Data Advocacy for Sweden
Being a member of the European Union, Sweden implemented the EU Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC in 1998 with the Personal Data Act (Sw. personuppgiftslagen, SFS 1998:204, below ‘the Act’). The previous Swedish Data Act enacted in 1973 had by then already been considered to be outdated for many years.
Scope of the Law
The Swedish Personal Data Act (1998:204) (“PDA”), implementing the Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC).
Camera Monitoring Act (2013:460) (“CMA”), governing privacy and use of camera monitoring.
Debt Recovery Act (1974:182), which contains privacy regulations in relation to debt collection.
Credit Information Act (1973:1173), which contains privacy regulations in relation to credit information.
Electronic Communications Act (2003:389), implementing Directive 2002/58/EC on the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive).
Patients’ Personal Data Act (2008:355), which governs the processing of Personal Data in the healthcare sector.
The Data Inspection Board (Sw. Datainspektionen, below ‘DIB’) is the supervisory authority under the Act.
Contact details:
Datainspektionen
Drottninggatan 29, plan 5
Box 8114
104 20 Stockholm
T +46 8 657 61 00
There is no requirement in Sweden for organisations to appoint a data protection officer. It is a voluntary arrangement. However, if a data protection officer has been appointed and notified to the DIB, the general notification obligation does not apply. Instead, the officer has to maintain a register of the processing that the data controller implements and which would have been subject to the notification duty if the data protection officer had not existed.
There is no mandatory requirement in the Act to report data security breaches or losses to the DIB. Data security breaches are handled on a case-by-case basis and addressed by the DIB only if they for instance relate to a large number of data subjects or indicate a general non-compliance issue. There is no DIB guidance on the subject matter.
However, pursuant to the implementation of the ePrivacy Directive as amended, regarding security breach notification obligations, chapter 6 of the Swedish Electronic Communications Act (Sw. lag om elektronisk kommunikation, SFS 2003:389) as of July 2011 provides that a provider of publicly available electronic communications services shall without undue delay notify the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (Sw. Post och Telestyrelsen) regarding privacy incidents. Where the incident is likely to adversely affect subscribers or users of whom the processed data concerns, or where the Post and Telecom Authority requests it, the provider shall also notify subscribers without undue delay. Incidents that only have a marginal effect on subscribers and users do not have to be notified to the authority. Moreover, notification is not required where the service provider has implemented appropriate security measures which renders the data unreadable to unauthorised persons.
Opt-in regime: no direct marketing electronic mail can be legally sent without the express consent of the receiver, unless a pre-existing business or commercial relationship exists. (Consent is however not mandated for marketing to legal persons.)
Also, a specific opt out must be offered with each message. Disguised sender identities are prohibited, and a valid return address must be provided.
The term “Opt-Out Rule” means that the sending of e-marketing to the recipient is permitted on an opt-out basis if:
the recipient’s details were originally collected “in the context of a sale”.
the entity sending the marketing is the same legal entity that collected the recipient’s details initially.
the marketing relates to “similar” products and/or services for which the recipient’s details were originally obtained.
the recipient is given the opportunity free of charge to object to the e-marketing, both at the time their details were collected and in each subsequent communication.
Applicable Legislation:
Marketing Act (Sw. marknadsföringslagen (1995:450)) dated 1 April 2004
The Electronic Communications Act (Sw. lagen om elektronisk kommunikation (2003:389)) amended 1 July 2011
First party e-marketing
(entity that collects the data will send the e-marketing itself)
B2C: Opt-in. Opt-out permitted where Opt-Out Rule applies.
B2B: Opt-out
Third party e-marketing
(entity that collects the data will share with third party partner for e-marketing)
B2C: Opt-in
B2B: Opt-out
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