Secrecy at the Swedish Social Insurance Agency for information used to identify electrical facilities in matters on support for electricity users

The plan makes the principle of public access and the right to scrutinize those in power one of democracy's most important cornerstones and wants welfare systems to be characterized by great clarity and transparency. Protecting network companies' data as trade secrets weighs light against this, especially since the plan sees the privatization of the electricity market as a problem. The plan therefore speaks for rejecting the new secrecy provision.

• principle of public accessdecisive»föreningsfriheten, yttrande- och tryckfriheten, offentlighetsprincipen« (party programme ↗)“freedom of association, freedom of speech and the press, the principle of public access”
• scrutinize those in power»delta i offentlig debatt, granska makthavarna« (party programme ↗)“participate in public debate, scrutinize those in power”
• transparency in welfare systems»Ett generellt välfärdssystem baserat på tillit till medborgarna ger en effektiv administration samt stor överblick och insyn.« (party programme ↗)“A general welfare system based on trust in citizens provides efficient administration and great clarity and transparency.”
• criticism of electricity market privatization»Privatiseringar har lett till dyrare elpris, att apoteken flyttar från landsbygd till städer och från fattiga till rika områden« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Privatizations have led to higher electricity prices, that pharmacies move from countryside to cities and from poor to rich areas”

The plan bases administration on transparency and public access and emphasises the value of the transparency principle for exposing misconduct; it wants rather to expand than restrict access. Electricity support is public funds, and citizens shall be able to scrutinise how such funds are used. On this basis the plan speaks against a new secrecy provision for facility IDs, even though the plan does not directly address the question.

• transparency and public accessdecisive»Den demokratiska processen och samhällsförvaltningen måste bygga på offentlighet och insyn.« (party programme ↗)“The democratic process and public administration must be based on transparency and public access.”
• the value of the transparency principle»Tack vare den svenska offentlighetsprincipen har missförhållanden inom den offentliga välfärden upptäckts och debatterats.« (party programme ↗)“Thanks to the Swedish transparency principle, misconduct in public welfare has been discovered and debated.”
• expand the transparency principle»Samhället ska ha full insyn i alla skolor genom offentlighetsprincipen.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Society shall have full access to all schools through the transparency principle.”
• scrutiny of tax funds»Oavsett i vilken form skattefinansierad verksamhet drivs ska medborgarna ha möjlighet att granska den och utkräva politiskt ansvar.« (party programme ↗)“Regardless of what form tax-funded activities are conducted in, citizens shall have the opportunity to scrutinise them and hold politicians accountable.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The party programme asserts that the public access principle and the right to publish information on matters of public interest must be valued and strengthened and that common concerns shall be handled with openness and transparency. Introducing a new confidentiality provision to protect network companies' customer registers restricts that transparency on weak grounds. The plan therefore speaks for the counter-proposal's objection to confidentiality for facility ID.

• value the public access principledecisive»Offentlighetsprincipen och meddelarfriheten måste« (party programme ↗)“The public access principle and the right to publish must”
• openness in public decisions»Våra gemensamma angelägenheter ska hanteras med öppenhet« (party programme ↗)“Our common concerns shall be handled with openness”
• transparency in agency administration»Detta kräver transparens och« (party programme ↗)“This requires transparency and”

The plan makes openness and transparency fundamental prerequisites for freedom and democracy and wants Sweden to become even more transparent, with the constitutionally protected freedoms of the press and of expression as self-evident. Here secrecy protects business information, not individuals' privacy, and the grounds are, according to the counter-proposal, weakly substantiated. The plan's openness principle therefore speaks to rejecting the new secrecy provision.

• openness and transparencydecisive»Öppenhet och transparens är grundförutsättningar för frihet, demokrati och för att förhindra korruption och övergrepp.« (party programme ↗)“Openness and transparency are fundamental prerequisites for freedom, democracy and for preventing corruption and abuse of power.”
• more transparent Sweden»Sverige ska bli ännu mer transparent.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Sweden shall become even more transparent.”
• press and freedom to inform»För oss är de grundlagsskyddade fri- och rättigheterna, som exempelvis yttrande-, tryck- och meddelarfrihet, självklara och ska garanteras.« (party programme ↗)“For us, the constitutionally protected rights and freedoms, such as freedom of expression, press freedom and freedom to inform, are self-evident and shall be guaranteed.”

