County governor (Norway)

Emblem of the County Governors

The county governor (Bokmål: statsforvalteren; Nynorsk: statsforvaltaren, lit. state administrator in English) is a Norwegian government agency that represents the central government administration in every county in Norway. Responsible for a number of supervision and management duties, the governor is the representative of the king and the government of Norway in each county, functioning as the connection between the state and the municipalities. The county governor is subordinate to the Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation but also to the other ministries in their respective duties.

The governor is part of the executive branch and so is formally appointed by the king in a cabinet meeting.

The main responsibilities of the governor include controlling and being an instance of appeal for municipal decisions and the main instance for exercising state regulation of agriculture and local environmental impact. The governor is also responsible for civil matters including marriage, divorce and citizenship. if a municipality fails to balance its budget, the governor enters the municipality into the Register for Governmental Approval of Financial Obligations and obtain some control over the municipality's finances.

The governor of Svalbard has wider authorities, including for the police.

The (appointed) county governor should not be confused with the (elected) Chair of the County Council, more commonly called a County Mayor (fylkesordfører).


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