Lag (2022:482) om elektronisk kommunikation (Electronic Communications Act), Chapter 9, Section 27 as Amended from 1 August 2026, Ban on Listening In and Processing Messages in Transit

Chapter 9, section 27 provides that, beyond what sections 1 to 3, 6 a and 31 allow, no one other than the users concerned may take part of or otherwise process data in an electronic message transferred in a public electronic communications network or with a publicly available electronic communications service, or traffic data belonging to the message, unless one of the users has consented to the processing.

The ban does not prevent automatic, intermediate and temporary storage that is necessary for the transmission of an electronic message, or storage to the extent necessary for operating an electronic communications network or service.

The ban does not prevent others from gaining access to the content of an electronic message that is publicly available anyway, if access is given only to make onward transmission to other recipients more efficient and the data on who requested the information are erased. The ban does not prevent a person from listening in with a radio receiver, or otherwise gaining access by using such a receiver, to a radio-conveyed electronic message not intended for that person or for the public.

The ban in the first paragraph does not apply when a provider of number-independent interpersonal communications services processes data in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/1232.

Chapter 1, section 7 defines an electronic message as all information exchanged or transmitted between a limited number of parties through a publicly available electronic communications service, except information transmitted as part of broadcasts of radio and television programs aimed at the public unless it can be linked to the individual subscriber or user. Chapter 1, section 8 gives the word consent in Chapter 9 the same meaning as in the EU data protection regulation.

Lag (2026:1302) amended section 27 with effect from 1 August 2026 and added Chapter 9, section 6 a. Chapter 12, section 1 has the supervisory authority decide on a sanction fee against a person who commits any of a list of infringements. Among the listed infringements is not processing the data in an electronic message, or the traffic data belonging to it, in accordance with Chapter 9, section 27.

Chapter 12, section 2 sets the sanction fee at a minimum of SEK 5,000 and a maximum of SEK 10,000,000. Chapter 12, section 2 lets the supervisory authority waive the fee in whole or in part if the infringement is minor or excusable or if charging it would otherwise be unreasonable. The Post and Telecom Authority (Post- och telestyrelsen) is the regulatory and supervisory authority under the Act. The Act took effect on 3 June 2022.