The Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority has published the Norwegian Ministry of Finance’s decisions in four appeal cases concerning whether certain payment arrangements fall within the PSD2 “limited network” or “limited range of goods and services” exemptions, and whether a gift-card product constitutes e-money. The Ministry upheld Finanstilsynet in three cases and overturned one decision involving Facebook Payments International Limited. In the three cases where Finanstilsynet prevailed, the Ministry upheld refusals to register as exempt under the “limited network” exemption for (i) Amfi Drift’s physical gift card usable across Thon Group shopping centres and hotels and reloadable once with NOK 100 to NOK 5,000, and (ii) Edenred’s IATA Easypay prepaid accounts and virtual cards usable with 154 IATA-accredited airlines, citing among other factors the scale and geographic spread of acceptance and the absence of a clearly bounded network. The Ministry also upheld Finanstilsynet’s finding that Universal Presentkort’s gift cards are e-money under the Financial Undertakings Act and that the business is licence-requiring, rejecting arguments that invoicing after issuance avoids the “issued after receipt of funds” element. In the Facebook case, the Ministry accepted that the notified gaming-content payment service could qualify for exemption under the “very limited range of goods or services” limb, and found Finanstilsynet lacked a legal basis to make registration conditional on separating the excluded activity into a separate legal entity. The Ministry’s decisions are final; Facebook may request reimbursement of legal costs within three weeks, and Finanstilsynet was asked to set a new deadline for compliance with the cease-and-desist order in the Universal case.

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