On Friday the Ministry of Finance decided to introduce the air passenger fee on 1 June this year.
The fee was approved and carried by the parliament before Christmas as part of the budget agreement for 2016 The parliament approved both the rate and the exemptions. When the Ministry of Finance today establishes the rule and introduce the fee from 1 June, we are acting in accordance with the decision of the parliament to introduce an air passenger tax, Minister of Finance Siv Jensen says .
The so-called aircraft seat charge carries an increased expenditure of NOK 88 per passenger per flight from Norwegian airports – except for passengers who have to take several flights with the same company on the same journey.
EFTA Surveillance Authority believed this exemption could be considered to be illegal state aid and asked the government to wait to introduce the system until the issue was resolved. The fee was originally meant to have been in place from 1 March.
The government considered the exemption not to be a form of illegal state aid, but since ESA promised to deal with the matter quickly, the Ministry of Finance agreed to postpone the introduction of the fee until 1 June.
Recently, the Ministry and the ESA have been in dialogue on the matter, and ESA have concluded that they do not consider the exemption to be illegal state aid, the Ministry of Finance informs.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
