Report

Report wrongdoing

The Swedish Act (2021:890) on the protection of persons reporting irregularities (commonly known as the Whistleblower Act) allows you to report suspected wrongdoing without risking legal liability or reprisals.

To ensure impartial and professional case handling, many Swedish organisations have chosen to use Svensk Bakgrundsanalys AB to receive and investigate reports of wrongdoing. If you are reading this text, you have probably found us via one of our clients.

How can you report your suspicions?

See below for how to report wrongdoing and to read more about how the regulation works.

You also have the right to make your report orally (for example by telephone) or in a face-to-face meeting. Contact us on +46 (0)10 491 1227 if you wish to discuss such alternatives.

Finally, it is also possible to submit a report externally to the relevant authorities. You can find links to these authorities and information on which types of wrongdoing can be reported on the Swedish Work Environment Authority’s website.

What happens after you make your report?

Svensk Bakgrundsanalys confirms receipt of your report within seven days. We then follow up to inform you, so far as is reasonable, of any action taken in response to the report and the reasons for such action. You will receive our follow-up within three months of confirmation of receipt, at the latest.

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Questions and answers

The law applies in all private and public organisations for disclosures in a work-related context. A work-related context means your current or previous job where you are or have been in a position to acquire the information on the wrongdoing.

The law covers not only employees, but also other persons such as job applicants, trainees, voluntary workers, contractors and consultants.

You can report all wrongdoing where there is a public interest. Public interest means that the wrongdoing affects a group of people who can be described as the public. The public must also have a legitimate interest in the uncovering of the wrongdoing. It may, for example, involve corruption or other crimes under Swedish law.

The law also applies to the reporting of wrongdoing concerning Union law (i.e. legislation within the EU). In this case there is no public interest requirement.

The law does not normally cover reports that relate only to your own working conditions or employment situation. Problems in the working relationship between you and a co-worker/manager do not typically meet the public interest test. In certain cases, however, there may be a public interest if an employer systematically breaches rules that protect employees.

If you make a disclosure you cannot be held liable for breaching your duty of confidentiality. To benefit from this exemption from liability, however, you must have reasonable grounds for believing that reporting the information was necessary to expose the wrongdoing.

However, you may not breach what is known as a qualified duty of confidentiality under the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act, or the duty of confidentiality under the Defence Inventions Act. Nor are you allowed to disclose any documents that contain secret information.

Finally, you will not be exempted from liability if you have committed a crime by obtaining the information.

Employers are not allowed to obstruct or attempt to obstruct your reporting or to take retaliatory action against you as a result of your reporting. The same applies if you contact your trade union for advice about reporting. An employer who violates these prohibitions is liable to pay damages.

Svensk Bakgrundsanalys is not allowed, without authorisation, to disclose information that could reveal your identity or the identity of someone else involved in the whistleblowing case.

The use of the whistleblower channel and the procedures described in these guidelines do not affect your right to freedom of communication and acquisition (and, where applicable, the prohibition of investigation and prohibition of retaliation) under the Freedom of the Press Act and the Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression.

These laws provide for the right to supply information on any subject for publication in certain media and the right to acquire information on any subject for the purpose of communicating it to the public in certain media.