. The headquarters (place of business) of Lovdata is in Oslo.

§ 3. Lovdata is a non-profit organisation. The objective of the Foundation is to create, maintain and operate systems for legal information. In this connection the Foundation may assume assignments from public as well as from private institutions. The Foundation may also contribute towards research and development within the scope of its objective.

§ 4. Lovdata has been given a basic capital of NOK 600,000.

§ 5. The operations of Lovdata shall be self-financing, but not based on a profit. This shall not prevent Lovdata establishing reserves to ensure continued development and operation and to make possible appropriations for research within the scope of its objective.

§ 6. The board of Lovdata shall be composed of not more than 5 members, with personal deputies. The Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and Government Administration, the Faculty of Law at the University of Oslo, the Norwegian Bar Association and the Norwegian Association of Judges may each appoint one board member together with deputy. The term of office of the board members is 2 years. Should the provision in the first sentence result in the term of office of more than 3 board members expiring simultaneously, one or two of the board members with deputies shall resign, after drawing of lots, one year after the expiry of the ordinary term of office. The Ministry of Justice shall appoint one of the board members as president of the board. The board itself shall appoint its vice-president.

§ 7. If the board so decides, Lovdata may have a daily manager, to be appointed by the board. Remuneration to the daily manager and other employees is to be fixed by the board.

§ 8. The board members and their deputies may be granted remuneration which is reasonable compared to the work and the responsibilities involved in the office. The remuneration shall be stipulated by the council of Lovdata following a recommendation by the board.

§ 9. Lovdata shall have a council. Its function shall be advisory, with the exception of the competence assigned to the council of Lovdata according to these regulations. The Legal Information Council shall be the council for Lovdata. Should the Legal Information Council cease to exist, the board of Lovdata shall appoint the members of the council. The council shall consist of no less than 10 and no more than 20 members, and the representation on the Council of institutions having a considerable interest in the development of the legal information system shall be ensured. The term of office of the council members shall be 4 years. Members of the council may be re-appointed.

§ 10. The auditor of the Foundation shall be appointed by the Lovdata council. The auditor's report shall be submitted to the council.

§ 11. Lovdata is obliged to maintain a data base of acts and statutes. The data base shall be made available to the Norwegian Statute Book Foundation to be used for the printing and publishing of a Norwegian Book of Statutes, although no charge is to be made for the work involved in the original registration of the 1979 edition of The Norwegian Statute Book. Nor can such charge be claimed in the case of Lovdata making the data base available to the State.

§ 12. Lovdata must not itself publish or contribute to the publication by others of a compilation of acts and statutes which corresponds to the Norwegian Statute Book as long as the Norwegian Statute Book Foundation publishes such a compilation in a satisfactory manner.

§ 13. Following a proposal by the board the council of Lovdata may with a 2/3 majority amend the terms of the Foundation or decide that the Foundation shall cease to exist.

§ 14. If the Foundation shall cease to exist, the properties and obligations of the Foundation shall be divided into two equal parts. The Ministry of Justice and the Norwegian Statute Book Foundation shall each make use of their share for related purposes.

BACK | NEXT