Swedish Constitution

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The Constitution of Sweden


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Introduction

In most cases a states constitution is containedin a single document. Sweden, however, hasour:

the 1974 Instrument of Government(which contains the central provisions andcorresponds most closely to the constitu-tion o other countries);

the 1810 Act of Succession (which regu-lates the order in which descendants o thepresent King shall succeed to the throne);

the 1949 Freedom of the Press Act (whichcontains the principle o the public natureo ocial documents and rules about theright to produce and disseminate printedmatter);

the 1991 Fundamental Law on Freedomo Expression (which is a undamental lawor media other than print media).

There is also a law called the Riksdag Act, whichcontains provisions or the work o the Riks-dag (Parliament). The Riksdag Act is not a fun-damental law, though special rules govern itsamendment.

This presentation will concentrate on the cen-tral aspects of the Instrument of Government.

The basic principles of the formof government

Chapter 1 of the Instrument of Governmentbegins with a gateway article, which will be thepoint o departure or this presentation. It readsas ollows:

All public power in Sweden proceeds from thepeople.

Swedish democracy is founded on the free for-

mation of opinion and on universal and equal

suffrage. It is realised through a representative

and parliamentary form of government and

through local self-government.

Public power is exercised under the law.

A democracy that puts the citizen

in the centre

Swedish democracy is ounded on a universaland equal right to vote and the ree ormation oopinion. The Instrument of Government is notbased on the idea o a separation o powers intolegislative, executive and judiciary branches.Instead it is monistic, with a single power cen-tre: the citizens o the country. The citizens electthe Riksdag, the Riksdag indirectly elects

the Government, the Government governs thecountry with the help o the administrativeauthorities, and the courts administer justice inaccordance with the directives laid down by theRiksdag in undamental and other laws.

A representative form

of governmentThe citizens do not normally participate directlyin decision-making, but do so indirectly throughtheir elected representatives. Political activitiesare primarily conducted through the politicalparties, which are ree associations o individu-als.

One exception exists, however, to the repre-

sentative orm o government: the reerendum.

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Although the device has never been employed,since 1979 it has been possible to submit con-stitutional measures to a binding reerendum.Since 1922 it has also been possible to hold a con-sultative reerendum. The result o such a reer-

endum is not legally binding, but can probablybe regarded as such in practice.

Parliamentary government

Sweden has a parliamentary government. Thismeans that the Head o State has no politicalpower and that the Government must have thecondence o parliament or at least be toler-ated by parliament. A parliamentary majoritymust always be able to orce a government out ooce. The real power of the Government variesaccording to the support it enjoys in parliamentand the current party constellations. I it has amajority, power is concentrated in the Govern-ments hands.

It is symbolically signicant that the Instru-ment of Government deals rst with the Riks-dag and only thereater with the Head o Stateand the Government.

The Monarchy

The Instrument of Government retains the

monarchical orm o government it stipulatesthat the King, or Queen Regnant, shall be Heado State. But in keeping with the parliamentaryprinciple, the Head o State has no real power.

Local self-government

According to the gateway article of the Instru-ment of Government, Swedish democracy is tobe realised not only through a representative

and parliamentary orm o government but alsothrough local sel-government. This is consid-ered so essential that it is embedded in the coun-trys undamental law.

The Instrument of Government also states

that Sweden has local authorities at local andregional level. The local authorities munici-palities and county councils account or a verylarge proportion o the public sector.

Democratic principles also apply in the localgovernment sector, with decision-making pow-ers in the municipalities and county councilsbeing exercised by elected assemblies. These

bodies are responsible or local and regionalmatters o public interest on the principle olocal sel-government.

Local self-government may be dened as aprinciple whereby the local authorities them-selves control their own aairs. Other thanmatters that are the exclusive responsibility othe state, another municipality, another coun-ty council or some other body, it is the local

authorities that are responsible or matterso public interest relating to the municipal orcounty council district and its inhabitants.

Local self-government presupposes that themunicipalities and county councils have eco-nomic resources o their own. The right o thelocal authorities to levy taxes has thereore beenconsidered suciently important to be laiddown in the Instrument of Government.

Rule of law

The Instrument of Government lays down thatpublic power is exercised under the law. Thisapplies not just to the courts and the adminis-trative authorities but also to the Government

and the Riksdag. It applies equally to local andcentral government. The same purpose under-lies the stipulation that courts o law, adminis-

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trative authorities and others perorming publicadministration unctions shall bear in mind intheir work the equality o all persons beore thelaw and observe objectivity and impartiality.

