General Guidelines and Terms and Conditions for the use of the “Seafood from Norway”-trademark

The owner, registered proprietary owner and rights holder of the trademark is the Norwegian Seafood Council AS (“NSC"), which also manages the licensing, and determines the specific and separate terms and conditions that apply in respect of the conditional access to and granted right to use the trademark.

The Norwegian Seafood Council utilizes the trademark in its own marketing and on promotional materials outside of Norway. The trademark can also be used outside of Norway by parties in the Norwegian seafood industry and foreign producers who sign a license(s) agreement under which the NSC grants the licensee the right to use the trademark in a limited territory outside of Norway only.

1. Products which can be labelled as “Seafood from Norway” 

The trademark may only be applied to products of Norwegian Seafood that: 

• are fit for human consumption as classified under the customs tariff chapter 3, with the exception of flour and pellets of fish fit for human consumption (position 03.05.1000 of the customs tariff) or chapter 16, position 16.04 and/or 16.05, pursuant to the Norwegian customs tariff,
• does not contain any seafood other than “Norwegian Seafood”, and
• are, marketed and/or traded and also retailed outside the Kingdom of Norway.

“Norwegian Seafood” is seafood that:

a) is caught or farmed in Norwegian sea territory (Norwegian economic zone (Nw: Norsk økonomisk sone (NØS), the protected zone of Svalbard (Nw: Fiskevernsonen ved Svalbard) and the fisheries zone of Jan Mayen (Nw: Fiskerisonen ved Jan Mayen), as well as the Norwegian continental shelf and the seawaters above and within the boundaries of the Norwegian continental shelf as set forth in the attachement "Norwegian Maritime Borders"; or

b) is caught from mutually governed species, provided that Norway is taken part in decisions concerning these species, and the species natural inhabit Norwegian seawaters, as set forth in the attachement "List of Norwegian Fishery Agreements" and "Overview of all species naturally occurring in Norwegian waters and farmed in Norway"; or

c) is farmed onshore in the Kingdom of Norway, as well on Svalbard and Jan Mayen; and in each of instance (a) – (c);

d) is landed, sold and customs declared in the Kingdom of Norway, with the exception for products that are placed in customs warehouse upon landing in the Kingdom of Norway; and

e) contains a minimum of 20 per cent of seafood in the finished good and the seafood satisfy the criteria set above in (a) – (d) above, and which do not contain any other seafood than set out in criteria (a) – (d) above;

Goods released in one customs area outside the Kingdom of Norway, is prohibited from using the "Seafood from Noway" trademark in another customs area, unless otherwise is specified in the list of exceptions for that specific species.

2. Who may be granted the right to use the «Seafood from Norway”-trademark?

• Registered exporters of Norwegian Seafood.

3. Permit for use of the “Seafood from Norway”-trademark based on the execution of a separate licensing agreement with NSC

• Norwegian and foreign companies may, on special terms, obtain a license that allows use of the trademark on Norwegian Seafood on products processed outside of Norway. More information as to who may be granted rights to use the trademark can be found here.

4. Areas of use, special requirements and terms for use of the trademark

• The trademark may only be used for marketing outside of Norway, or on products outside of Norway.
• The trademark may be used to market/profile Norwegian seafood products by placement on, for example, packaging (both on product and outer packaging) electronic media and other marketing materials. Use of the trademark on internet sites which actively target Norwegian consumers or traders shall not be considered use outside of Norway, irrespective of the location of the site operator.
• The trademark shall only be used together with own product name, company name and/or trademark/logo. The “Seafood from Norway"-trademark shall clearly appear as an additional trademark to the statutory nutrition and ingredient labelling and own trademark/logo. It is assumed therefore that the “Seafood from Norway”-trademark does not dominate the product packaging and that the company’s own trademark/logo is not designed in such a way that it may be confused with the trademark. 
• The category description/concept shall be clearly labelled on the product/packaging (such as “Norwegian Salmon” or “Herring filet”, for example), and cannot by of a character liable to confuse or mislead the consumer by for example referring to other origins or species.
• Use of the trademark shall be uniform and in accordance with these guidelines. 
• The user accepts that NSC is the registered owner and rightful holder of the «Seafood from Norway”-trademark, and that the user is not granted ownership of or right of use of the trademark beyond what follows from these guidelines and terms & conditions for use of the «Seafood from Norway”-trademark, and 
• In making use of the «Seafood from Norway”-trademark, the user is deemed to have accepted the general guidelines and terms & conditions for use, which are applicable at all times.

