5.5 Forced sale of the vessel by a Norwegian court
A demand for a forced sale may be presented for a number of reasons. We limit the scope for this discussion to late payment: a claim, secured by a mortgage, an enforcement lien or a maritime lien is not paid in time. We need not to go into the many and in some respects complicated rules in CoE. (1) For a short overview, see Falkanger, Forced Sale of Vessels according to Norwegian Law, SIMPLY 1999 (= MarIus No. 247) pp. 3‑27. It is sufficient to say that if there is “an enforcement ground” defined in CoE Section 11-2 (typically, a registered mortgage or a registered enforcement lien), the vessel may be sold at a forced sale under the auspices of a court. The competent court is the court where the vessel is or “is expected to arrive in the near future” (CoE Section 11-3) which means that the place of registration or the flag of the vessel is not material. However, if the flag is not Norwegian there are some “niceties”.(2) See article mentioned in the preceding note pp. 25‑27. In particular, MC Section 74 on the recognition of mortgages and liens on foreign vessels and Section 75 on choice of law should both be noted.