NordenBladet – The Swedish Election Authority (Swedish: Valmyndigheten), is a Government agency responsible for organizing national elections and referendums in Sweden. The agency began its operations on 1 July 2001 when it took over the responsibilities from the Swedish National Tax Board.
Local and regional elections are the responsibility of the respective municipalities and county councils, however these elections always take place concurrently with the national elections for the Riksdag. As the central administrative authority for elections, the Election Authority has an instrumental role in all public elections in Sweden.
Elections in Sweden
Elections to determine the makeup of the legislative bodies on the three levels of administrative division in the Kingdom of Sweden are held once every four years. At the highest level, these elections determine the allocation of seats in the Riksdag, the national legislative body of Sweden. Elections to the 20 county councils (landsting) and 290 municipal assemblies (kommunfullmäktige) – all using roughly the same electoral system – are held concurrently with the legislative elections on the second Sunday in September (with effect from 2014; until 2010 they had been held on the third Sunday in September).
Sweden also holds elections to the European Parliament, which unlike Swedish domestic elections are held in June every five years, although they are also held on a Sunday and use an almost identical electoral system. The last Swedish general election was held on 14 September 2014. The last Swedish election to the European Parliament was held on 25 May 2014.
Dates Elections to Sweden’s county councils occur simultaneously with the general elections on the second Sunday of September. Elections to the municipal assemblies also occur on the second Sunday of September. Elections to the European Parliament occur every five years in June throughout the entire European Union; the exact day of the election varies by country according to local tradition, thus in Sweden all European parliament elections occur on a Sunday.
Voter eligibility To vote in a Swedish general election, one must be:
– a Swedish citizen,
– at least 18 years of age on election day,
– and have at some point been a registered resident of Sweden (thus excluding foreign-born Swedes who have never lived in Sweden)
To vote in Swedish local elections (for the county councils and municipal assemblies), one must:
– be a registered resident of the county or municipality in question and be at least 18 years of age on election day
fall into one of the following groups:
– Swedish citizens
– Citizens of Iceland, Norway, or any country in the European Union
– Citizens of any other country who have permanent residency in Sweden and have lived in Sweden for three consecutive years
In order to vote in elections to the European Parliament, one must be 18 years old, and fall into one of the following groups:
– Swedish citizens who are or have been residents of Sweden
– Citizens of any other country in the European Union who are currently residents of Sweden; such citizens, by choosing to vote in European Parliamentary elections in Sweden, become ineligible to vote in European Parliamentary elections in any other EU member state
In general, any person who is eligible to vote is also eligible to stand for election.
Find more about Elections in Sweden HERE and about Referendums in Sweden HERE
NordenBladet – The Swedish Economic Crime Authority (Swedish: Ekobrottsmyndigheten, abbreviated EBM or SECA) is a Swedish government agency organized under the Ministry of Justice, with the mandate to investigate and prosecute financial crimes, like dishonesty to creditors, bookkeeping crime, market abuse crime, tax crime and EU fraud.
The Swedish Economic Crime Authority (SECA) is also tasked to monitor and analyse economic crime trends, initiate joint action between authorities and propose legislative changes designed curb economic crime. The agency primarily focus on serious economic crime, with a special emphasis on investigating crime in the financial market and recovering the proceeds of crime.
History
SECA was set up in 1998, to safeguard the expertise of experienced police officers and prosecutors, who often got assigned to other types of investigative work, not related to economic crime. The authority was the first in Sweden to co-house police officers and prosecutors under the same roof.
Organizational structure
The agency operates nationwide, with a headquarters in Stockholm, and consists of approximately 560 employees. There are about 100 prosecutors and 230 police officers of different specialities, analysts, forensic accountants and administrative staff. SECA is led by Director-General Eva Håkansson Fröjelin and the operational activity is organized into several units: Public Prosecutions Unit, Legal Unit, Development Unit, Administrative Unit, Economic Crime Office and the Chief of Staff.
Area of responsibility SECA´s objectives are to prevent, investigate and institute legal proceedings against economic crime. In an extended view this also includes to monitor and analyze criminal trends and act as a referral body regarding legal development.
We play a vital role in combatting organized crime and in preventing the effects of criminality as a threat to the mechanisms of fair competition in a free market as well as on the stock market.
