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§ 5 Application of certain health laws in the offshore petroleum activities

The following acts are applicable to the extent they are suitable for offshore petroleum activities:
  1. The Health Personnel Act (in Norwegian only) of 2 July 1999 No. 64,
  2. The Patients' Rights Act (in Norwegian only) of 2 July 1999 No. 63 with the exception of Chapter 8 regarding patient and user ombudsman,
  3. The Contagious Illness Protection Act (in Norwegian only) of 5 August 1994 No. 55,
  4. The Health and Social Preparedness Act (in Norwegian only) of 23 June 2000 No. 56.
The same applies to regulations laid down by the King in Council or the Ministry of Health and Care Services in pursuance of the Medicines Act (in Norwegian only) and acts mentioned in literas a through c. Regulations pursuant to the Health and Social Preparedness Act (in Norwegian only) do not apply to the offshore petroleum activities, unless otherwise expressly stated in the individual regulations.
Section last changed: 03 September 2012

Four health acts also apply to the offshore petroleum activities insofar as are appropriate. These acts are the Health Personnel Act (in Norwegian only), the Patient's Rights Act (in Norwegian only) (except the chapter regarding patient and user representative), the Contagious Illness Protection Act (in Norwegian only) and the Health and Social Preparedness Act (in Norwegian only). The Patient's Rights Act (in Norwegian only) is a rights act. Its provisions correspond to obligation provisions in other health legislation. The Health Personnel Act (in Norwegian only), the Contagious Illness Protection Act (in Norwegian only) and the Health and Social Preparedness Act (in Norwegian only) have different obligated parties, cf. below and the Guidelines regarding Section 7. These acts replace and are, to a large extent, a necessary continuation of previous acts considered to also apply for the petroleum activities, in pursuance of Section 2 of the previous Act relating to petroleum activities of 22 March 1985 and Section 1-5 of the current Petroleum Act Section 1-5. The Health and Social Preparedness Act (in Norwegian only), which is an enabling act, not only applies to emergency preparedness as regards war, such as its ”predecessor”.
The four health acts are used ”insofar as they apply”. This entails that, as a starting point, they are applied to offshore facilities covered by the Petroleum Act. The reservation ”insofar as they apply” firstly implies that the relevant provisions shall be interpreted according to general principles of law before considering their field of application.
Special reasons shall exist for a legal provision that, according to its wording, cf. other sources of law, applies in the offshore petroleum activities, to still not apply there. The offshore petroleum activities shall thus safeguard relevant provisions during planning and operations.
One reason in particular to not consider certain legal provisions applicable to offshore petroleum activities, can be this activity's character and physical-geographical framework, in addition to legal matters. A matter that is not relevant today, could be in the future. Technical developments can e.g. expand the health service offshore. In many cases, it will be evident that a provision is not suitable for application offshore. The fact that health personnel shall report births, cf. Section 35 of the Health Personnel Act (in Norwegian only), will e.g. not be relevant in the offshore petroleum activities, since pregnancy after a certain time disqualifies one from such work, and since the employees are expected to use the public health service. Due to access restrictions in the offshore petroleum activities, the Patient's Rights Act’s (in Norwegian only) provision regarding children's special rights is also not "appropriate". Neither are patients entitled to individual plans from the health service in the petroleum activities, since there will not be any long-term provision of health services for the individual. Furthermore, the provisions regarding a patient and user ombudsman are expressly exempt according to this section.
According to Section 2-2, third subsection of the Contagious Illness Protection Act (in Norwegian only), the physician's duty to provide information in the event of imminent and obvious risk of transmission of dangerous communicable disease does not apply, provided the physician knows that another physician will provide the necessary information. Whether tracing of infection sources according to Section 3-6 of the Contagious Illness Protection Act (in Norwegian only) shall be carried out, and whether communicable disease assistance according to Section 6-1 shall be provided, by the physician in charge or family doctor, will be determined by e.g. which physician the patient consults, and whether the contagion possibly is or will be transferred in or outside the petroleum activities. The operator shall, under duty of confidentiality, have systems for necessary contact between physicians in the petroleum activities and the ordinary health service.
Certain administrative provisions shall be adapted to the special conditions in the offshore petroleum activities. This particularly applies to the provisions in the Contagious Illness Protection Act (in Norwegian only). This section entails that the operator as a point of departure is responsible for those tasks assigned to the municipality according to Section 7-1 of the Contagious Illness Protection Act. See also the Guidelines relating to Section 7.
The Health Personnel Act (in Norwegian only), the Patient's Rights Act (in Norwegian only), the Contagious Illness Protection Act (in Norwegian only) and the Health and Social Preparedness Act (in Norwegian only) are enabling acts for the Framework Regulations. They are thereby defined as parts of the health, safety and environment legislation, cf. Section 6 litera c.
According to Section 1-5 of the Petroleum Act, Norwegian law other than the Petroleum Act also applies to the petroleum activities unless otherwise determined. This means that e.g. the Act relating to government supervision of the health service (in Norwegian only), the Medicines Act (in Norwegian only) and the Food Act (in Norwegian only) apply to the petroleum activities. These acts are also defined as parts of the health, safety and environment legislation, cf. Section 6 litera c.
The second subsection continues the current law as regards regulations under e.g. the Medicines Act (in Norwegian only).