SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Jerker Kjellander, Matilda Kronqvist and Selma Beganovic, Vinge
1. Identifying Assets in the Jurisdiction 1.1 Options to Identify Another Party’s Asset Position In Sweden, there is no direct way to fully identify the complete asset position of another party. However, there are several ways to get a good indication of a company’s or an individual’s assets. One option is to contact the Swedish Tax Agency ( Skatteverket ) and request the tax returns of the other party, where information regarding declared annual income and deductible expenses could be found. Tax returns submitted to the Swedish Tax Agency are publicly available and can generally be given to any - one upon request. This applies to all legal entities, sole traders and private individuals. However, the tax returns will not include any general listing of assets, since the wealth tax was abolished in 2007. If the other party is required to keep accounts in accordance with the Swedish Accounting Act, which almost all legal entities are, the annual report can also give a good indication of the company’s asset posi - tion. In Sweden, all annual reports are publicly avail - able as soon as they are filed and registered with the Swedish Companies Registration Office ( Bolagsver- ket ), which must be done no later than seven months after the conclusion of a financial year. Anyone can obtain annual reports by paying a small fee. Full information regarding ownership of any real prop - erty is publicly available from the Swedish authority responsible for property registration ( Lantmäteriet ), if the other party has a Swedish registration number or a Swedish social security number. Similarly, by con - tacting the Swedish Transport Agency ( Transportsty- relsen ), one could acquire information as to whether the other party owns any vehicles, civil aircraft, trains or boats over 15 metres in length. Indicative information regarding ownership of shares in companies may be obtained through the public Register of Beneficial Ownership, kept by the Swed - ish Companies Registration Office. Furthermore, it is sometimes possible to obtain infor - mation regarding assets by reviewing a credit report
on the other party from a credit reference agency. Every company and everyone over the age of 15 is registered at the major credit reference agencies, and credit reports include information such as credit scores, debts and previous credits. There are no spe - cial requirements for requesting a credit report regard - ing a legal entity but, according to Swedish law, a report must have a necessary purpose if it contains information about a private individual (eg, the party requesting the report has entered into, or is about to enter into, a credit agreement with the person to whom the credit information pertains, or the request - ing party otherwise has grounds to make a financial risk assessment). If a credit report concerning a pri - vate individual is made, the individual must receive a copy of said report. If the enforcement of a judgment proceeds beyond the Swedish Enforcement Authority ( Kronofogdemyn- digheten ) to litigation (civil case), the court can, upon request by a party, order the production of documents if said documents can be assumed to have signifi - cance as evidence ( editionsföreläggande ). The obliga - tion also applies to third parties and is thus not lim - ited to the parties to the proceedings. Consequently, depending on the type of case, information about the asset position of a person or company can be gath - ered through the court order, if the documents have relevance as evidence. This would normally be the case if the court proceedings concern the enforce - ment but, conversely, not as a matter of the principal issue in dispute. Moreover, where there is a risk that the other party could withhold or disappear with the money or prop - erty, a claimant can also request that the court issues a freezing order ( kvarstad ). If ordered by the court, the Swedish Enforcement Authority will temporarily take possession of the money or property until a judgment or final order is issued. 2. Domestic Judgments 2.1 Types of Domestic Judgments In Sweden, there are seven different types of domestic judgments:
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