SMS and record-keeping in the municipality
Last updated: 16 October 2026
Residents often contact municipal employees and elected officials by text message. When a message matters for a case, the question is where the message is kept, and who controls it.
Norway's new Archives Act took effect on 1 January 2026. According to the Ministry of Culture and Equality, the duty to keep records covers all types of documentation in the public sector, including what is held in specialist systems and collaboration tools.
Recent cases
In December 2025, a local newspaper found no archived text messages to or from the mayors of two municipalities in the Haugaland region. The municipalities said they would review their routines. In October 2026, a district court ruled that a municipality in Rogaland must hand over text messages a municipal council member sent in a building case. The municipality holds that it does not control the messages.
Haugesunds Avis (Norwegian) (opens in a new tab)Haugesunds Avis (Norwegian) (opens in a new tab)Rett24 (Norwegian) (opens in a new tab)
Messages on private phones are hard for the municipality to find, assess and preserve.
Our proposal: treat SMS like email
Municipalities already have a routine for email. When an email arrives directly to a person, it is the recipient's responsibility to send it on to the central mailbox. SMS can be handled the same way.
The mayor forwards the message to the municipality's number, and SeMSe places it in the mayor's own group. There, the conversation with the resident continues from the municipality's number. The whole dialogue is kept together, with its history, where the municipality can assess it for registration in its records.
The same applies to the chief municipal executive, unit managers and other roles who receive text messages directly. The resident needs no app, and the role needs only one new habit: forwarding.
Sources
Norwegian Government – Archives and records (Norwegian) (opens in a new tab)the articles above