We are also responsible for coordination and other measures against economic crime, including the development of methods to combat economic crime more effectively. The Authority has also been instructed to provide information on economic crime to other authorities, municipalities, industry, organisations and the general public.
SECA has also founded two councils of significant importance, the Economic Crime Council and the Forensic Council. The purpose of the Economic Crime Council is to be responsible for coordinating authorities at a central level. The council has regular contact with bankruptcy administrators and trade and industry, for example banks and other industry organizations, including the Auditors´ organization.
The forensic Councils work is strategic and advisory and focuses on analysis of development within trade and industry, identification of new risk areas and gives advices on specific competence in complicated investigations.
NordenBladet – The Swedish Data Protection Authority (Swedish: Datainspektionen) is a Swedish government agency, organized under the Ministry of Justice, tasked to protect the individual’s privacy in the information society without unnecessarily preventing or complicating the use of new technology.
The agency ensure legislation within this area is complied with and as such supervise different registers and carry out inspections of companies, organizations and other government agencies; led by the agency’s own IT security specialists and legal advisors. The most important legislation is the Personal Data Act of 1998, the Debt Recovery Act of 1974 and the Credit Information Act of 1973. The agency also has an expert advisory role when the Government prepares new statutory provisions.
History:
The Swedish Data Protection Authority (DPA) was established in 1973, as a result of public concern about personal data and abuse of government power related to mass surveillance and the enactment of the world’s first national data protection law: the Data Act.
The Data Protection Authority supervises that authorities, companies, organizations and individuals follow:
1) the Personal Data Act (1998) On the 24th of October 1998 the Personal Data Act (1998:204) came into force and replaced the out-dated Swedish Data Act from 1973. The Personal Data Act is based on Directive 95/46/EC which aims to prevent the violation of personal integrity in the processing of personal data.
2) the Debt Recovery Act (1974) A person who collects debts on behalf of another person, or collects debts which have been taken over for collection, normally requires a permit from the Data Inspection Board.
Before permission is granted, the company must have in it’s employment a person with professional legal experience of debt collection.
The Data Protection Authority determines whether the conditions are met. Debt collecting must be conducted in a professional and judicious manner. The Data Protection Authority ensures that these rules are adhered to. This is achieved by inspections.
Practise and custom dictate that files of personal data used in debt collection operations may not contain value judgements about people.
The Data Protection Authority Statute Book DIFS 2005:1
3) the Credit Information Act (1973) Credit-rating agencies collect information regarding the financial position of companies and the financial and personal circumstances of individuals.
Everyone over the age of 15 is on the computer files of Sweden’s largest credit-rating agencies.
Anyone planning to conduct credit-rating operations normally requires a permit from The Data Protection Authority. The Data Inspection Board carries out inspections to ensure that the operations are being conducted in a proper manner.
Particulars concerning a private person may only be provided to a third party if there is a legitimate reason, for example an investigation into creditworthiness. The person concerned must always receive a copy of the information that has been supplied.
Negligence on the part of a credit-rating agency can result in a liability to pay damages and those responsible may be fined or imprisoned.
International co-operation:
The board is tasked to supervise the Schengen Information System, and is involved in a number of international groups that work on privacy and personal data issues; for instance EU’s data protection group and the supervisory function of Europol’s data system.
Organization:
The agency is based in Stockholm and is led by Director-general Kristina Svahn Starrsjö. It has approximately 40 employees, the majority of whom are lawyers. The agency also has a call center that receive on average 200 calls and 60-70 e-mails per week, mostly relating to topical questions regarding protection of privacy.
Contact: Address:
Datainspektionen
Box 8114
SE-104 20 Stockholm
Sweden Office address
Drottninggatan 29, 5th floor
Stockholm
Sweden E-mail:
datainspektionen@datainspektionen.se
Telephone:
+46 8 657 61 00 Telefax
+46 8 652 86 52 Media inquiries
For all media inquiries or to interview an executive, please contact:
Per Lovgren
per.lovgren@datainspektionen.se
Tel: +46-70 736 10 80
NordenBladet – The Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority (Swedish: Brottsoffermyndigheten) is a Swedish government agency which provides compensation and support for victims of crime. It is located in Umeå and has nationwide responsibility for three areas:
Victim injury compensation If the offenders have no ability to pay damages and if there is no insurance for the damage, the victim may be entitled to Victim injury compensation of state resources. The right may exist even if the perpetrator is unknown. The allowance compensates primarily personal injury and violation.