Principal aims of public activity

The Instrument of Government establishes cer-tain principal aims o policy. It states that pub-lic power is to be exercised with respect or theequal worth o all and the liberty and dignity othe individual. The personal, economic and cul-tural welare o the individual are to be unda-mental aims o public activity. In particular, it isthe duty o the public institutions to secure theright to health, employment, housing and educa-tion, and to promote social care, social security,and avourable conditions or good health. It isurther stated that the public institutions are topromote the ideals o democracy as guidelines inall sectors o society and protect the private and

amily lives o individuals. The public institu-tions are to promote the opportunity or all toattain participation and equality in society. Thepublic institutions are also to combat discrimi-nation o persons on grounds o gender, colour,national or ethnic origin, linguistic or religiousaliation, disability, sexual orientation, age orany other circumstance aecting the individual.Finally it is stated that opportunities shall be

promoted or the Sami people and or ethnic,linguistic and religious minorities to preserveand develop a cultural and social lie o theirown.

Fundamental rights and freedoms

The Instrument of Government gives a central

role to those rights and reedoms that are o par-ticular signicance or the orm o government,

i.e. the political reedoms. In broad terms, theaim is to guarantee the ree ormation o opin-ion in political, religious and cultural matters.The rules are also intended to protect the indi-vidual against inhuman punishment and other

physical or mental violations.Certain o the rights and reedoms dealt with

in the Instrument of Government are absolutein the sense that they cannot be restricted otherthan by the amendment o undamental law.Others may be restricted by other kinds o stat-ute, mainly acts o law.

Among the absolute rights and freedoms, theollowing may be mentioned:

prohibition o capital punishment, cor-poral punishment and torture; reedom o worship; protection rom retroactive punishment; protection against coercion to revealones opinion in a political, religious, cul-tural or other such connection; protection against registration o a per-

sons political opinions; the right to a hearing beore a courtwhen taken into custody.The ollowing are rights and reedoms that

can be restricted in an ordinary act o law, oncertain conditions:

reedom o expression and o inorma-tion; reedom o assembly and to demon-

strate; reedom o movement; reedom o association; protection against physical violation,invasion o privacy and examination ocondential communications; the right to a public trial.The Instrument of Government sets out in

general terms certain requirements that must

be taken into account when restricting rightsand freedoms. A restriction may be imposed

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only to satisy a purpose which is acceptable ina democratic society. The restriction may notgo beyond what is necessary with regard to thepurpose which occasioned it and may not becarried so ar as to constitute a threat to the ree

shaping o opinion as one o the undaments odemocracy. The Instrument of Governmenturthermore stipulates that no restriction maybe imposed solely on grounds o a political, reli-gious, cultural or other such opinion.

Sweden has ratied a number o interna-tional conventions in the eld o undamentalrights and reedoms, the most important beingthe 1950 Council of Europe Convention for theProtection of Human Rights and FundamentalFreedoms. Sweden has incorporated the Con-vention and most o its additional protocols intoSwedish law. The law on the Convention cameinto force in 1995.

The Riksdag

The Riksdag, which consists o a single chamber,is made up of 349 members. These are elected ina ree, secret and direct election.

The voting age, like the age o eligibility orelection, is 18. Voting is for parties, with anopportunity to express a preerence or a par-ticular candidate.

The electoral system is proportional and in-

cludes a threshold. A party is entitled to partici-pate in the distribution o seats only i it obtainsat least four per cent of the national vote. Fourper cent o the vote corresponds to an alloca-tion of fourteen seats in the Riksdag. Addition-ally, however, a party receiving ewer votes mayparticipate in the distribution o xed seats in acertain constituency in which it receives at leasttwelve per cent o the votes cast.

Ordinary elections are held every our yearson the second Sunday in September. Under

certain conditions, the Government can call anextraordinary election.

The Head of State

Sweden is a monarchy and thereore has a Kingor Queen Regnant as Head o State. The succes-sion to the throne is regulated under the 1810 Acto Succession. The qualiying age or a Head oState was lowered in 1994 from 25 to 18. The Heado State has no political power. The duties o theHead o State instead lie on the representational

and ceremonial level. It is thereore importantor the Head o State to be well inormed, andor this reason special inormational councilsmay be held by the Government. The Head ofState presides over these inormational councils,and also over the special Council at which a newGovernment is formed after the approval by theRiksdag of a new Prime Minister. The Head ofState opens parliament and presides at meet-

ings of the Foreign Aairs Advisory Council. Nodecisions o a political nature are taken on theseoccasions.

