The impact of EU law on Norwegian private international law

Norway is not a EU member state, but is associated to the EU through the European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement. The EEA Agreement extends the single market to Norway, but does not cover the area of judicial cooperation. EU law nevertheless has a considerable significance for Norwegian private international law. On the one hand, Norway has ratified and implemented Lugano Convention, Norwegian courts give consideration to EU private international law, and there is a project of codification which is based on the Rome I and Rome II Regulations. On the other hand, substantive EU law on the single market may have an impact on the applicable law, and thus indirectly on the effectiveness of private international law. In particular, the principles of freedom of movement and of establishment, as well as the principle of legal clarity, proved to have significance for the formulation of choice of law rules for company and labour law.