Sweden - Data Protection Overview

April 2024 1. Governing Texts Sweden has a long history of safeguarding personal data and was the first country to adopt data protection legislation when the Swedish Data Act (SFS 1973:289) (only available in Swedish here) (the 1973 Data Act) gained legal force in 1973. With the implementation of the 1973 Data Act, the Swedish Data Protection Authority was established with the purpose of e.g., granting the necessary permits for the processing of personal data. During the years following the adoption of the 1973 Data Act, the Swedish data protection legislation has been subject to significant changes, mostly as a result of Sweden being a Member State of the EU. The Swedish data protection reg