Worldstate weighed in: Electricity support as a crisis measure during extreme electricity prices — The plan never anticipated a mass case with electricity consumption data, so the weighing must be made based on the openness principle

The plan states that the principle of public access has fundamental importance for democracy and is a prerequisite for scrutiny and debate, and wants public records to be made accessible to a greater extent. Introducing a new secrecy rule for facility id on a document that has been questioned works against that line. The plan's protection for companies' property and fair competition speaks in the other direction, but does not outweigh the public interest here.

• public access underpins democracydecisive»Offentlighetsprincipen har en grundläggande betydelse för att förankra och fördjupa folkstyret« (party programme ↗)“The principle of public access has fundamental importance for anchoring and deepening democracy”
• more transparency in documents»Diarier och allmänna handlingar bör i större utsträckning göras« (party programme ↗)“Records and public documents should be made accessible to a greater extent”
• scrutiny as democracy's lifeblood»Demokratins livsluft är att fler granskar, diskuterar och pekar ut samhällets brister.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Democracy's lifeblood is that more people scrutinize, discuss and point out the deficiencies of society.”
• protection for companies' property»Lagar och regler ska slå vakt om äganderätt« (party programme ↗)“Laws and regulations shall protect property rights”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The counter-proposal opposes a new confidentiality provision for facility ID in electricity support matters. The party programme establishes that the public principle is central to an open democracy, that the option of confidentiality should be used restrictively and that decision processes should be transparent so that accountability can be upheld. The plan therefore speaks against new confidentiality, although it also requires the state to protect companies' legitimate interests on the market.

• restrictive confidentialitydecisive»Sekretessmöjligheten ska nyttjas restriktivt.« (party programme ↗)“Confidentiality should be used restrictively.”
• the public principle»allmänna handlingar, är central för en öppen och vital« (party programme ↗)“public records, is central to an open and vital”
• transparency and accountability»Beslutsprocessen måste vara överblickbar för medborgarna och därmed ge möjlighet att utkräva ansvar.« (party programme ↗)“The decision process must be transparent to citizens and thus provide the possibility of demanding accountability.”
• protection for serious companies»Statens roll i näringspolitiken är att övervaka att« (party programme ↗)“The state's role in business policy is to oversee that”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan states that the rule of law shall be there with full force when business people are subject to crime and wants to strengthen protection for companies against attacks and theft attempts, at the same time as households shall be protected against winter electricity bills. Making compilations resembling grid companies' customer registers available to outsiders would expose companies to disreputable actors. The plan values scrutiny of exercise of public power at the same time, but that does not outweigh here; the requirement is rejected.

• protection for business peopledecisive»Det är ett grundläggande politiskt ansvar att rättsstaten finns där med sin fulla kraft när företagare blir utsatta för brott.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“It is a fundamental political responsibility that the rule of law is there with full force when business people are subjected to crime.”
• protection for sensitive business information»Ge företag som är engagerade i säkerhetskänslig verksamhet bättre stöd från staten att kunna möta cyberattacker, spionage och stöldförsök från främmande makt« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Give companies engaged in security-sensitive activities better support from the state to be able to meet cyberattacks, espionage and theft attempts from foreign powers”
• electricity support for households»Skydda hushållen mot vinterns elräkningar genom ett högkostnadsskydd« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Protect households against winter electricity bills through a high-cost protection”
• scrutiny of public power»Den är lagstyrd, professionell och underkastad konstitutionell, politisk« (party programme ↗)“It is law-regulated, professional and subject to constitutional, political”

flags: motstridiga_atagande_insyn

The plan does not address confidentiality for facility IDs in electricity support matters. The nearest applicable principle is the plan's protection of ownership rights and for companies against being affected by disreputable actors and crime, which speaks for information that in practice constitutes trade secrets being protected. The counter-proposal's requirement for insight into precisely this information lacks support in the plan, which instead links the transparency requirement to results of public investments.

• protection of ownership rightsdecisive»Förstärka grundlagens rättighetsskydd vad gäller yttrandefrihet, äganderätt och frihet från religion« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Strengthen the Basic Law's protection of rights regarding freedom of speech, ownership rights and freedom of religion”
• protect companies against disreputable actors»Bekämpa brottslighet som drabbar företagare« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Combat crime that affects entrepreneurs”
• counter fraud»Både fusk och sådana system som tenderar att locka till fusk och korruption ska motverkas.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Both fraud and systems that tend to encourage fraud and corruption shall be countered.”