Database of labour market practices
This database gathers practices in the field of employment submitted by European countries for the purposes of mutual learning. These practices have proven to be successful in the country concerned, according to its national administration. The European Commission does not have a position on the policies or measures mentioned in the database.
Download the full practice
|
|
| Original Title: | Sentre mot arbeidslivskriminalitet – samlokalisering mellom Arbeidstilsynet, NAV, Skatteetaten, politiet og andre offentlige myndigheter. Etablert som en del av regjeringens strategi mot arbeidslivskriminalitet |
| Country: | Norway |
| Responsible body: | The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs |
| Name(s) of other organisations involved (partners / sub-contractors): | The following agencies have been involved in setting up thePolice; Tax Administration; Labour Inspection Authority; Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV). |
| Start Year of implementation: | 2015 |
| End Year of implementation: | Ongoing |
| EU policy relevance: | This practices links well to EU’s wider policy to combat undeclared work in order to promote better working conditions and the emergence of formal employment. |
| National labour market context: | Cooperation between public authorities to combat activities that break laws relating to pay and working conditions, social security and taxation has been high on the political agenda in Norway in the last few years. In Norway these challenges are usually defined as work-related crime. It is a problem that cuts across sectors, societal areas, geographic distinctions and the jurisdictions of public authorities. This type of crime has different characteristics in different parts of the economy and different geographical areas, but relates to and includes violations of regulations that concern working environments and conditions, social benefit fraud and camouflaging illegal activity in ordinary businesses. The common denominator is that the ordinary economy is used to achieve illegal benefit in economic terms. The cross-cutting nature of work-related crime is an important reason for engaging in cross-departmental cooperation that involves several different agencies and authorities. |
| Policy area: | Active labour market policies, Labour market functioning and segmentation, Social security systems |
| Specific policy or labour market problem being addressed: | In January 2015, the Norwegian government launched a strategy[1] aimed at strengthening efforts to combat work-related crime by promoting responsible and sound working conditions. The strategy is based on broad cooperation between the public authorities and the social partners on prevention, knowledge sharing and enforcement. An updated strategy was launched in February 2017. The strategy now contains 25 instead of 22 priority areas and measures, including extending the regional and local cooperation between agencies. As an important action point in the strategy joint operation groups to combat work-related crime has been established. These groups bring together staff members from the Labour Inspection Authority, the Labour and Welfare Administration, the Tax Administration and the police, in joint offices in seven Norwegian cities (Oslo, Trondheim, Bergen, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Bodø, Tønsberg). As well as cooperation between public authorities in general have been strengthen.[1] https://www.regjeringen.no/en/dokumenter/strategi-mot-arbeidslivskriminalitet/id2359493/ |
| Aims and objectives of the policy or measure: | The measure aims to increase cooperation between public agencies at national, regional and local level to streamline approaches, enhance information exchange and coordinate resources aimed at combating work-related crimes. This includes the possibility of using a broad spectrum of sanctions. |
| Main activities / actions underpinning the policy or measure: | The cooperation between the agencies is governed by formalised cooperation plans and activities as well as a guide on information sharing between agencies. In addition, further cooperation agreements exist between the joint offices and other authorities and partners, for example border control authorities or social partners. Joint offices have been established in seven Norwegian cities: Oslo, Trondheim, Bergen, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Bodø, and Tønsberg. The joint offices consist of staff members from all agencies. Shared offices facilitate enhanced cooperation, with joint leader group meetings being held twice a month to discuss operational priorities. The joint leader groups consist of mid-level staff from each authority. All offices have an analysis team and an inspection team which supports their operations. Inspections are carried out by at least two different agency staff members who decide on a common approach when carrying out an inspection. An internal database to facilitate information exchange between joint offices was created in December 2016. In addition, there a National Interagency Centre for Analysis and Intelligence was set up in 2016 as part of the new national strategy. The centre is to conduct national threat assessments for joint strategic measures against economic crime, for example by delivering intelligence reports, which shall help decision makers to analyse cross-national trends. |
| Geographical scope of policy or measure: | National |
| Target groups: | Other |
| Outputs and outcomes of the policy or measure: | The establishment of joint offices has allowed for enhanced cooperation, opening up new opportunities based on knowledge and information sharing, exchange of good practices and mutual learning. An evaluation report produced in 2015-16 concluded that the efforts which have been undertaken by the government to combat work-related crime through broadening cooperation between agencies and sectors has achieved important results. |
|
Download the full practice
|
Joint operation groups between public agencies to combat work-related crime