Victims Fund The fund is distributed for research and other victim-oriented projects driven in a non-profit, public or private. The fund is built up mainly by a special fee of 500 SEK each convicted person must pay if the offense can be punished with imprisonment. Distributed annually about 30 million from the Fund.
Learning Center
Victim Agency will gather and disseminate information and research to help improve treatment and treatment of victims. It is bl. a. the information to other authorities, NGOs and victims. Brottsoffermyndigheten also arranges conferences, theme days and courses.
NordenBladet – Swedish Consumer Agency (Swedish: Konsumentverket) is a Swedish government agency that answers to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Affairs. Its Director-General is also designated Consumer Ombudsman (Konsumentombudsmannen, KO).
The agency, with a staff of around 120 located in Karlstad, provides the Swedish general public with consumer affairs assistance, acting in the collective interest of consumers. It is active in the fields of advertising and contract terms, consumer information and product safety. The task of resolving individual consumer disputes, however, is handled by the Swedish National Board for Consumer Complaints.
Swedish Consumer Agency´s responsibilities include:
to ensure companies abide by appropriate laws
to receive complaints from consumers
to work towards implementing branch agreements
to ensure the safety of products and services
to assist consumers in planning their personal finances
to educate and provide support to the Consumer advisors and Budget and debt advisors in the municipalities
to provide young consumers with appropriate tools and information and to become informed consumers
to provide consumers independent guidance through Hallå konsument
to provide consumers independent guidance when purchasing goods and services from countries within the EU
to watch over market developments and identify consumer problems in different markets
NordenBladet – The Swedish Commission on Security and Integrity Protection (Swedish: Säkerhets- och integritetsskyddsnämnden) is a Swedish administrative authority sorting under the Ministry of Justice responsible for supervising law enforcement agencies’ use of secret surveillance techniques, assumed identities and other associated activities. The commission also supervise the processing of personal data by the Swedish Police Authority. It is also obliged to check whether someone has been the subject of secret surveillance or subject to the processing of personal data, at the request of an individual, and if it was done within bounds of applicable legislation.
Website: sakint.se
Headquarters: Norr Mälarstrand 6, Stockholm
NordenBladet – The Chancellor of Justice is a government official found in some northern European countries, broadly responsible for supervising the lawfulness of government actions.
History In 1713, the Swedish King Charles XII, preoccupied with fighting the Great Northern War, was residing in Bendery and had not set foot in Sweden in over a decade. In order to re-establish the domestic administration, which had fallen into disarray, he instituted the office of His Majesty’s Supreme Ombudsman, which soon became the Chancellor of Justice. The office commenced operation on October 23, 1714 and the role of the official was to ensure that judges and public officials acted in accordance with the laws, proficiently discharged their tasks, and if not he could initiate legal proceedings for dereliction of duty. This was the origin of the ombudsman institution in Sweden.
The current name was adopted in 1719, by the Instrument of Government of the same year. The Chancellor acted only on behalf of the royal government. In the Instrument of Government of 1809, a counterpart to act on the behalf of Parliament was instituted as the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
Duties The duties of the Chancellor of Justice may include to:
– be the Government’s counsellor in legal matters;
– be the State’s representative in trials and other legal disputes;
– receive complaints and claims for damages made against the State and decide on financial compensation for such damages;
– act as ombudsman in the supervision of the authorities and the civil servants, and to take action in cases of abuse;
– ensure that the limits of the freedom of the press and other media are not transgressed and to act as the only public prosecutor in cases regarding offences against the freedom of the press and other media;
– act as the guardian for the protection of privacy.
Sweden
In Sweden, the Chancellor of Justice (Swedish: Justitiekanslern) is a government official charged with representing the Swedish government in various legal matters as the government’s ombudsman. The Chancellor is appointed by the Government of Sweden and serves at the pleasure of the cabinet without belonging to the spoils system, the longest term in office thus far having been 22 years. The present Chancellor of Justice is Anna Skarhed, who entered office on December 9, 2009.
