This is a good design. The company that manufactures the product does not need to be necessarily responsible for the cleanup. The cleanup is done by another company and the costs are added on customer checkout. But this is open to abuse as you mentioned -- some companies may take short cuts or the cleanup companies may become an oligopoly and charge unreasonable prices that add a lot of cost to the products.
Also, what happens if you order a product online from another company in a different country ? Does Norway still get to add tax for cleanup on these imported goods ? I would guess that this would be a powerful incentive for customers to skirt these regulations for lower prices.
> Does Norway still get to add tax for cleanup on these imported goods ?
If you import as a private person AFAIK no. Consumers have very good consumer protection on goods bought from domestic shops, so there's a strong incentive to do that rather than import.
Though all that Temu junk is another story...
But companies importing EE goods have to report to the return company they're a member of, and pay them accordingly.
Can't recall offhand if there's special "flag" on the import declaration or if they just go by HS code. And presumably they get audited on this.
IIRC it used to be more directly linked to the import declaration but they streamlined it.
Also, what happens if you order a product online from another company in a different country ? Does Norway still get to add tax for cleanup on these imported goods ? I would guess that this would be a powerful incentive for customers to skirt these regulations for lower prices.