Etat is a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 state-, county

Counties of Norway

Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties . The counties form the primary first-level subdivisions of Norway and are further divided into 430 municipalities...

- or municipal

Municipalities of Norway

Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties , and 430 municipalities...

 agency

Government agency

A government or state agency is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an intelligence agency. There is a notable variety of agency types...

. An Etat is a subdivision of the administration, which has been given responsibility for a special area. An agency does not have a board of directors

Board of directors

A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...

, but it does have a director, appointed by the subordinate organization. Normally decisions made by the agency can be appeal

Appeal

An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....

ed to the higher body. State agencies are subordinate to one particular ministry

Ministry (government department)

A ministry is a specialised organisation responsible for a sector of government public administration, sometimes led by a minister or a senior public servant, that can have responsibility for one or more departments, agencies, bureaus, commissions or other smaller executive, advisory, managerial or...

, and appeals are made to the Minister.

As part of the parliamentary oversight- and supervisory activities, Parliament has four independent agencies: the Auditor General of Norway, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces, the Parliamentary Ombudsman (for Public Affairs), the Parliamentary Intelligence Oversight Committee.

Government agencies are often given names ending in directorate

Directorate

A directorate is an agency usually headed by a director, often a subdivision of a major government department.* Immigration and Nationality Directorate* Dairat al-Mukhabarat al-Ammah * Veterinary Medicines Directorate...

, inspectorate

Inspectorate

An Inspectorate or Inspectorate-General is a civil or military body charged with inspecting and reporting on some institution or institutions in its field of competence...

, administration

Public administration

Public Administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal.....

 (verk) or authority

Authority

The word Authority is derived mainly from the Latin word auctoritas, meaning invention, advice, opinion, influence, or command. In English, the word 'authority' can be used to mean power given by the state or by academic knowledge of an area .-Authority in Philosophy:In...

. Among the organisations organised as agencies are the universities and colleges

Higher education in Norway

Higher education in Norway is offered by a range of eight universities, nine specialised universities, 24 university colleges as well as a range of private university colleges...

. All government agencies are audited by the Office of the Auditor General of Norway

Office of the Auditor General of Norway

The Office of the Auditor General of Norway is the state auditor of the Government of Norway and directly subordinate of the Parliament of Norway. It is responsible for auditing, monitoring and advising all state economic activities, including financial audits, performance audits and corporate...

. Municipalities and counties often divide their organization into etats, with only the central administration left in the core. Typically these agencies then are responsible for school

School

A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...

s, healthcare, culture

Culture

Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...

 etc.

Privatization

There has been a tendency, especially amongst right-winged politicians, to convert some agencies to limited companies

Aksjeselskap

Aksjeselskap is the Norwegian term for a stock-based company. It is usually abbreviated AS or A/S, especially when used in company names. An AS is always a limited company, i.e. the owners cannot be held liable for any debt beyond the stock capital...

 or state enterprises

Statsforetak

Statsforetak or SF, meaning State Enterprise is a type of company in Norway. SFs are wholly owned by the Government of Norway, but it does not hold limited liability in the company...

 (or their county/municipal equivalent). Some have even been privatized

Privatization

Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...

. One such example of converting agencies to enterprises is that all the hospital

Hospital

A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....

s are organised as health trusts, owned again by four regional health authorities

Regional Health Authority

A regional health authority is a state enterprise responsible for specialist healthcare in one of four regions of Norway. Responsibilities of the RHFs include patient treamtment, education of medical staff, research and training of patients and relatives...

.