Foreign flags in Norway – rules and custom

Other countries’ flags are a common sight in Norway: at hotels and businesses, at sports events, during state visits and in gardens where the family has roots in another country. For private individuals, this is not regulated. For municipalities, on the other hand, a strict act has applied since 1933, which was relaxed in 2021.

Private individuals and businesses

According to Lovdata, the Flag Act and the flag regulation contain no rules for private individuals, and no other act restricts which flags private individuals and businesses can fly on their own pole. That applies to other countries’ flags, the rainbow flag, football flags and company flags. The exception is the swallow-tailed flag, which under section 2 of the Flag Act is the state’s flag.

Common custom, taken from public practice, is for the Norwegian flag to have the place of honour when flying together with other countries’ flags, and for each flag to have its own pole. The order is covered in the guide to flag protocol.

Municipal buildings

The Act on flag flying on municipal public buildings of 29 June 1933 is stricter. Under section 1, only the following can be flown on or from municipal public buildings, properties and institutions:

• the Norwegian flag without swallow tail and tongue
• the Sámi flag
• municipal or county flags

Under the Act, breaches can be punished with fines or imprisonment of up to three months. The Act also applies in Svalbard, to the Longyearbyen local council.

The 2021 exception

An amendment of 4 June 2021 created two exceptions. The restriction does not apply in connection with an event, observance or commemorative day of general interest, and it does not apply to free-standing municipal flagpoles in squares, on bridges, in open spaces and the like that are not part of a municipal building complex. What counts as of general interest is not defined further in the Act. The municipality assesses that itself in each case.

Foreign flags next to the Norwegian one

As early as 1933, a regulation was issued on foreign countries’ flags on municipal buildings. Under point 1, a foreign country’s flag can be raised next to Norway’s flag when international courtesy makes it desirable. Under point 2, the foreign flag is not to be given a more prominent place than the Norwegian one.

State buildings

Under the flag regulation, state bodies fly the state flag. Flags can also be flown during official visits by foreign heads of state and royalty, and the guest country’s flag is commonly raised next to the Norwegian one.

The Sámi flag

The Sámi flag is shared by the Sámi in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. It is not a foreign flag, but a common national symbol of the Sámi people. The Sámi Parliament’s regulation on the use of the Sámi flag sets its own flag days and places the flag to the right of the Norwegian flag when they are used together. The Sámi flag days are listed in the guide to flag days.

Protection of flags

According to Store norske leksikon, misuse of other countries’ flags, flag desecration, was previously, in theory, an offence under section 95 of the Penal Code of 1902. The provision was repealed by a decision in 2008. Company flags and other countries’ flags at businesses are covered in the guide to flagpoles for businesses.