Norwegian (Oslo Gardermoen) has announced legal action against the Norwegian government in a bid to remove a climate charge of NOK399,685,275 kroner (USD40.2 million).

As ch-aviation previously reported, Norway’s Ministry of Climate and the Environment demanded the fee, which includes a fine, last month for the airline’s alleged failure to deliver climate quotas in 2020. CEO Geir Karlsen threatened legal action at the time, and now the carrier has confirmed that this is the course it will take.

The Norwegian Environment Agency revealed in September 2021 that Norwegian had to pay a fine under the European Union quota system (EU ETS), to which Norway is also a party. The company has argued that it “did not have the opportunity to fulfil its quota obligations” while it was going through restructuring, when there was no guarantee it would survive, and has referred to the fact that Irish environmental authorities opted not to impose a fee on the airline’s now defunct Irish subsidiary, Norwegian Air International.

“We disagree with and are very disappointed that the Norwegian state is imposing a sky-high fee while in reality we followed Norwegian law. There was a clear prerequisite during the reconstruction not to treat claims and creditors differently. Had we nevertheless paid the entire quota obligation, it could have entailed criminal liability, the Norwegian reconstructor was quite clear about that,” the airline said in a statement on January 20. “Regrettably, we now have to go through the legal system to get a final clarification and have found ourselves obliged to submit a summons, something we would very much like to have done without.”

It added: “We do not disagree that we had a quota obligation, but it was, like all other demands in the reconstruction, 5% of the amount we owed, not the full amount. This applied to all claims and creditors - including many small private suppliers, who unfortunately faced greater challenges than state actors.”

The statement concluded: “It is also mind-boggling that the Norwegian authorities demand this from us and even impose a penalty fee of 400 million, while the same issue was no problem in the EU country Ireland, where we were in a similar reconstruction. Here, the environmental authorities chose to respect the reconstruction. As is well known, EU ETS is an EU regime, not a special Norwegian arrangement.”

In the summons, submitted to Oslo District Court and dated January 9, Norwegian says it is suing the state at the Ministry of Climate and Environment, the online business daily E24 Næringsliv reported. The company has set aside NOK15 million (USD1.5 million) for the fee, its quarterly report for the period July-September shows, and did not expect the ministry would insist on such a heavy fine. According to the summons, the infringement fee is so high that payment could negatively affect Norwegian’s business operations.

The ministry has not yet responded to Norwegian’s launching of legal action.