Sweden

Name of law: The Freedom of the Press Act
First adopted: 1766
Last modified: n/a
RTI Rating last updated: n/a

Introduction

Scandinavian RTI laws tend to be rather variable, but Sweden’s legislation falls on the strong end of that spectrum. The constitution of Sweden consists of four fundamental laws, including the Freedom of the Press Act. This constating document explicitly provides access to official documents, “in order to encourage the free exchange of opinion and the availability of comprehensive information.” As a result of this structure, most of the RTI scheme is contained within the constitution with other regulations and ordinary legislation supplementing the supreme law. The scheme has broad provisions relating to the scope and a mostly compliant appeals system that, while flawed in some respects, generally follows international best practices. For further improvement, the law should add a public interest override to the exceptions regime, strengthen the administrative oversight tribunal, and explicitly provide clear timelines for making and responding to requests.

Local Expert: Helena Bengtsson