ALPHA. Demokratiskolan.se is a PROTOTYPE · Content review in progress
Demokratiskolan
The Transparency card from MethodKit for Society and Politics
Card 113 of 128 · MethodKit for Society & Politics
  • AreaDemocracy & power
  • Centre of gravityCentral government
  • Points of influence3 on the journey
  • Decisive electionThe general election
Democracy & power

Transparency

Public archives, open data & APIs

The principle of public access to official documents (offentlighetsprincipen) has existed in Sweden since 1766: the authorities' papers are your papers. Today transparency is as much about registers, open data and APIs as about archives. The rules are written by the central government, but it is at the municipality that most people test their right at some point.

Where does the power lie?1

  • Municipality · registers, archives & e-services · approx 20 %
  • Region · healthcare records & data · approx 10 %
  • State · constitution, secrecy & oversight · approx 55 %
  • EU · open data rules · approx 15 %

The constitution and the secrecy law are the central government's work, but every municipality and region runs its own registers and archives. The general election weighs heaviest.

How it works: the breakdown

The municipalityWhere you test the right
The regionHealthcare's documents
Central governmentRules & oversight · centre of gravity
Who decides?
Registrars, archivists and the committees in your municipality.
Registrars and committees in the region.
The Riksdag, the Parliamentary Ombudsman (JO) and the administrative courts of appeal. Digg drives open data.
What do they decide?
Registers, minutes, contracts and email: the municipality's documents are as a rule official and must be handed out promptly.
Procurements, decisions and statistics are public. Your medical record is protected by secrecy, but you have the right to read your own.
The Freedom of the Press Act and the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act: what counts as an official document, what may be kept secret and how data is to be shared.
Where are decisions made?
With the registrar and in the municipality's register, often searchable online.
In the region's register, and via 1177 for your own medical record.
In the Riksdag and at the agencies. Refusals are tested in the administrative court of appeal.
Who pays?
Municipal tax: registry, archive and e-services. Paper copies may cost according to a fixed rate.
Regional tax: registers, archives and records systems.
The central government budget: archive authorities, oversight and data portals.
Fastest way in?
Municipal election Request documents. You do not have to say who you are or why.
Regional election Request the region's contracts, read your own medical record via 1177.
General election File a complaint with JO about slow disclosure, use the agencies' open data.
EUThe EU's open data directive governs how agencies' data is to be made available for reuse. Shaped in the European Parliament election.

Read the table by column to understand one level, or by row to compare the levels. The green level is the area's centre of gravity.

How it works: follow the decision

The case You request a contract from the municipality
  1. State

    The constitution gives you the right

    The Freedom of the Press Act makes the authorities' documents official. The main rule is openness, and every exception requires support in the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act.

  2. EU

    The EU drives open data

    The open data directive requires that public data can be reused, ideally through APIs. Digg coordinates Sweden's data portal.

    Point of influence

    The data portal is open to all, whether you are building an app or just curious.

  3. Municipality

    You email the registrar

    You write to the municipality's registrar and ask for the contract with the cleaning company. You do not have to give your name or purpose, and the request must be handled promptly.

    Point of influence

    This is the whole threshold: an email. Describe the document as precisely as you can.

  4. Municipality

    The municipality reviews for secrecy

    A public official reviews whether anything in the contract is protected by secrecy, for example trade secrets. The rest must be handed out, sometimes with a few lines redacted.

  5. State

    A no can be appealed

    If you are refused, you have the right to a written decision that can be appealed to the administrative court of appeal. The Parliamentary Ombudsman (JO) can examine whether the handling dragged on.

    Point of influence

    Always ask for an appealable decision if refused. The appeal is free.

  6. Your everyday life

    The contract is on the kitchen table

    You can compare price and requirements with the neighbouring municipality's contract, write a letter to the editor or put a question to the council. Openness becomes valuable only when someone uses it.

The journey looks the same in reverse: what has been built came the same way, through the same decisions. Whoever knows where the decisions are made also knows where they can be changed.

Questions to discuss

  1. Which document in your municipality would you request if the threshold is just an email?

  2. What should be secret at a public agency, and who should decide that?

  3. How does power change when data lies open to everyone instead of in an archive?

  4. Where is the line between the citizen's insight and the official's space to work?

  5. Who uses the openness most today, and who ought to?

Glossary

Allmän handling
A document kept at a public agency that you as a rule have the right to read.
Diarium
The agency's register of incoming and produced documents, often searchable online.
Registrator
The function at an agency that receives, registers and hands out documents.
Sekretess
A statutory exception from openness, for example for medical records or trade secrets.
Öppna data
Public information published in formats that anyone is free to reuse.
API
A technical interface that lets programs fetch data directly, for example from an agency's database.

Go further

Footnotes

1) This is an estimate of how decision-making power over the issue is split between the municipality, the region, central government and the EU, based on how responsibility is divided in legislation. A teaching guide, not an exact measurement.