Exporting to Scandinavia

 Denmark, Norway and Sweden, comprise the Scandinavia. These countries have a common historical background and many cultural similarities. The languages are similar enough to allow Scandinavians to communicate with each other using their own mother tongue. Despite this, the economic and political situation differs among the countries. Denmark and Sweden are members of the European Union, while Norway remains outside, having, however, established extensive cooperation agreements with the EU.

 For understanding and analyzing the Scandinavian market following facts are important to consider:

-    The average income is high in international comparison; the gross domestic product per capita is in the order of € 30,000 per year.

-    The Scandinavian countries have some of the highest tax levels in the world. The tax systems are progressive, higher incomes pay more. It is quite common that people pay more than 50 % of their top income in tax.

-    In comparison with many other European inhabitants, Scandinavians tend to use a relatively large part of the income on housing and relatively less on other areas. Housing accounts for over 20 % of household expenditure in the three countries, whereas foodstuffs and beverages only represent 13 – 15 % of the average household expenditure.

-     The Scandinavians live, to an increasing extent, in single person households. On average, this represents 38 % of the households (17 % of the population). University students move away from home, people are getting married late, and the divorce rate is high. Elderly people also tend to live by themselves.

-     72% - 75 % of Scandinavian women between the ages of 15 and 64 years (2002) work outside the home: the high frequency of women working reflects a highly-developed public sector with adequate day care institutions for children.

-     50 % of the population in Scandinavia has a high school degree, and nearly 20 % have university degree. Education is equally distributed between the genders.

Benefit from Lower Customs Duties:

Developing countries have benefited when exporting to developed countries. The preferences are arranged by the Generalized Systems of Preferences (GSP), which applies to all the three Scandinavian countries, although there are slight differences between the Norwegian and the EU GSP. GSP preferential treatment means that industrial products, with certain exceptions, are entitled to reductions of duty when exported to the Scandinavian market. For agricultural products, the system is quite different. With the exceptions of bananas, rice and sugar, the Least Developed Countries have been granted duty- and quota-free access for all products under the GSP, including agricultural products.

How to benefit from lower customs duties:

-         The product must originate in a developing country for which the EU and/or the Norwegian GSP scheme has been implemented

-         The product must be covered by the scope of products contained in the relevant GSP scheme (EU or Norway)

-         The product must satisfy the Rules of Origin

-         The product must be covered by satisfactory documentation (proof of origin).

-         Transportation must be directly from the country of origin to Scandinavia (or via another EU country or Switzerland).

-         The importer must request (claim) preferential treatment at the time of customs clearance.

 Legal Requirements:

For exporting to the Scandinavia, legal requirements such as, laws, regulations and standards are important. This is important to ensure the consumer safety, to protect the environment, and limit other risk factors. Different product groups are governed by different types of legislation. European countries practice the international agreements of the World Trade Organization. Control measures for products are mainly to be found in the Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement (TBT) and the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS). The TBT agreement deals mostly with industrial goods, while the SPS agreement deals with food safety, animal and plant health. More information can be found at the webpage of http://www.cci.se/trade/

Market Requirements:

Market requirements are another important field that an exporter should know for exporting goods to Scandinavia. Market nature can differ from sector to sectors, an exporter targeting the Scandinavian market must live up to a set of standard expectations from buyers in order to enter the market successfully. Certification of product quality, Management systems, Code of conduct, Terms of delivery and packaging, Transport of goods, Pricing Strategy, and Terms of payment, etc. is to be considered to enter the new market successfully. More information will be accessible at http://www.cci.se/trade/

Access to Scandinavian Market and Assistance to Exporters:

Entering a new market requires long-term planning and substantial efforts. Getting in contact with potential buyers through searching the internet, trade fairs, business trips is needed. One market is always different from another market, therefore business culture is also differ from the home market. It is important to know in advance the rules & regulations, hierarchy & power structure of a company or organization, punctuality, informality of dress and dealing styles of the officials, etc. for entering into the Scandinavian market.

 There exist different organizations for extending necessary assistance to prospective exporters/companies. For instance:

 -   In Denmark: DANIDA (Danish International Development Assistance), DIPO (The Danish Import Promotion Office) is responsible for helping the exporters. For more information visit the website www.um.dk/en

-     In Norway: Norad is the Norwegian Agency for International Development, an agency under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. More information about Norad is available on the website www.norad.no.

Another organization namely HSH - Norwegian Office of Import Promotion. HSH represents both the trade sector (wholesalers, retailers, importers, agents and a wide range of industries) and the service sector (travel agencies, rental businesses, advertising agencies). More information about this site is available on the website www.hsh-org.no.

-    In Sweden: SIDA (The Swedish Agency for International Development Cooperation) is a government agency under the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The goal of the Swedish development co-operation is to help developing countries to improve their human resources through education, healthcare, rural infrastructure building, employment generation, etc.

The Swedish Chambers of Commerce have a specific programme (Trade Promotion Programme of the Swedish Chambers of Commerce) in order to support exporters from developing countries. The programme is co-funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida and is open to all developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern and Central Europe. Detailed information on all services provided can be found at www.cci.se/trade.