The EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) has closed a formal investigation initiated in 2019 regarding alleged aid granted by the Norwegian municipality Farsund for local property development.
ESA has assessed the following measures connected to the development of Nordkapp and Farøy: (i) option agreements for the Nordkapp and Farøy areas that have no price adjustment mechanism in case of future price increase and where the Municipality is not compensated for the options; (ii) sale of part of Nordkapp (Nordkapp 1) at a price below market price and (iii) the sale of the municipality-owned shares in Farsund Vekst at a price below market price.
Given the insufficient basis to positively establish that the measures conferred economic advantages on the alleged beneficiaries and the commercial context in which each of the measures were adopted, ESA considers it plausible that the alleged aid beneficiaries could have obtained comparable terms from a normally prudent private market operator in a situation as alike as possible to that of the Municipality and acting under normal market conditions.
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