Finland
The Chancellor of Justice of Finland (Finnish: Oikeuskansleri) is a Finnish government official who supervises authorities’ (such as cabinet ministers and other public officials) compliance with the law and advances legal protection for Finnish citizens. The Chancellor investigates complaints against authorities’ activities and may also start an investigation on his own initiative. The Chancellor attends cabinet meetings as a non-voting member to ensure that legal procedures and regulations are followed. The Chancellor has wide-ranging powers of oversight, investigation and prosecution.
The Chancellor and his deputy are appointed by the President of Finland. The Chancellor is appointed for life. He is required to retire at the age of 68, however, in line with all other Finnish civil servants. The Chancellor of Justice from 2018 will be Tuomas Pöysti, LL.D., replacing Jaakko Jonkka, LL.D.
Estonia
The Estonian Chancellor of Justice (Estonian: Õiguskantsler) is an independent supervisor of the basic principles of the Constitution of Estonia and the protector of individual rights. The institution seeks to ensure that authorities fulfil the obligations deriving from the principles of the rule of law and protection of human and social rights, human dignity, freedom, equality and democracy. The Chancellor of Justice is appointed to office by the Riigikogu (parliament) on the proposal of the President for a seven-year term. The Current Chancellor of Justice is Ülle Madise, who has been in office since 2015.
NordenBladet – Parliamentary Ombudsman (Finnish: Eduskunnan oikeusasiamies, Swedish: Riksdagens ombudsman, Icelandic: Umboðsmaður Alþingis, Danish: Folketingets Ombudsmand, Norwegian: Sivilombudsmannen) is the name of the principal ombudsman institutions in Finland, in Iceland, in Denmark, in Sweden (where the term Justice Ombudsman – Justitieombudsmannen or JO – is also used) and in Norway. In each case, the terms refer both to the Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman and to an individual Ombudsman.
Sweden The Riksdag has had an Ombudsman Institution since 1809. At that time Sweden was ruled by the King and therefore the Riksdag of the Estates, which then represented the Four Estates, considered that some institution that was independent of the executive was needed in order to ensure that laws and statutes were observed. For this reason it appointed a Parliamentary Ombudsman and still continues to do so. The first Ombudsman was appointed in 1810, and the Parliamentary Ombudsmen still follow the basic principles that have applied since then.
Jurisdiction A complaint to the JO (Justitieombudsmannen) – or Parliamentary Ombudsman (Riksdagens ombudsmän), which is the official name of the Institution – can be made by anybody who feels that he or she or someone else has been treated wrongly or unjustly by a public authority or an official employed by the civil service or local government. A person need not be a Swedish citizen or have reached a certain age to be able to lodge a complaint.
However, the Institution has no jurisdiction over the actions of members of the Riksdag, the Government or individual cabinet ministers, the Minister for Justice or members of county or municipal councils. Nor do newspapers, radio and television broadcasts, trade unions, banks, insurance companies, doctors in private practice, lawyers et al. come within the ambit of the Ombudsmen. Other supervisory agencies exist for these areas, such as the Swedish Press Council (Pressens opinionsnämnd), the Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen), the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) and the Swedish Bar Association (Svenska advokatsamfundet).
An Ombudsman is an individual elected by the Riksdag to ensure that courts of law and other agencies as well as the public officials they employ (and also anyone else whose work involves the exercise of public authority) comply with laws and statutes and fulfil their obligations in all other respects. An Ombudsman is elected for a four-year period and can be re-elected. Although there is no formal requirement for an Ombudsman to be a jurist, in practice all but the first have had legal training.
In 1941 the stipulation that only men could be elected as Ombudsmen was rescinded; since then, five women have been elected to the office. Today there are four Ombudsmen, two women and two men. Each Ombudsman has her or his own area of responsibility (supervisory area). One of the Ombudsmen has the title of Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman and is responsible for administration, deciding, for instance, which areas of responsibility are to be allocated to the other Ombudsmen. However, he cannot intervene in another Ombudsman’s inquiry or adjudication in any case within his or her ambit. Each Ombudsman has a direct individual responsibility to the Riksdag for his or her actions. The Annual Reports—which is one of the official publications of the Swedish Riksdag—is submitted to the Standing Committee on the Constitution, which then draws up its own written report and notifies the Riksdag.
The Ombudsmen’s inquiries (supervision) are based on complaints from the general public, cases initiated by the Ombudsmen themselves and on observations made during the course of inspections. Every year the Parliamentary Ombudsmen receives almost 5,000 complaints – of widely varying kinds. Most of the Ombudsmen’s work consists of dealing with complaints.
