🇳🇴How to verify a supplier in Norway

To verify a supplier in Norway, look the company up for free in the official Bronnoysund Register Centre, Central Coordinating Register of Legal Entities (Enhetsregisteret) and confirm it is registered and currently active. The registry returns the registered name, 9-digit organisation number, NACE activity code, address, bankruptcy and winding-up flags and VAT (MVA) registration status of any Norwegian entity, free with no account; the same data is a fully open keyless JSON API at data.brreg.no, which also serves the officer roll and filed annual accounts with revenue figures.

The official registry

Registry: Bronnoysund Register Centre, Central Coordinating Register of Legal Entities (Enhetsregisteret)
Company ID: organisation number (organisasjonsnummer, 9 digits)
Cost: Free basic lookup
Active status: A live company has no konkurs (bankruptcy), under-liquidation or deletion-date flag on its Bronnoysund record; the record also states whether it is registered in the VAT register (Merverdiavgiftsregisteret), which a real trading business above 50,000 NOK turnover must be.

Open the official Norway registry

Norway is NOT in the EU, so VIES does not apply: a Norwegian VAT number is simply the 9-digit organisation number followed by MVA, and the free Bronnoysund record itself confirms VAT registration. The standard VAT rate is 25 percent (15 on food, 12 reduced, confirmed at skatteetaten.no).
The NACE activity code on the record is the maker-vs-middleman tell: a manufacturing code (divisions 10 to 33) means registered production, a wholesale or retail code (45 to 47) means a trader.
Bronnoysund is one of the most machine-readable registers in the world: the open API also returns the managing director (daglig leder) by name, registered sub-units (a company with several production sites shows them), and the latest annual accounts from the Regnskapsregisteret including the revenue line, all keyless and free.
AS is the standard private limited company (30,000 NOK minimum capital), ASA is public, ENK is a sole proprietorship; a claimed manufacturer running as an ENK with no registered employees or filed accounts deserves extra questions.

Sector export licences

Being a registered, active company is not the same as being allowed to export a specific product. In Norway, these sectors carry their own export licence or certificate from a named regulator, so a genuine exporter of these goods holds a current one. Ask for it, then check it at the source.

marine fish & tunamandatory
health certificate from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority.
Verify the processing plant's EU approval number in the Mattilsynet directory of approved seafood exporters.
Official source

This is a factual pointer to public records, not legal advice, and the list is not exhaustive.

Before you sign: five asks no registry can answer

The register proves the company exists and who signs. It says nothing about whether the supplier survives a bad quarter, a fire or a key person leaving. Serious suppliers answer these five asks without friction; hesitation on any of them is information too.

Business continuity: what happens to your order if their plant loses power, a strike hits or their systems go down? Ask for the plan, not a reassurance.
Liability insurance: is product or professional liability insured, with which insurer and to what ceiling? A certificate of insurance is a one-page email for a real firm.
Exit terms: how do you terminate if it goes wrong, what notice and fees apply, and how do you get your tooling, molds or data back?
Support in numbers: ask for response and resolution times as figures, not adjectives. A supplier who commits to hours in writing has a support process; one who writes fast support does not.
Named people: who exactly runs production and who owns your account? Continuity of a named team matters more than a polished sales deck, and employee-review sites often show whether that team stays.

General commercial hygiene, not legal advice.

Verify it in four steps

1
Open the Bronnoysund Register Centre, Central Coordinating Register of Legal Entities (Enhetsregisteret)
Bronnoysund Register Centre, Central Coordinating Register of Legal Entities (Enhetsregisteret) is the official government record of companies in Norway. Basic name or number search is free.
2
Search the exact legal name or ID
Search the supplier's registered name or its organisation number (organisasjonsnummer, 9 digits). If the name does not match cleanly, treat it as a red flag, it may be a trade name, a different entity, or wrong.
3
Confirm it is active, not struck off
A live company has no konkurs (bankruptcy), under-liquidation or deletion-date flag on its Bronnoysund record; the record also states whether it is registered in the VAT register (Merverdiavgiftsregisteret), which a real trading business above 50,000 NOK turnover must be.
4
Check it makes what it sells
A real factory carries a manufacturing activity code and a consistent trade history; a middleman reselling everything is the most common mismatch.

This is a factual pointer to public records, not legal advice. For the full method, see the 7 checks that separate a real supplier from a scam.

We do this check for you

On every Norway company we list, we show what the open record says, each linked to its free public source so you can re-check it yourself, no paid badge. And we go past the big directories to the local and craft makers who are too small for them but real, then verify and sort them, so you find genuine Norway suppliers, not just the loudest.

Check a supplier Browse Norway suppliers

Related guides

Questions

Is checking a Norway supplier free?

Yes. A basic name or number lookup in the Bronnoysund Register Centre, Central Coordinating Register of Legal Entities (Enhetsregisteret) is free. Some full official extracts are paid, but confirming a company exists and is active costs nothing.

What ID does a Norway company have?

Its organisation number (organisasjonsnummer, 9 digits). Ask the supplier for it, then confirm it in the Bronnoysund Register Centre, Central Coordinating Register of Legal Entities (Enhetsregisteret) and check the registered name matches.

How do I know a Norway supplier is a real manufacturer, not a reseller?

The registry's activity code is the tell: a manufacturing code means a real maker, a wholesale or retail code means a trader. Norway is NOT in the EU, so VIES does not apply: a Norwegian VAT number is simply the 9-digit organisation number followed by MVA, and the free Bronnoysund record itself confirms VAT registration. The standard VAT rate is 25 percent (15 on food, 12 reduced, confirmed at skatteetaten.no).