2016 Global Review of Constitutional Law

In both cases, the HFD found that Art. 6(1)
ECHR was applicable. In the first case, the
Court referred to its case law in HFD 2011
ref. 10. In the latter case, the HFD equaled
the parking permit with a social benefit and
stated that there were no authoritative reasons
for not considering the benefit a civil
right, taking its case law in HFD 2011 rf. 2
into consideration.
government. Rules on the division of powers
and functions between the legislature,
the executive, the administration, and courts
have been the main focus of the constitution.
However, slowly the chapter on rights in the
Swedish Instrument of Government has increased
in importance, due to, for example,
the Europeanization of national law.
On June 10, 2016, the District Court in
Stockholm 21 delivered its ruling in the socalled
Roma Register case. This was the first
time a court decided on the matter which
since 2013 has been lively debated in Sweden.
Several non-judicial control bodies
have already declared the register to be illegal
22 and to be a register primarily based on
ethnic identity. 23 The legal question is whether
the right to not be discriminated against
on the basis of ethnicity has been violated.
The District Court ruled in the affirmative,
interpreting the Swedish Law (Polisdatalagen
2:10) in conformity with Art. 8 and 14
ECHR. The Chancellor of Justice (representing
the State) appealed. The position of the
State is currently that the register is in violation
of Art. 8 and 14 ECHR as the law stands
after Biao v. Denmark 24 but that it is not in
violation with Swedish law, and the damages
therefore should be lowered.
CONCLUSION
Developments in Swedish Constitutional
Law in 2016 reflected the Swedish Constitution’s
standing in the Swedish legal order.
Several important political matters related to
or with an impact on constitutional principles
took place but these matters were not primarily
framed as constitutional issues. The closing
of the Swedish borders as a result of the
migration situation, the relationship between
EU law and national law concerning privacy
rights and data protection, and the incorporation
of the CRC into Swedish law could serve
as three examples. One explanation could be
that by tradition, the Swedish constitution
has had the status as an instrument for the
21
T 2978-15 et al.
22
Säkerhets och Integritetsskyddsnämnden (SIN), dnr. 173-2013, 15 november 2013.
23
Diskrimineringsombudsmannen (DO), GRA 2013/67, 20 februari 2013, Justitieombudsmannen (JO), dnr. 5205-2013.
24
Biao v. Denmark, no. 3859/10.
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