Welcome to The Higher Prosecuting Authorities - The Director of Public Prosecutions and the Regional Public Prosecution Offices

The Director of Public Prosecutions Jørn Sigurd Maurud is the head of the Norwegian Prosecuting Authority. The Prosecuting Authority is organised on three levels:

  • The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)
  • The Regional Public Prosecution Offices (PPO)
  • The Prosecuting Authority in the Police

The PPO consists of 10 regional offices in addition to the National Authority for the Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime (Økokrim) and the National Authority for Prosecution of Organised and other Serious Crime (Det nasjonale statsadvokatembetet, NAST). The Prosecuting Authority in the Police is organised in 12 districts, the National Criminal Investigation Service (Kripos) and the Police Security Service (Politiets sikkerhetstjeneste, PST).

The Prosecuting Authority is responsible for the handling of criminal cases, i.e. investigation, deciding whether to prosecute and to prosecute the cases which go to court. Most cases are decided and prosecuted by the Prosecuting Authority in the Police, but the cases concerning the most serious crimes are decided by the PPO or DPP and prosecuted by the PPO.

The DPP directs the handling of criminal cases, which implies deciding the targets and the priorities for the PPO and the Police. The DPP also makes the decision of whether to prosecute the most serious cases and handle complaints over decisions made by the PPO.

The PPO supervise the investigation and prosecution by the Police in the region, handle complaints over decisions made by the Prosecuting Authority in the Police, decide whether to prosecute serious cases, and prosecute serious cases before the courts. The National Authority for Prosecution of Organised and Other Serious Crime handles cases of serious organised crime, war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. The National Authority for the Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime deals with cases of serious economic crime and crimes against the environment.

For information about international judicial cooperation, please see the European Judicial Network (EJN) website.

Contact details of the DDP:
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, P.O.Box 82102 Vika, 0125 Oslo, Norway
Phone: + 47 22 47 78 50
Fax: + 47 22 33 31 12
E-mail: postmottak.riks@riksadvokaten.no