The Register for Governmental Approval of Financial Obligations (, ) is a
Norwegian government register of
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
and
counties
A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
who have not submitted a
balanced budget
A balanced budget (particularly that of a government) is a budget in which revenues are equal to expenditures. Thus, neither a budget deficit nor a budget surplus exists (the accounts "balance"). More generally, it is a budget that has no budge ...
. The consequence of being in the registry is that resolutions of incurring debt, or entering long-term rental contracts must be approved by
in order to be valid. Budgets must be approved by either the ministry or the
County Governor.
The registry was introduced in 2001. Prior to this, all counties and municipalities were required to have any debt and long-term contracts approved. The new law narrowed this to local divisions with an economic imbalance. Since not being in the ROBEK registry gives the municipality much more economic freedom, the councils usually aim to stay out of the registry. The registry has sometimes been described as a
blacklist
Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considere ...
. Municipalities often cut costs by reducing public services, and conducting
lay-off
A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing an organization ...
s to get out of the registry. Increasing revenue through
property tax
A property tax (whose rate is expressed as a percentage or per mille, also called ''millage'') is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or Wealth t ...
es have generally been opposed by the local politicians.
The rules determining whether a county will be entered into ROBEK are described in §60 of the law of municipalities and counties. According to this law, a county or municipality will be entered into the ROBEK registry if at least one of the following four criteria are met:
*a) The municipality or county council pass a budget where not all expenditures have been covered.
*b) The municipality or county council pass an economy plan where not all expenditures have been covered.
*c) The municipality or county council resolve that an account deficit will be covered in future budget years.
*d) The municipality or county do not follow their plan for covering a deficit.
As of August 2010, there are 48 municipalities in the ROBEK registry.
Budgetary troubles which land a municipality in the ROBEK registry are sometimes due to incurred losses from a large event, for example
Vågsøy Municipality
Vågsøy is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in the old Sogn og Fjordane counties of Norway, county, Norway. It was located in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Nordfjord. The municipality's administr ...
ended up on the ROBEK registry in 2009 following losses after hosting a port-of-call for the
Tall Ships' Races
The Tall Ships Races are races for sail training "tall ships" (sailing ships). The races are designed to encourage international friendship and training for young people in the art of sailing. The races are held annually in European waters and co ...
.
Narvik Municipality
() is the third-largest List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Narvik (town), town of Narvik. Some of the notable villag ...
and
Hattfjelldal Municipality
or is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hattfjelldal. Other villages include Grubben, Svenskvollen, and Varntresk. Hat ...
were entered into ROBEK after the
Terra Securities scandal.
References
{{reflist
County administration of Norway
Government of Norway