A search may be conducted at Tidal Music AS

Justices: Webster, Kallerud, Falch, Høgetveit Berg, Lindsetmo

In connection with an investigation of possible computer fraud, the Public Prosecution Authority had requested a warrant to conduct a search at a company that was not itself a suspect, see section 192 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Act, to access information stored by this company on servers abroad, and that was assumed to shed light on the possible fraud. The Supreme Court, having conducted an oral hearing, concluded that under Norwegian internal law, there was nothing that prevented the search from being conducted. Nor were there treaty provisions or any custom under international law preventing it. A search in a case like this would also not entail any violation of other states' exclusive enforcement jurisdiction. In this regard, it was emphasised that the coercive measure had been commenced on Norwegian soil, and that the relevant data had been made available by a coercive measure against a Norwegian company with offices in Norway. The decision was made by Norwegian courts while maintaining general rule of law guarantees. The search would only give access to data that the company itself had stored, and that the company could freely retrieve from the storage place abroad. The data also remains on the foreign server, and no changes are made to the information. The Court of Appeal dismissed the company's appeal against the District Court's order to allow the search. The appeal against the Court of Appeal's order was dismissed.

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