SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Stefan Widmark, Hans Eriksson and Petter Larsson, Westerberg & Partners
11. Enforcement 11.1 Powers
the Patent and Market Court and Patent and Market Court of Appeal, and such cases are normally admin- istered under the Swedish Code of Civil Procedure. In cases involving criminal offences, the Swedish Public Prosecutor’s Office is the appointed enforce- ment authority. Such enforcement is conducted under general criminal procedural law, which vests the pros- ecutor with more far-reaching remedies in comparison with the administrative remedies available to the SGA and the Swedish Consumer Agency. 11.2 Sanctions The SGA’s supervision and use of sanctions have pri- marily been focused on issuing warnings and sanction fees rather than using injunction orders to address vio- lations of the Gambling Act, which has led to extensive regulatory litigation in the administrative court system. In the last couple of years, the SGA has had a particu- lar focus on supervising AML and RG issues but has also broadened its focus to target payment service providers and B2B operators due to aiding and abet- ting of unlicensed operators with connections to the Swedish market. The Swedish Consumer Agency has been rather pas- sive in its supervision of the field of gambling since 2019 but has enforced two matters concerning the moderate marketing requirement. The Patent and Market Court issued injunctions subject to a fine in both cases, neither of which was appealed to the appellate court. 11.3 Financial Penalties As mentioned in 11.2 Sanctions , the SGA may issue sanction fees and delayed payment fines. Depending on the violation, different calculation meth- ods for the fine applies. For violations of the Gambling Act, fines are set between SEK5,000 and 10% of the GGR for the pre- ceding year. For payment service providers that fail to comply with their payment blocking restrictions, fines are set between SEK5,000 and SEK10 million.
The SGA has a mandate to enforce the restrictions on gambling set forth in the Swedish gambling reg- ulations and the Act on Measures Against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. The enforcement is carried out under administrative law and the deci- sions can be appealed to the Administrative Court of Linköping. If leave to appeal is granted, such judg- ments may, in turn, be appealed to the Administrative Court of Appeal in Jönköping and then ultimately to the Supreme Administrative Court. Except for certain cases, the legal effect of the SGA’s decisions is sus- pended until it has become final – that is, upon the expiry of the appeal deadline or when all appeal pos- sibilities have been exhausted. Depending on the severity of the violation of the Gam- bling Act or the applicable licence obligations, the SGA has a mandate to: • order the licence holder to remedy the matter (sub- ject to a fine); • issue an injunction (subject to a fine); • order that the licence conditions be amended; • issue a remark, which could be combined with a sanction fee, • issue a warning, which could be combined with a sanction fee; or • fully revoke the licence of the licence holder. If a licence holder fails to provide any information that it is obligated to provide under the Gambling Act, the SGA may issue a delayed payment fine of up to SEK100,000. The SGA may refrain from ordering a sanction if: • the violation is considered minor or excusable; • the licence holder has remedied the matter; or • any other authority has issued sanctions owing to the violation and such sanction is deemed suffi- cient. The powers of enforcement vested with the Swedish Consumer Agency are regulated under administrative law. However, the Agency’s decisions are appealed to
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