The Government

The Government consists of the Prime Minis-ter and other ministers. There is a lower limitfor the number of ministers. At least ve min-isters must be present at a government meetingto make a decision on a matter o governmentbusiness. There is no upper limit. To be ap-pointed a minister, a person must be a Swedishcitizen. A minister may not have any other paidemployment. Nor may a minister hold any otherappointment or engage in any activity that might

damage public condence in the minister.

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The formation of a government

The Speaker o the Riksdag proposes the nameof a new Prime Minister to the Riksdag. Beforedoing so, the Speaker must consult representa-tives o the various party groups and conerwith the Deputy Speakers. I more than hal themembers o the Riksdag vote against the pro-posal, it is rejected. Otherwise, it is approved. Ithe proposal is rejected, the Speaker must returnto the Riksdag and make a new proposal. I his orher proposals are rejected our times, new elec-tions to the Riksdag must be held.

The strong position occupied by the PrimeMinister under the Instrument of Governmentis striking. It is the Prime Minister alone whoappoints the other ministers and allocates min-istries and responsibilities to them. The PrimeMinister can dismiss another minister, if he orshe wishes to. And when the Prime Ministergoes, the Government falls.

If the Riksdag declares that the Prime Min-

ister or any other minister no longer enjoys thecondence o the Riksdag, the Speaker is toremove the minister concerned.

If the Prime Minister does not choose toresign ater an election, the newly assembledRiksdag takes a mandatory vote on support orthe Prime Minister. If more than half the mem-bers of the Riksdag oppose the sitting PrimeMinster, the Prime Minister will be discharged

by the Speaker and the process o approving anew Prime Minister will commence.

The work of the Government

The Governments task is to govern the coun-try. This governing unction includes all matters

that are not legislative matters, adoption o thenational budget, administration o justice, oradministrative matters below government level.

The Government governs by making decisionson matters o government business. There aretwo main types o government business: mat-ters relating to the governing unction, oteno a political nature, or example bills or pres-

entation to parliament, treaties and statutoryinstruments; and administrative matters, suchas matters relating to appointments and appealsagainst decisions.

The Instrument of Government lays downthat government oces shall exist or the prepa-ration o government business. These ocescomprise a single authority, which includes min-istries for dierent areas of activity. At present(2012) there are eleven ministries. Besides theministries, the Government Oces includethe Prime Ministers Oce and the Oce forAdministrative Aairs. Government meetingsare held to make decisions on matters o govern-ment business. The Government makes deci-sions collectively. There is no precise regulationo decision-making at government meetings.

The independence of courts and

authorities

The Instrument of Governments regulation ofthe administration o justice and general admin-istration is aimed primarily at protecting theindependence o judicial and administrativebodies. Thus, judges are in principle irremovable.Also of importance are the provisions that limitthe powers of the Riksdag and the Governmentto intervene in judicial rulings. According tothese provisions, no public authority, includingthe Riksdag, may determine how a court o lawis to adjudicate an individual case or otherwiseapply a rule of law in a particular case. Nor may

any public authority decide how judicial respon-sibilities are to be distributed amongst the judgeso a court o law. Similarly, no public authority

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may determine how an administrative author-ity is to decide in a particular case involving theexercise o public authority vis--vis a privatesubject or a local authority, or the application olaw.

Judicial review

According to the Instrument of Government,not only a court o law, but also any publicauthority or other public body applying a ruleo law or other statute in a particular case is toact as a guardian o the Swedish basic laws whenadjudicating the case. Thus, any court or publicbody that nds that a provision conficts witha rule o undamental law or any other superi-or statute, or nds that a procedure laid downin law has been disregarded in any importantrespect when the provision was adopted, shallnot apply that provision.

Parliamentary control

Under the Instrument of Government, the Gov-ernment is accountable to the Riksdag.

The core o parliamentary control consistsof the rules concerning the Governments obli-gation to resign. Thus, the Riksdag can declarethat a minister no longer enjoys the condence

of parliament. A minister who is the subject of adeclaration o no condence must be discharged.I the declaration o no condence is directedagainst the Prime Minister, the entire Govern-ment must be discharged.

Another important feature of parliamentarycontrol is the examination o ministers perorm-ance o their ocial duties and the handling ogovernment business, which is entrusted to theCommittee on the Constitution. The underly-ing idea is that in the rst instance, this scrutiny

should be administrative rather than political inorientation. It relates largely to the activities othe Government as the supreme administrativeauthority but is also concerned with the mannerin which the Government exercises its power

to make statutory instruments and delegateregulatory powers to subordinate administrativeauthorities and local authorities. The Commit-tee on the Constitution is obliged to report tothe Riksdag on the results o its scrutiny at leastonce a year.

