Statistics Norway (SSB) has announced its aim to track receipt data from serval of Norway’s major supermarket chains, signaling a new era in state data collection.
Statistics Norway is an entity owned by the state responsible for collecting, producing and communicating statistics related to the economy, population and society at national, regional and local levels. This info includes an individual’s birth number, address, income, and criminal record.
Now, SSB has ordered supermarket chains Coop, Bunnpris, Rema 1000, and NorgesGruppen, to share their receipt data with the organization. This also includes Nets, the payment processor responsible for 80% of transactions.
As part of an assessment, SSB explains, “A link between a payment transaction made with a debit card and a grocery receipt enables SSB to link a payment transaction and receipt for more than 70% of grocery purchases.”
The Norwegian public has expressed their concerns about the enforcement data collection. SSB claims it wants a more efficient way of collecting and analyzing household consumption data to inform tax policy, social assistance, and child allowance.