The Swedish Penal Code (in Swedish) criminalizes most forms of public and private corruption. The Code addresses corruption offenses on embezzlement, breach of trust and bribery; offenses are arranged into five sections: passive bribery, active bribery, gross bribery, trading in influence and negligent financing. The legislation prohibits anyone who is employed or performs a function to give or receive a bribe; this means there is no distinction between private and public bribery and both are thus prohibited (BakerMcKenzie 2017). Corporations may be held liable for bribery if the company has not done what can be reasonably expected to prevent bribery, or in case the bribery was committed by an individual in a leading position or with responsibility for supervision (BakerMcKenzie 2017). The maximum penalty for an individual is SEK 150,000, proportional to the individual’s income, and if deemed a gross crime, between six months and six years of imprisonment. The law does not distinguish between bribery and facilitation payments, and the country rejected a facilitation payments exception to the OECD Convention (BakerMcKenzie 2017). The trading in influence provision criminalizes the receipt of an undue advantage for the purpose of influencing a third person in connection with the exercise of public authority or a public procurement process. The Income Tax Law (in Swedish) specifically prohibits the tax deduction of bribes and other unofficial expenses. A code on gifts, rewards and other benefits in business acts as a supplement to the Penal Code and has been developed under the auspices of the Swedish Anti-Corruption Institute (Institutet Mot Mutor). Public procurement is governed by Sweden’s Public Procurement Act (in Swedish). A 2017 law provides whistleblowers with more protections; companies are prohibited from retaliating against whistleblowers in any way and employers have to set up internal mechanisms for whistleblowing, among other measures (Bloomberg BNA, Mar. 2017). The OECD Working Group on Bribery has issued a stern statement, declaring that Sweden has still not made significant progress on enforcing its offense of bribing a foreign public official (OECD 2017). The prosecution of foreign bribery is limited by factors including the dual criminality requirement and the corporate liability requirement (OECD 2017). The legal framework also contains loopholes; senior managers cannot currently be held accountable for directing employees to engage in bribery (OECD 2017). The maximum fine, SEK 10 million imposed on Swedish companies committing foreign bribery are not proportionate and thus not effective (OECD 2017). The government otherwise generally implements the anti-corruption framework effectively (HRR 2016).
As a member of the European Union, Sweden adheres to multilateral conventions on industrial, intellectual and commercial property, and has streamlined its legislation to comply with EU rules on competition. Sweden is party to the UN Convention against Corruption, the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption and the Civil Law Convention on Corruption.
