December 22, 2020 11:23:29 am
The Supreme Court of Norway, in a decision Tuesday, upheld a judgment of the Borgarting Court of Appeals, which had allowed the government to grant oil production licenses on new sections of the Norwegian continental shelf.
The case concerned the validity of an administrative decision from June of 2016 which granted oil production licenses for new regions in the Norwegian continental shelf. The decision was challenged by environmental groups Greenpeace and Nature and Youth Norway, who claimed that the decision violated Norway’s Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.
More specifically, the plaintiffs claimed that the decision violated the right to the environment provided in Article 112 of the Norwegian Constitution. They also alleged it also violated Articles 2 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which respectively ensure the right to life and respect for family life. The environmental groups’ request that the decision be invalidated was rejected by both the Oslo District Court and the Borgarting Court of Appeal, leading the Plaintiffs to appeal to the Norwegian Supreme Court.