sou 1999 1 - Regeringen

SOU 1999:1 Summary 39
upon the State would be permitted, however, to pursue a right of recourse
without enjoying the right of priority and would thereby be subject to a
composition with respect to the wages following notice of dismissal. The
Committee estimates that this solution can be realised within the restrictions
of State finances.
The right of priority for holiday wages remains unchanged.
Severance compensation should enjoy rights of priority and wage guarantees
to the extent such rights would have existed had the employee instead
received ordinary wages following notice of dismissal. It is uncertain
whether this rule satisfies the requirements which are set forth in the International
Labour Organisation’s 1992 convention, no. 173 regarding protection
for employees’ claims in conjunction with the insolvency of the employer.
Sweden should not, therefore, ratify the Convention now either.
The ceiling for the wage guarantee is increased from SEK 100,000 to
four times the statutory base amount (currently approximately SEK
145, 000). The maximum period for the wage guarantee is extended to eight
months.
Business Mortgage
Despite the fact that in the terms of reference, the Government only envisaged
marginal changes in the rules concerning business mortgage, this was
discussed freely by the Committee.
As mentioned above, business mortgages is a floating charge and provides
security in the debtor’s assets subject to certain exceptions. Liquid
funds, assets which can be pledged through registration, and financial instruments
are not included. The security is created through registration
which carries a one-time fee of 1% of the registration amount, followed by
the surrender of a business mortgage certificate to the lender.
The justification for the existence of business mortgage is that the security
is assumed to increase, and render access to credit cheaper. It is difficult
to determine to what extent the business mortgage actually has this
effect.
Statistics have been compiled in order to illustrate the extent to which
business mortgages are taken out. It is apparent from these statistics that
business mortgage are unusual for the smallest companies and newly-started
companies and for service companies, while they are quite prevalent with
smaller and mid-sized companies with an emphasis on manufacturing and
trade, and are thereafter of less significance to large companies. It has not
been possible to determine to what extent the business mortgage certificates