Supplementary provisions to the EU regulation on political advertising
What's at stake: The decision determines how strict and predictable the regulation of political advertising will be, affecting everyone from large advertisers to small parties, non-profit associations, local media and individual opinion-makers who risk sanction fees if they get it wrong.
Case texts and AI reasoning are AI-translated from the Swedish originals; the Swedish text is authoritative.
What the vote decides
The question is whether parliament should adopt the government's bill supplementing the EU regulation on political advertising, with dynamic references to the regulation and sanctions for breaches, or reject it in favour of a reworked law with static references, an explicit exemption for the constitutional protections of press and expression freedom, and a graduated sanctions system.
Yes Yes — the committee proposal
The committee endorses the government's proposal, considering the law supplementing the EU regulation on political advertising well balanced, and proposes that parliament adopt the bills with a minor editorial adjustment. The committee holds that static references should be used for the sanctions provisions for reasons of predictability, while other references should be dynamic so that changes to the regulation take immediate effect in Sweden, and sees no need for an explicit provision exempting the law where it would conflict with the constitutional protections of press and expression freedom.
No No — the reservations
Reservation 1 (SD)
The reservation holds that the government's proposal goes further than necessary and should be rejected. Combining dynamic references to the regulation with sanctions such as injunctions, fines and sanction fees creates legal uncertainty for, among others, small parties, non-profit associations, local media and individual opinion-makers, who risk refraining from lawful advertising out of fear of getting it wrong. Without a statutory sanction ladder - a warning, followed by correction and, if needed, a sanction fee - and clear criteria for mitigating and aggravating circumstances, the framework risks being more restrictive than necessary and leading to over-compliance and self-censorship.
Summarised from the committee report. Party labels in the summary come from the report, not from the vote.
V–
S–
MP–
C–
L–
KD–
M–
SD–
YesNoAbstainAbsent
What do the votes mean here?
Yes The committee proposal: adopting the government's legislative proposal and rejecting the motions (keeping things as they are).
No Backing the counter-proposal: reservation 1 by SD.
Abstain The party marks a position of its own that is not one of the two final alternatives.
The plan's stance / Actual vote
AI
Vote
Confidence
Evidence
V
–
Yes 18/0/0/4
S
–
Yes 93/0/0/13
MP
–
Yes 15/0/0/3
C
–
Yes 19/0/0/5
L
–
Yes 13/0/0/3
KD
–
Yes 16/0/0/3
M
–
Yes 60/0/0/8
SDown reservation
–
No 0/61/0/11
Committee proposal
The Riksdag adopts the government's proposal for
1. an act with supplementary provisions to the EU regulation on political advertising,
2. an act amending the Act (1971:289) on General Administrative Courts with the amendment that the fourth comma in section 18 subsection 4 shall be deleted.
The Riksdag hereby approves proposition 2025/26:4 points 1 and 2 and rejects motion
2025/26:1426 by Michael Rubbestad et al. (SD) amendment 1.
Original (Swedish)
Riksdagen antar regeringens förslag till
1. lag med kompletterande bestämmelser till EU:s förordning om politisk reklam,
2. lag om ändring i lagen (1971:289) om allmänna förvaltningsdomstolar med den ändringen att det fjärde kommatecknet i 18 § fjärde stycket 5 ska utgå.
Därmed bifaller riksdagen proposition 2025/26:4 punkterna 1 och 2 samt avslår motion
2025/26:1426 av Michael Rubbestad m.fl. (SD) yrkande 1.
Riksdag decision: The Riksdag approved the government's proposal on supplementary provisions to the EU regulation on political advertising. The proposal essentially entails that certain supplementary provisions to the regulation are collected in a new act.
The new act describes, among other things, what powers the responsible authorities have and what administrative fines may be relevant in case of violations of the regulation.
The purpose of the EU regulation on political advertising is to increase transparency for such advertising and to harmonize the rules for the provision of political advertising services within the EU.
The new rules come into force on January 1, 2026.
Counter-proposals
The counter-proposal wants to ensure a graduated sanctions scheme with warning, correction, and then sanctions fees, with clear criteria for mitigating or aggravating circumstances. (SD) — Reservation 1
Motion 2025/26:1426 — med anledning av prop. 2025/26:4 Kompletterande bestämmelser till EU:s förordning om politisk reklam av Michael Rubbestad m.fl. (SD)
Proposition 2025/26:4 — Kompletterande bestämmelser till EU:s förordning om politisk reklam