European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
Eurofound's ERM database on restructuring-related legal regulations provides information on regulations in the Member States of the European Union and Norway which are explicitly or implicitly linked to anticipating and managing change.
Section 7 of 'A. Vehicle Import Duty' in Chapter of 'Taxes on motor vehicles etc.' of Parliament decision on excise taxes for the budget year 2021; Section 6-7 of Value added tax act; Section 5-13 of Tax act
Electrical vehicles are exempted from part of the import duty that applies to all motor vehicles. As import duties tend to be relatively high in Norway compared to EU countries, this exemption is meant to be a push factor for companies and individuals to choose electrical vehicles to vehicles with an internal-combustion engine. While all vehicles has to pay a one-off registration tax based on the wight of the vehicle, they are expected from the general part of this duty that is calculated based on the vehicle's tax group, kerb weight, CO2 emissions, NOx emissions and cylinder capacity. For a vehicle of 1600 kg and CO2 emission of 160 g/km, the tax would be around NOK 220,000 (€ 22,000). The tax is progressive, making big cars with high emissions more expensive than smaller cars.
For electrical vehicles costing up to NOK 500,000 (€ 50,000), no VAT duty applies, and for those exceeding this price, the duty is only imposed on the part of the price exceeding this threshold. Electrical vehicles are also exempted from the value added tax act when it comes to sale and leasing agreements running for at least 30 days.
The Norwegian parliament has decided on a national goal that all new cars sold by 2025 should be zero-emission (electric or hydrogen). By the end of 2020, 21% of all passenger cars in Norway were electrical. there were 600,000 registered battery electric cars (BEVs) in Norway among a total of 2,900,000 cars in total. Battery electric vehicles held a 79% market share in 2022. The speed of the transition is closely related to policy instruments and a wide range of incentives, including reduced taxes, VAT, reduced road toll, reduced fees on parking or free parking, and reduced ticket prices on ferries etc.
From 2022 some of the incentives for zero-emission cars were removed.
The overall signal from the majority of political parties is that it should always be economically beneficial to choose zero and low emission cars over high emission cars. This is obtained with the 'polluter pays' principle in the car tax system. Introducing taxes on polluting cars can finance incentives for zero-emission cars while not hurting revenues.
Eurofound (2021), Norway: Company incentives to deploy electric vehicles, Restructuring legislation database, Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/legislationdb/company-incentives-to-deploy-electric-vehicles/norway
Between the end of 2022 and the first half of 2023, almost 300,000 employees working for ‘big tech’ companies were laid off across the world, making headlines for months in global media. This development has been a shock, considering the high numbers of jobs in well-known tech corporations with a reputation for offering good working conditions and well-paid positions.
The retail banking sector is fertile ground for studying the impacts of digitalisation on work and employment. Financial services are increasingly provided online, without the intermediary of customer-facing institutions. Many banks in the sector have been undergoing serial restructuring since the global financial crisis, and it is one of the few service sectors with stagnant or declining employment.
Since 2011, the Restructuring support instruments database of the EU PolicyWatch has been collecting information on measures that assist companies and workers to anticipate and manage restructuring. This article looks at measures in the database aimed at supporting employees and employers during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022).
Eurofound’s European Restructuring Monitor database reveals the impact of the energy crisis on employment in the EU. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, energy prices have hit record highs. The European Commission imposed sanctions and limitations on the import of oil and gas from Russia, which has reacted by reneging on supply commitments to many Member States.