The parliamentary questions system, whichincludes written and oral questions, is anotherfeature of the parliamentary control system. Awritten or oral question must be addressed to aminister and relate to the perormance o theministers ocial duties.

The Parliamentary Ombudsmen thereare our Ombudsmen at present commonlyreerred to as the Ombudsmen or Justice,supervise the application o laws and other reg-ulations in public activities. The Ombudsmen

can criticise the handling o a matter by a courto law or an administrative authority. The oceof the Parliamentary Ombudsmen has served asa model or similar institutions in a number oother countries.

Relations with other states

In earlier times, oreign policy was to a largeextent the personal preserve o the monarch.As parliamentary government gradually gainedground, the infuence o the Riksdag grew. TheAdvisory Council on Foreign Aairs in theRiksdag which the Government is obliged toinorm o matters relating to oreign relationswhich may be o signicance or the Realm was set up shortly after the First World War. Atthe same time the Riksdag was guaranteed infu-ence over Swedish treaties with other states. All

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treaties that required a Riksdag decision (an acto law or a grant o unds, or example) had tohave Riksdag approval. These principles are stillvalid.

In Sweden, regulations may be made and

other public law unctions perormed only bybodies whose competence has direct support inundamental law or is authorised by virtue oundamental law. Thus, delegation o decision-making competence to a oreign or internationalbody requires the express support o undamen-tal law.

One consequence o this is that as ar as Swe-den is concerned, the provisions o internationalagreements are limited in validity to Sweden asa state. I Sweden makes an undertaking undersuch an agreement, it is not binding on Swed-ish citizens until it has been incorporated intoSwedish law. This can be done in various ways,or example by rewriting the agreement as aSwedish statute, or by promulgating the text othe agreement in Swedish translation (or, more

rarely, in the original) as a Swedish statute.

Sweden and the European Union

Sweden has been a member o the EuropeanUnion since 1995. The application for mem-bership was initially led in July 1991 and afterprotracted negotiations, and approval by the

Riksdag, an accession agreement was signed inJune 1994. It was also decided that the ques-tion o accession should be put to a reerendum,which was held in November 1994. Once theresult was known, the constitutional amend-ments necessary or accession were nallyapproved in time or them to come into orce on1 December 1994.

It was clear rom the very outset o talks onaccession that the Instrument of Government didnot permit the ar-reaching delegation o regula-

tory authority that accession required. When itnally came to ormulating a rule on the transerof authority in the Instrument of Government,Sweden chose an amendment a new article aimed at accession to the European Communi-

ties. One important condition or transerringdecision-making powers to the EC bodies wasthat the Communities had saeguards or rightsand reedoms corresponding to those enshrinedin the Instrument of Government and the Euro-pean Convention for the Protection of HumanRights and Fundamental Freedoms. A majorityvoting rule was also adopted, stating that the de-cision on the transer o powers was conditionalon at least three quarters o the members o theRiksdag voting in avour o such a decision.

On 1 January 2003, the beneciary of thetranser o powers was changed rom the EC towithin the ramework o European Union co-operation. The change was necessary due to thedevelopment o EU cooperation and Swedenseagerness to continue to be an active member.

At the same time another condition for transfer-ring powers was inserted into the Instrument oGovernment, to the eect that the transfer maynot relate to competence aecting the princi-ples of the form of government. In 2008 theRiksdag applied the provision in this wordingwhen it approved the Lisbon Treaty.

On 1 January 2011 a new article was includedin Chapter 1 of the Instrument of Government

stating that Sweden is a member o the Euro-pean Union. At the same time a new quorumrule was inserted in the provision on the trans-er o decision-making powers, stating that theRiksdag may decide to transer decision-makingpowers i at least three quarters o the membersvoting and more than hal o the members othe Riksdag support the decision.

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Production: Ministry of Justice, May 2012

Photo: Lisa ArvidssonPrinted by Grask Service


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Sweden has four fundamental laws which together make

up the Constitution: the Instrument of Government, the Act

of Succession, the Freedom of the Press Act and the Fun-

damental Law on Freedom of Expression. This presentation

concentrates on the central aspects of the Instrument of

Government.

Additional copies of the brochure can be ordered via the

Government website www.sweden.gov.se

Ministry of Justice, Sweden

SE-103 33 STOCKHOLMwww.sweden.gov.se

Swedish Constitution

Documents

Transcript of Swedish Constitution