The
principle of openness "Offentlighetsgrundsatsen"
has been long enshrined in Swedish law. Sweden enacted the
world's first Freedom of Information Act in 1766.
•
Undernourished people (% of total population),
2000/03: N/A
•
Population with sustainable access to an improved
water source (%), 2002: 100
Source:
UN Development Program, Human Development Reports
Data
There
are four fundamental laws that make up the Swedish Constitution.
Of those, the Instrument of Government and the Freedom of
the Press Act specifically provide for freedom of information.
Chapter
2, Article 1 of The Instrument of Government guarantees
that all citizens have the right of:
(2)
freedom of information: that is, the freedom to procure
and receive information and otherwise acquaint oneself
with the utterances of others.
Specific
rules on access are contained in the Freedom of the Press
Act, which was first adopted in 1766. The current version
was adopted in 1949 and amended in 1976. Chapter 2 on
the Public Nature of Official Documents, decrees that
"every Swedish subject [and resident] shall have
free access to official documents." Public authorities
must respond immediately to requests for official documents.
Requests can be in any form and can be anonymous.
Each
authority is required to keep a register of all official
documents and most indices are publicly available. This
makes it possible for ordinary citizens to go to the Prime
Minister's office and view copies of all of his correspondence.
There
are four exceptions to the registration requirement: documents
that are of little importance to the authorities activities;
documents that are not secret and are kept in a manner that
can be ascertained whether they have been received or drawn
up by the authority; documents that are kept in large numbers
which the government has exempted under the secrecy ordinance;
and electronic records already registered and available
from another ministry. Importantly, internal documents such
as drafts, memoranda and outlines are not considered official
documents unless they are filed and registered or they contain
new factual information that is taken into account in decision-making.
There is no obligation to keep non-official documents.
Under
the Act, there are discretionary exemptions to protect national
security and foreign relations; fiscal policy, the inspection
and supervisory functions of public authorities; prevention
of crime; the public economic interest; the protection of
privacy; and the preservation of plant or animal species.
All
documents that are secret must be specified by law. A comprehensive
list of the documents that are exempted is provided in the
1980 Secrecy Act which has over 160 sections. Most of the
restrictions require a finding that their release would
cause harm to the protected interest. Information can be
kept secret between 2 and 70 years. The Secrecy Ordinance
sets additional regulations on some provisions of the Secrecy
Act. A government panel in 2003 found that the Act has been
continually changed since 1980. The government classified
the list of dead and missing Swedes from the Tsunami in
January 2005 because of fears that the houses of the missing
would be robbed. The Supreme Administrative Court ruled
in February 2005 that the withholding was illegal and the
names were released.
Decisions
by public authorities to deny access to official documents
may be appealed internally. They can then be appealed to
general administrative courts and ultimately to the Supreme
Administrative Court. Complaints can also be made to the
Parliamentary Ombudsman. The Ombudsman can investigate and
issue non-binding decisions. The Ombudsman received 288
complaints relating to access to documents and freedom of
the press between July 2004 and June 2005 and issued admonitions
to government departments in 90 cases.
The
government announced a proposal in 2002 to merge the Secrecy
Act and the Public Records Act into a single Management
of Official Documents Act that would "set all the requirements
to be met by public authorities throughout the process of
handling official documents." The proposal was stopped
because of concerns about its constitutionality. The government
is now considering a proposal by a panel to write a new
Secrecy Act. The panel recommended making the Act more user-friendly
by restructuring it, modernizing the language, and including
definitions in the Act. They also recommended some form
of external oversight, an improvement on the requirement
to show harm in some cases, a public interest test, increasing
the secrecy of information on the health or the sexual activities
of an individual if it would cause harm, and improving the
protection of sensitive personal information and the link
between real and fictitious identities.
Even
in a country with such a longstanding principle, there are
still problems with access. The regular changes to the Secrecy
Act has raised concerns. The plans for the building of Prime
Minister Göran Persson's house were classified in April
2005. There are also problems with awareness of the Act.
A researcher at the University of Gothenburg was fined $4500
in July 2005 for refusing to follow a court order to release
his records, instead shredding them. The Ombudsman said
that the University did not do enough to get the records
back. The Deputy Ombudsman stated in the 2004-05 report
that there was "often a lack of fundamental knowledge
of these areas" particularly with local administrations.
The government ran an "Open Sweden Campaign" in
2002 to improve public-sector transparency, raise the level
of public knowledge and awareness of information disclosure
policies, and encourage active citizen involvement and debate.
It was coordinated by representatives from the national
government, county councils, municipalities and trade unions.
The government said:
[C]lear
signals from the public, journalists and trade unions
and professional organizations indicate that inadequacies
exist in terms of knowledge about the public access to
information principle, and with respect to its application.
Examples of such inadequacies include delays in connection
with the release of official documents, improper invocations
of secrecy and cases where employees do not feel at liberty
to exercise the freedom of expression and communication
freedom guaranteed them by law. Many citizens have insufficient
knowledge of these rights, making it difficult for those
citizens to exercise them. The government believes that
this type of openness is one of the cornerstones of a
democratic society, and that it must continue to be so.
Sweden
signed the Aarhus convention in June 1998 and ratified it
in June 2005. Access to environmental information is under
the Freedom of Press Act.
Individuals
have a right to access and correct personal information
held by public and private bodies under the Personal Data
Act. It is enforced by the Data Inspection Board.
[Footnotes
for this section are currently unavailable but will be posted
the week of July 10. All footnotes and references are also
available in the full study, available
here.]
[Footnotes
for this section are currently unavailable but will be posted
the week of July 10. All footnotes and references are also
available in the full study, available
here.]
1)
Voice and Accountability: 1.52
2) Political Instability and Violence: 1.38
3) Government Effectiveness: 1.92
4) Regulatory Burden: 1.54
5) Rule of Law: 1.85
6) Control of Corruption: 2.20
