Policy Sweden

ADVISORY PANEL ON PUBLIC SECTOR INFORMATION Public Sector Information policy in Sweden Report by APPSI Secretariat, May 2005

Background Sweden joined the European Union (EU) in 1995, and its accession was seen by many as a positive step towards open government. Sweden has a two hundred year old tradition of freedom of information legislation and it was anticipated that this would be likely to spur Europe's institutions towards greater openness. But many Swedes feared the opposite: that they might be required to conform to Europe's more secretive culture. In Sweden's entry agreement there was a special declaration pertaining to the principle of public access. It is emphasised that the rules embodying the principle of public access are fundamental for `Sweden's constitutional, political and cultural heritage'. Sweden was one of the earliest states in Europe to legislate for openness and transparency in government. In the 18th century, after over 40 years of mixed experiences with Parliamentarism, public access to government documents was one of the main issues covered in the Freedom of the Press Act of 1766. It is viewed as a positive step against corruption and a move towards equal treatment of citizens by government and as increasing the perceived legitimacy of (local and central) government and politicians. Right of Access to Government Information The Swedish Freedom of Information Act (Tryckfrihetsförordningen) was instituted as one of the country's four fundamental laws making up the country's written constitution. It is covered in the Freedom of Press Act, which granted public access to government documents. It is thus a fundamental part of the Swedish Constitution. In Swedish this is known as Offentlighetsprincipen (The Principle of Publicity). The Swedish Consutition

consists of four laws: The Instrument of Government (1974), The Act of Succession (1810), The Freedom of the Press Act (1766) and the Fundamental Law on Fredom of Expression (1991). The obligations are, however, somewhat different to those in Britain in many respects. One example of this is that requests can be made and information can be released orally. There are detailed rules in the second chapter of the Freedom of the Press Act that define a public document and set rules on access (§ 12), the right to obtain a copy and the principle for deciding the fee for such copies (§ 13, which stipulates that the guiding principle should be marginal cost). At the moment the Freedom of the Press Act (or the principle of transparency) only give the citizen a right to obtain copies of public documents in paper format. A proposed amendment to the 13th paragraph would make it possible for certain documents to be released to the citizen in digital formats. An English-language translation of the constitution can be found at http://www.riksdagen.se/english/work/constitution.asp. The framework on access rests on a constitutional pillar, aimed at giving the citizen the possibility of checking and controlling how the public sector works. The framework does not give the citizen a specific right to exploit the “document” received from an agency on the basis of the principle of transparency. If a document contains material which is protected by copyright owned by the state (a governmental agency is a section of the legal entity “the Crown”) a municipality or a third party, who have sent a document to the agency for some reason, the agency is obliged to give the document to the citizen as prescribed in the Freedom of the Press Act. But the citizen has to respect the copyright. If s/he wishes to exploit the protected the material, s/he has to build an agreement with the owner of the rights to the material in question. There is no specific framework on copyright for the public sector. The general legislation on Intellectual Property Rights has to be used by the agencies on central as well as local levels. A study was commissioned at the time of negations with the EU on the Directive 2003/98/EC on the Re-Use of Public Sector Information (the Directive) and the analyses came to the conclusion that the Directive would be easy to implement in Sweden due to Sweden’s existing culture of re-use of Government information. Access to information under the Swedish Freedom of Information Act is usually free, not only to individuals, but also to companies. Information is, however, only free in hard copy. Trading funds are the exception to this, but the general rule is that information is open, available to anyone and free to use and re-use. The Swedish Government are currently working on ways to tackle the intellectual property rights owned by trading funds.

In Sweden, Government agencies have a close working relationship with the information industry and actively sell information to them. Some agencies, such as producers of maps, earn the large proportion of their revenue through the sale of information. These agencies are very worried that the Directive will change the control they exercise over information. Trading Funds have assisted in the creation of information markets and there are information brokers in many Swedish companies. The information market is very large and many private information brokers have contracts with Government agencies. Licensing The main challenge for the Swedish Government at present is licensing, and this is something which is being investigated. The Government recognises that one licence will not be suitable in all cases and are exploring the possibility of using example licence types for individuals to develop. The Swedish Government have noted the benefits of the UK licence and are considering the merits of designing a similar system for use in Sweden. The only aspect of licensing which might be considered regulated or at least is affected by regulations is the issue of fees for grants of rights. For governmental agencies there is the governmental ordnance (The ordnance on fees 1992:191) which says that an agency is only allowed to sell goods and services if Parliament or the government has given its permission. Licences are also covered by this ordnance. The government normally gives the agencies power to sell goods and services in the governmental ordnance for the agency (Instruction; general regulation; for example dissemination of geographical information) and in a “letter” (governmental decision) given to every agencies on the economical prerequisites for the coming year. In the letter for the National Land Survey it is prescribed that the fees for dissemination of geographical information and cadastral (land) information shall be calculated in such a way that the fees cover the costs of production of the document (marginal cost) plus a contribution from the user of the data for the maintenance of the systems used for storage and dissemination. The Swedish Agency for Public Management (Statskontoret) is carrying out an inquiry on behalf of the government for the issue of implementation of the PSI-directive on the use of standard licenses by agencies. The Directive has not been formally implemented in Sweden because the Government feels that Sweden is already at an advanced stage in relation to freedom of information and re-use of information. Much of the Directive has already been covered, although in a rather fragmented manner. The culture is very much of use and re-use of information. There is currently no website dedicated to the Directive, but one is due to be launched in late July/early August. There will be a PSI strategy implemented in the next three to four months. This is due to there being little formal implementation in Sweden, which will instead build upon systems and

processes already in place. The Swedish Government are confident that they are already in a position to meet the requirements of the Directive.