Powers and sanctions The Parliamentary Ombudsmen have the right to initiate disciplinary procedures against an official for misdemeanours. The most frequent outcome is, however, a critical advisory comment from an Ombudsman or some form of recommendation. An Ombudsman’s opinion is never legally binding. The Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman is politically neutral.
The most extreme recourse allows an Ombudsman to act as a special prosecutor and bring charges against the official for malfeasance or some other irregularity. This very rarely happens, but the mere awareness of this possibility means a great deal for the Ombudsmen’s authority.
History
The Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsmen was established in connection with the adoption of the Swedish Regeringsform (Instrument of Government) that came into effect after the deposition of the Swedish King in 1809 and which was based to some extent on Montesquieu’s ideas about the division of powers. With the autocratic rule of King Gustav III fresh in mind, the legislators introduced into the new constitution a system that would allow the Riksdag some control over the exercise of executive power. The Standing Committee on the Constitution was therefore charged with the task of supervising the actions of ministers and with ensuring the election of a special Parliamentary Ombudsman to monitor the compliance of public authorities with the law. The Riksdag Act of 1810 contained provisions concerning the Auditors elected by the Riksdag to scrutinise the doings of the civil service, the Bank of Sweden (Sveriges Riksbank) and the National Debt Office (Riksgälden). The regulations in Chapter 12 of the Instrument of Government of 1974 later incorporated these three supervisory Riksdag agencies (i.e. the Parliamentary Ombudsmen, the Standing Committee on the Constitution and the Parliamentary Auditors) into the current system of parliamentary government.
The idea of creating some organ answerable to the Riksdag that could monitor the way in which the authorities complied with the law was not a new one in 1809. In fact, in 1713 the absolute monarch Karl XII had created the office of His Majesty’s Supreme Ombudsman. At that time King Karl XII was in Turkey and had been abroad for almost 13 years. In his absence his administration in Sweden had fallen into disarray. He therefore established the Supreme Ombudsman to be his pre-eminent representative in Sweden. The task entrusted to him was to ensure that judges and public official in general acted in accordance with the laws in force and discharged their duties satisfactorily in other respects. If the Ombudsman found that this was not the case, he was empowered to initiate legal proceedings against them for dereliction of their duties. In 1719 the Supreme Ombudsman was given the title of Chancellor of Justice (Justitiekanslern). This office still exists, and today the Chancellor of Justice acts as the government’s Ombudsman. After the death of Charles XII in 1718 Sweden enjoyed decades of what was more or less parliamentary rule (the Period of Liberty). In 1766 the Riksdag actually for the first time elected the Chancellor of Justice. In the 1772 Instrument of Government, however, the right to appoint the Chancellor of Justice again became a royal prerogative. After a period of renewed autocratic rule under Gustaf III and his son, Gustaf Adolf IV, the latter was deposed in 1809.
According to the 1809 Instrument of Government, power was to be divided between the King and the Riksdag. The King was to appoint the Chancellor of Justice (in other words he was the royal Ombudsman) and the Riksdag was to appoint its own Parliamentary Ombudsman. The main purpose of the establishment of this new post as Ombudsman (Parliamentary Ombudsman) was to safeguard the rights of citizens by establishing a supervisory agency that was completely independent of the executive. However, it seemed quite natural to model this new office on that of the Chancellor of Justice. Like the Chancellor of Justice, therefore, the Ombudsman was to be a prosecutor whose task was to supervise the application of the laws by judges and civil servants. In the words of the 1809 Instrument of Government, the Riksdag was to appoint a man “known for his knowledge of the law and exemplary probity” as Parliamentary Ombudsman. In other words, his duties were to focus on protection of the rights of citizens. For instance the Parliamentary Ombudsman was to encourage uniform application of the law and indicate legislative obscurities. His work was to take the form of inspections and inquiries into complaints. Complaints played a relatively insignificant role to begin with. During the first century of the existence of the Office, the total number of complaints amounted to around 8,000.
