Unfortunately, the Swedish Road Administration tries to work against the environment by avoiding handing over environmental information to the NMF, this has resulted in the Swedish Road Administration both complaining to the Norwegian Road Directorate to the Ministry of Transport, and sending several reminders to the Swedish Road Administration that they are obliged to process the complaint according to the provisions laid down in Section 33 of the Public Administration Act.
Despite the basic public procedure rules, the Norwegian Road Administration apparently refuses to comply with the Swedish Constitution §§ 100 and 112, the Environmental Information Act, the Public Law Act, the Procurement Act § 5 and the Public Administration Act. As the Norwegian Road Administration apparently refuses to comply with the environmental regulations laid down in § 112 of the constitution, the Environmental Information Act and Section 5 of the Procurement Act, NMF chose to lodge a complaint against the Norwegian Road Administration to the Civil Ombudsman on 10 December 2017.
The Civil Ombudsman has now sent the attached 2 letters to the Swedish Road Administration, in which the Civil Ombudsman demands that the Swedish Road Administration explain its routines when processing requests for access and requests for environmental information. Unfortunately, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration also tries to refuse to answer the questions that the Parliamentary Ombudsman has submitted to demand that they be answered. On 12 January 2018, the Civil Ombudsman sent a reminder to the Norwegian Road Administration to answer the questions from the Civil Ombudsman within 1 week. It still remains to be seen whether the Norwegian Road Administration is willing to disclose how the company (does not) comply with the environmental regulations laid down in Section 112 of the Constitution and the Environmental Information Act.
NMF finds it highly objectionable that the Swedish Road Administration, the Norwegian Road Administration, tries to keep secret environmental information regarding its very largest contracts in the hundreds of millions of dollars. NMF is very grateful that the Civil Ombudsman is assisting us in enforcing a more environmentally friendly attitude at the Norwegian Road Administration.
For information, it can be informed that the Norwegian Road Administration has now requested that all new operating contracts be put on hold.
“This is according to department director Bettina Sandvin in the Norwegian Roads Directorate.
- The Swedish Road Administration must put one foot on the ground and assess wording in the contract templates with a view to the regional reform, she explains.”
Read: New operating contracts have to wait a bit because of the regional reform
In addition to the regional reform, it is also conceivable that the Roads Directorate considers how to better comply with the environmental requirements laid down in Section 5 of the Procurement Act.
English 
Norwegian