NORWAY: the "leveringsplikt", a subsidy to the processing industry in Norway ?

In my previous post I presented readers with information on the situation in Venezuela as regards the expectations of Mr Chávez vis-à-vis fishermen . More specifically Mr Chávez expects that fish caught by fishermen who are benefiting from government aid should be delivered to certain processing plants. Thus fishermen are not free to sell their fish to whom they would like to (e.g. to the buyer paying the highest price).

This is not something unique to Venezuela. In another post (26/1/2009) I discussed the situation in the Argentinean Province of Chubut where shipping of raw material outside the Province is prohibited unless provided for in inter-Provincial agreements.

Norway has also a similar "mechanism" which is called "Leveringsplikt". It is the obligation to deliver the fish to companies located within a well specified geographical area and under certain price conditions. Actually to accept such obligation is a condition sine qua non to obtain fishing quota in certain regions of Norway, the so called "district quota" ("distriktkvoter"). You may guess that the "region" is the same as the one where the vessel has to deliver its catch, or part of it, because of the "leveringsplikt".

In sum, processing companies located in areas where the district quotas and the ensuig "leveringsplikt" applies have (at least on paper) a guaranteed stream of supply of raw materials.

Here is a link to a webpage (in Norwegian) with an announcement on this mechanism:

http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/fkd/pressesenter/pressemeldinger/2006/leveringsplikt-for-fartoy-med-torsketral.html?id=440159