Agencies may share secrets on financial crime; hearing ends 20 Nov

The Ministry of Justice and Public Security sent a proposed new ø-kriminformasjonsforskrift out for consultation on 20 August 2026, with a hearing deadline of 20 November 2026. The regulation, authorised by forvaltningsloven § 13 gRevisorforeningen, builds on the 2022 a-kriminformasjonsforskriftRevisorforeningen that governs information sharing in the a-krim cooperation, and it answers a practitioner question directly: nothing changes for the auditor's own duty of secrecy, but information the Financial Supervisory Authority holds about the auditor and the audit firm can gain more recipientsRevisorforeningen.

The proposal gives 24 bodies — including Finanstilsynet, Brønnøysundregistrene, Advokattilsynet, Konkurransetilsynet, Lotteri- og stiftelsestilsynet, NAV, Arbeidstilsynet and all municipalities and county municipalitiesRevisorforeningen — the right to share information with each other without hindrance from the secrecy duty in forvaltningsloven § 13 where necessary for work against financial crimeRevisorforeningenRevisorforeningenRevisorforeningen. The same bodies may pass information on to Skatteetaten, the customs authorities, the police, Økokrim's financial intelligence unit (FIU) and NTAESRevisorforeningen. The bodies also gain authority to compile personal data, including with fully automated analytical toolsRevisorforeningen.Revisorforeningen

The grant is a right to share, not a duty.Revisorforeningen Sharing must be written and documentedRevisorforeningen, and may not take place where it would be a disproportionate interference with the person the information concernsRevisorforeningen. Financial crime is defined broadly and covers, among other things, tax fraud, accounting crime, bankruptcy crime, misuse of public registers, corruption and money launderingRevisorforeningen.

For auditors, three points matter. First, their own secrecy is unchanged: the regulation governs sharing between public bodiesRevisorforeningen, so the auditor's duty of secrecy under the Auditors Act, the reporting duty under the Anti-Money Laundering Act and the rules on what to give Finanstilsynet stand as beforeRevisorforeningenRevisorforeningen, with no new duty and no new right to share client informationRevisorforeningen. Second, client matters stay protected at Finanstilsynet: the Authority's secrecy about customers' affairs under finanstilsynsloven § 2-7 is not liftedRevisorforeningen, so information about the auditor's clients sitting in supervisory documentation is not coveredRevisorforeningen — the working group calls Finanstilsynet's position a hybrid, able to share only what is today protected by the general secrecy of forvaltningsloven § 13Revisorforeningen. Third, information about the auditor is shareable: findings from inspections, business relationships and assessments of professional practice are protected by forvaltningsloven § 13Revisorforeningen and may under the proposal be shared with, for example, Skatteetaten, Brønnøysundregistrene or the police where necessary in financial-crime workRevisorforeningen. The memorandum notes Skatteetaten already routinely reports auditors and accountants to Finanstilsynet when controls uncover weak professional practice; the regulation gives that traffic a clear legal basis in both directionsRevisorforeningen, so the quality of what the auditor delivers may be seen by more agencies than beforeRevisorforeningen.

Sharing with the private sector is not included yet.Revisorforeningen The working group's mandate was limited to sharing between public authoritiesRevisorforeningen, though the memorandum states private actors hold significant information and need an adequate knowledge base to prevent and avert crime. Whether information flows back to private actors such as financial undertakings and auditors sits in a separate track on public-private cooperationRevisorforeningen, and Økokrim's sharing of suspicious-transaction-report information is unchangedRevisorforeningen — handled in the forthcoming anti-money-laundering actRevisorforeningen.

Legal basis: proposed ø-kriminformasjonsforskrift under forvaltningsloven § 13 g, consulted on 20 August 2026 with deadline 20 November 2026; background in the 2022 a-kriminformasjonsforskrift. Separately, Finansdepartementet set financial-sector sharing rules on 30 June 2026Finanstilsynet, in force 1 July 2026Finanstilsynet, supplementing finansforetakslovenFinanstilsynet.