5. Audit of use of the «Seafood from Norway”-trademark

• The individual company using the trademark must himself/herself/itself control that: 
  
  (i) any products where the «Seafood from Norway”-trademark is applied, are deemed as being “Norwegian Seafood” in accordance with these general guidelines and terms & conditions for use of the trademark, and 
  (ii) that they otherwise possess the necessary permits, terms and licenses from authorities that may be required for their own activities. 
• The individual user undertakes to establish a system for the tracing of all products that are labelled with the «Seafood from Norway”-trademark. Each and every product that is sold and labelled with the trademark must be marked such that it may be traced through the entire value chain of production and back to a Norwegian raw materials delivery such that the requirement for use of the brand on only Norwegian Seafood may be documented. All raw materials input must be registered with suitable ID, for example a catch certificate, with sufficient details to be traced back to a Norwegian supplier. Identification must be undertaken (unique where necessary) of all alterations to the product through internal production in the undertaking. In addition the production of Norwegian and non-Norwegian products must be separate. The user must also be able to document that employees have been trained in the tracing and labelling of Norwegian Seafood.
• NSC or a third party assigned by it is entitled to perform random audits to ensure that all use of the trademark is in accordance with those requirements and guidelines that are at all times indicated by NSC.  

• NSC shall in all events be notified and sent specimens showing use of the trademark on product/packaging and materials prior to implementation of such use.
  
  (iii) the trademark is not used for marketing, or on, products in Norway.

6. Consequences of unlawful or irregular use of the «Seafood from Norway”-trademark

• Products marketed under the «Seafood from Norway”-trademark in breach of the at-all-times applicable general guidelines and terms & conditions of use shall, if required by NSC, immediately be withdrawn from the market. Users that have employed the trademark and applied the trademark on the product(s) will be held accountable and will be held liable to cover all costs and losses that accrue in connection with any withdrawal.

• NSC may at any time withdraw access to use the trademark in the event that the user; 
  
  (i) makes use of unreasonable, hereunder misleading, trade practices 
  
  (ii) uses the trademark in breach of the at-all-times applicable general guidelines and terms & conditions of use in such a manner that it is either misleading marketing and/or undermines the right holder’s or the trademark’s position, good name and reputation in the market, with consumers and/or with public authorities, and/or
  
  (iii) has previously been issued a warning that use of the trademark is in breach of guidelines and terms & conditions, and a new occurrence of where the trademark is used in breach of the at-all-times applicable guidelines and terms & conditions is established.

        (iiii) uses the trademark for marketing towards consumers in Norway, or on, products in Norway

• In the event that the trademark is used in a manner that is deemed to be in breach of items (i) - (iiii) above, the right to each and every further use of the «Seafood from Norway”-trademark lapses. Products that have the trademark applied shall, unless otherwise expressly allowed by NSC, be withdrawn immediately.
• NSC may also invoke and claim those sanctions at all times warranted under Norwegian law, especially comprising but not limited to, those sanctions and requirements laid down in the Trade Marks Act of 26 March 2010 no. 8 and/or the Marketing Act of 9 January 2009 no. 2.

7. Duration 

• The NSC may at any time alter these guidelines and terms & conditions for use of the «Seafood from Norway”-trademark, assuming that a reasonable time limit for compliance with revised guidelines and terms is allowed.
• Alterations are published on www.seafood.no.