Initially, the role of a Parliamentary Ombudsman could be characterised as that of a prosecutor. Cases set in motion by the Ombudsman were either shelved with no action being taken or resulted in prosecution. Eventually, however, routines evolved which meant that prosecution was waived for minor transgressions and an admonition was issued instead. This development was acknowledged by the Riksdag in 1915 by its inclusion of a specific right to waive prosecution in the instructions for the Parliamentary Ombudsman. Until the adoption of the 1975 instructions, these provisions on an Ombudsman’s right to waive prosecution in cases involving transgressions that were not of major consequence provided the only formal basis for the expression of criticism. In the cases where an official could not be charged with any punishable error and therefore there were no grounds for a decision to waive prosecution, the expression of criticism or advice on the part of the Ombudsman was based only the usages that had evolved over the years. These practices were appraised and approved by the Riksdag in 1964.
The decision in 1975 to abolish the special right to waive prosecution was linked to the simultaneous reform of official accountability, which involved among other things major curtailment of the legal responsibility of public officials for their actions. In this context it was considered that there was no longer any need for the Parliamentary Ombudsmen to have the right to waive prosecution. Instead it was stipulated that in inquiries into cases the Ombudsmen were to be subject to the regulations that already applied to public prosecutors with regard to prosecution and the right to waive prosecution. Today, the 1986 instructions – the Act with Instructions for the Parliamentary Ombudsmen (1986:765) and the amendments added in 1989 – state that when undertaking the role of prosecutor the Ombudsmen are also to comply with the other statutory regulations applying to public prosecutors. (In addition the 1975 instructions also included a special regulation empowering the Ombudsmen to make critical or advisory comments and these have been transferred to the instructions that now apply.)
In 1957 the institution of the Parliamentary Ombudsmen was also given the power to monitor local government authorities.
Legacy
The development of the role of the Ombudsman institution has resulted in a gradual shift in the thrust of these activities from a punitive to an advisory and consultative function. The task of forestalling error and general endeavours to ensure the correct application of the law have taken precedence over the role of prosecutor.
The starting point of the work of the Parliamentary Ombudsmen today is based – as it was nearly two centuries ago – on the desire of individuals that any treatment they receive from the authorities should be lawful and correct in every other respect. The institution of the Parliamentary Ombudsmen today is a vital element in the constitutional protection of the fundamental rights and freedoms of each individual.
The supervision exercised by the Parliamentary Ombudsmen consists mainly of inquiries into complaints submitted by the general public. In addition the four Ombudsmen make inspections and any other investigations they consider necessary. The Ombudsmen are however – unlike normal official agencies – never obliged to consider the circumstances of every case submitted to them. Instead the Ombudsmen make their own assessment of which complaints to investigate and which require no further action. This presupposes, however, an ungrudging attitude on the part of the Ombudsmen to the complaints they receive so that all those that give grounds for suspecting that some error has been committed will be investigated. It can also happen that even though an Ombudsman finds no reason to inquire into a complaint itself, other aspects of the actions of a public authority will be appraised instead.
As was the case in 1810 – when Lars Augustin Mannerheim was appointed as the first Ombudsman – the four Parliamentary Ombudsmen are today completely independent of the government and the civil service which they monitor. For this reason the Institution is often said to be of an extraordinary nature. This means, for instance, that the activities of the Ombudsmen are not intended to replace the supervision and application of the law that devolves on other organisations in the community.
Even though from a constitutional point of view monitoring the application of law by public authorities is the prerogative of the Riksdag, for reasons of principle it has been considered unacceptable to incorporate any political considerations into this supervision. For this reason the independent attitude adopted by the Parliamentary Ombudsmen has applied to their relationship with the Riksdag as well. For instance the Riksdag is not considered able to issue directives to the Ombudsmen about any individual case, nor can it express opinions retrospectively about how a case was dealt with or the final adjudication. Instead the authority of the Riksdag over the activities of the Ombudsmen finds expression in the instructions issued to the Parliamentary Ombudsmen and in the funds allocated to the Office. It is the Riksdag that decides on the budget for the Parliamentary Ombudsmen – not the government or the Ministry of Finance.
