12.0 E-Government Initiatives

Norway has developed comprehensive E-Government solutions that allow Norwegians to greatly interact with government services. Norwegian E-Government initiatives allow transaction processing such as: obtaining visas, passports, birth and death records, driver’s licenses, and permits. E-Government payment services include paying fines, parking tickets, automobile registration fees, utility bills, and taxes. Secure transactions and digital signatures are also standard technologies used to facilitate online transactions. A central government portal located at www.norge.no has been established to provide Norwegians with a single point of entry when accessing government services. The Norwegian Revenue Service has also established a website (www.skatteetaten.no) in which to provide the payment of income, property, and sales taxes.

In a May 2001 survey by TNS Consultants (see references), Norwegian e-Government initiatives were recently ranked number one out of a total of 27 nations polled. Norwegian internet usage statistics indicate that 53% of Norway’s citizenry has utilized e-Government services in some form. Typical e-Government usage includes:

· Information seeking – 41% of Norwegians have accessed government website to retrieve information.

· Information providing – Submitting forms to government agencies.

· Print off government forms – Government forms are distributed electronically.

· Pay for Government Services – 19% of the Norwegian population has utilized e-Government payment services.

12.1 References

The TNS Consultants website, articles, and survey information can be found at the following:

TNS Website - www.tnsofres.com

Article - http://www.tnsofres.com/press/pressstory.cfm?storyID=627

Survey - www.tnsofres.com/gostudy2002/