Finland
Finland has had the institution of parliamentary ombudsman (Finnish: eduskunnan oikeusasiamies, Swedish: riksdagens justitieombudsman) since 1920. The office of the ombudsman has one ombudsman and two assistant ombudsmen (Finnish: apulaisoikeusasiamies, Swedish: biträdande justitieombudsman). The officials are elected for a term of four years and their duties closely resemble the jurisdiction of their Swedish counterparts. The other Finnish official charged with the supervision of public power is the Chancellor of Justice. The jurisdiction of the two offices overlaps, but the parliamentary ombudsman is the authority specially charged with the handling of complaints by military servicemen, conscripts, prisoners and other persons in closed institutions. He also regularly inspects prisons, garrisons and Finnish peacekeeping missions abroad. The other special duty of the parliamentary ombudsman is the supervision of police undercover and wiretapping activities.
Denmark
The Danish parliamentary ombudsman has existed since 1955. It investigates complaints against public authorities and can also take up cases on its own initiative.
Iceland
The Icelandic Parliamentary Ombudsman was established in 1987. It oversees the actions of state and local authorities.
NordenBladet – The Swedish National Audit Office (Swedish: Riksrevisionen) is the agency responsible for oversight of the state finances through financial and performance-based audits of state agencies, state-owned companies and the Government of Sweden. It serves directly under the Riksdag* and is therefore independent of the Cabinet. All state agencies are required to submit copies of their annual accounts and reports to this office for review.
The mission of the Swedish National Audit Office (Swedish NAO) is to examine the government’s activities in order to contribute to the effective management of state administration. The agency is led by three Auditors General (riksrevisorer) who are appointed for seven-year terms without the possibility of re-appointment. The Auditors General decide independently on aspects of the state government to be audited, how to do its investigations. The independence of the office and the Auditors General is specified in Chapter 13 of the Regeringsformen, which is part of the Constitution of Sweden**. The current Auditors General for the period 2017–2024 are Stefan Lundgren, Ingvar Mattson and Helena Lindberg.
The office was founded on 1 July 2003 through a merger of Riksdagens revisorer (“auditors of the Riksdag”) and Riksrevisionsverket (“national audit office”), after the Riksdag decided on said merger on 15 December 2000.
_______________________________________ * The Riksdag (Swedish: riksdagen or Sveriges riksdag) is the national legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (Swedish: riksdagsledamöter), elected proportionally and serving, from 1994 onwards, on fixed four-year terms.
The constitutional functions of the Riksdag are enumerated in the Instrument of Government (Swedish: Regeringsformen), and its internal workings are specified in greater detail in the Riksdag Act (Swedish: Riksdagsordningen).
The seat of the Riksdag is at Parliament House (Swedish: Riksdagshuset), on the island of Helgeandsholmen in the central parts of Stockholm. The Riksdag has its institutional roots in the feudal Riksdag of the Estates, by tradition thought to have first assembled in Arboga in 1435, and in 1866 following reforms of the 1809 Instrument of Government that body was transformed into a bicameral legislature with an upper chamber (Swedish: Första Kammaren) and a lower chamber (Swedish: Andra Kammaren).
** Constitution of Sweden – The Basic Laws of Sweden (Swedish: Sveriges grundlagar) are the four fundamental laws of the Kingdom of Sweden that regulate the Swedish political system, acting in a similar manner to the constitutions of most countries. These are the Instrument of Government (Swedish: Regeringsformen), the Freedom of the Press Act (Swedish: Tryckfrihetsförordningen), the Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression (Swedish: Yttrandefrihetsgrundlagen) and the Act of Succession (Swedish: Successionsordningen). Together, they constitute a basic framework that stands above other laws and regulation, and also define which agreements are themselves above normal Swedish law, but subordinate to the fundamental laws, namely the European Convention on Human Rights and several UN and EU treaties and conventions.
The Parliament Act (Swedish: Riksdagsordningen) in usually considered to be halfway between a fundamental law and a normal law, with certain main chapters afforded similar protections as the fundamental laws while other additional chapters require only a simple parliamentary majority.
To amend or to revise a fundamental law, the Riksdag needs to approve the changes twice in two successive terms with qualified majorities, with a general election having been held in between. The first vote can be replaced with a referendum.
NordenBladet – Sveriges Riksbank, or simply Riksbanken, is the central bank* of Sweden. It is the world’s oldest central bank and the 3rd oldest bank.
The Riksbank began operations in 1668. Previously, Sweden was served by the Stockholms Banco (also known as the Bank of Palmstruch), which was founded by Johan Palmstruch in 1656. Although the bank was private, it was the king who chose its management: in a letter to Palmstruch, he gave permission to its operations according to stated regulations. But Stockholms Banco collapsed as a result of the issuing of too many notes without the necessary collateral. Palmstruch, who was considered responsible for the bank’s losses, was condemned to death, but later received clemency. On 17 September 1668, the privilege of Palmstruch to operate a bank was transferred to the Riksens Ständers Bank (“Bank of the Estates of the Realm”) and was run under the auspices of the parliament of the day. Due to the failure of Stockholm Banco, the new bank was managed under the direct control of the Riksdag of the Estates to prevent the interference from the king. When a new Riksdag was instituted in 1866, the name of the bank was changed to Sveriges Riksbank.
Having learnt the lesson of the Stockholms Banco experience, the Riksbank was not permitted to issue bank-notes. Nevertheless, in 1701, permission was granted to issue so called credit-notes”. Some time in the middle of the 18th century, counterfeit notes began appearing, which caused serious problems. To prevent forgeries, it was decided that the Riksbank should produce its own paper for bank-notes and a paper-mill, Tumba Bruk, was founded in Tumba, on the outskirts of Stockholm.
A few years later, the first commercial banks were founded and these were also allowed to issue bank-notes. The bank-notes represented a claim to the bank without interest paid, and thus became a considerable source of income for banks. Nonetheless, security in the form of a deposit at the Riksbank was required to cover the value of all notes issued.
During the 19th century, the Riksbank maintained a dominant position as a credit institution and issuer of bank-notes. The bank also managed national trade transactions as well as continuing to provide credit to the general public. The first branch-office was opened in 1824, later followed with subsidiary branches opening in each county (län). The present operational activities as a central bank differ from those during the 19th century. For example, no interest-rate-related activities were conducted.
The position of the Riksbank as a central bank dates back to 1897, when the first Riksbank Act was accepted concurrently with a law giving the Riksbank the exclusive right to issue bank-notes. This copyright concluded its role and importance regarding monetary policy in a modern sense, as the exclusive right to issue notes is a condition when conducting monetary policy and defending the value of a currency. Behind the decision were repeated demands that the private banks should cease to issue notes as it was considered that the ensuing profits should befall the general public.
The Swedish currency was backed by gold and the paper-certificates could be exchanged for gold coins until 1931, when a specialized temporary law freed the bank from this obligation. This law was renewed every year until the new constitution was ratified in 1975 which split the bank from the government into a stand-alone organization not obligated to exchange notes for gold.
In November 1992, the fixed exchange rate regime of the Swedish Krona collapsed. A few months later, in January 1993, the Governing Board of the Riksbank developed a new monetary policy regime based on a floating exchange rate and an inflation target. These policies were extensively influenced by assistance from the Bank of Canada, which had extensive previous experience controlling inflation, while being a similar small open economy, heavily subject to foreign exchange rate swings.
From 1991 to 1993, Sweden experienced its most severe recession since the 1930s termed the “Swedish banking rescue”. It forced inflation down to around 2%, and inflation continued to be low during the subsequent years of strong growth in the late 1990s.
During the 2000s, the operations and administrative departments were downsized on behalf of the policy departments Financial Stability Department and Monetary Policy Department. A direct consequence of the changing times was that the Riksbank closed down all its branches in Sweden and outsourced the handling of coins and bills to a private company. Today the policy departments are the core of the central bank and they employ about half of the bank’s 350 full-time posts.
Logo:
Motto:
The motto of the Bank is Hinc robur et securitas, which is Latin for “Herefore strength and safety” (“Härav styrka och säkerhet”).
Hedquarters:
Brunkebergstorg 11, 103 37 Stockholm, Sweden
_________________________________ * A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages a state’s currency, money supply, and interest rates. Central banks also usually oversee the commercial banking system of their respective countries. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the monetary base in the state, and usually also prints the national currency, which usually serves as the state’s legal tender. Central banks also act as a “lender of last resort” to the banking sector during times of financial crisis. Most central banks usually also have supervisory and regulatory powers to ensure the solvency of member institutions, prevent bank runs, and prevent reckless or fraudulent behavior by member banks.
Central banks in most developed nations are institutionally designed to be independent from political interference. Still, limited control by the executive and legislative bodies usually exists.
Featured image: Sveriges Riksbank in Stockholm (NordenBladet)
