Right of association
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M moves for approval of the committee's proposal to simplify entrepreneurship and strengthen competitiveness 1. M argues that the government has acted resolutely against economic crime 1. S supports the committee's proposal but argues that the government should take more measures against gang criminals 2. S moves that the government should promptly raise the requirement for minimum share capital 2. KD considers that the regulatory burden must be simple for small business owners 3. KD wants to modernize the Foundation Act and strengthen the work against corporate watchdogs 3. SD wants to facilitate things for entrepreneurs 4. SD advocates for zero tolerance against corporate watchdogs, increased share capital, and simplified bookkeeping 4. L works for regulatory simplifications 5. C wants to expand the business ban 6. MP wants Sweden in the EU to work for a regulatory framework that strengthens sustainability reporting 7. MP considers that the state must take an active role to help companies 7.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Adam Reuterskiöld (M)
Madam Speaker! I would like to begin by moving to approve the committee's proposal for a decision.
We are here today to debate a motion report on association law. Association law is a legal area within Swedish legislation that concerns the regulation of different types of associations - legal entities formed for a common purpose. It can be perceived as a rather dull and difficult legal area, but it is actually something that affects almost everyone in Sweden.
What considerations must be taken into account in this area? The motions in this report may each individually seem justified. In some cases where they may be warranted, work is already underway. It is, however, good that we handle all of these collectively, as all rules must be weighed against one another. How can one make a trade-off between, on the one hand, making it as simple as possible to start and run companies and, on the other hand, limiting the opportunities for criminals to use companies as tools for crime?
Sweden's foundation rests on entrepreneurship. Growth and the possibility for our collective commitments within welfare are based on a free and flourishing business sector. At the same time, we have, especially in recent years, seen an increase in economic crime. Our government has during this mandate period actively worked to curb economic crime, as it can also be linked to violent crimes and other criminality.
This crime hits hard, not just against society as a whole. Companies are used to handle money and other things that can be traced back to crime. This crime also hits directly against our law-abiding companies. Criminal business activity creates an unhealthy and uneven competition for the companies that follow the legislation.
Madam Speaker! Laws and regulations create problems for companies. One of the biggest problems, and one of the biggest stumbling blocks, within the EU is the increased regulatory burden. The regulatory burden hinders competition and development. It creates large administrative costs, hampers productivity, and weakens the EU's competitiveness.
What has the government then done in these matters?
The government has presented an offensive simplification agenda so that the Swedish business sector's long-term competitiveness shall be strengthened. It is crucial for Sweden's prosperity in the long term.
The government has during the mandate period initiated and taken a long series of measures. One example is increased support for the agencies' simplification work. Simplifications must occur in all areas and at all levels. This can mean financial supplements but also changed instructions and regulations. The government has tasked Tillväxtverket with offering support to agencies.
Another example is more services at municipalities that simplify things for companies. The Government has tasked the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the Public Health Agency to, together with the County Administrative Boards, develop a basis for the development of services as well as guidance for the reporting of and application for different types of activities at the municipalities. This proposal can streamline not only the companies' handling of this but also the municipalities' work in these processes.
A simplification council is being established to reduce red tape for companies. It is important to obtain views on the proposals put forward in these areas.
An implementation council shall strengthen Swedish competitiveness. The implementation council shall aim to provide a corporate perspective early in EU processes and work to ensure that EU legislation is not implemented above the minimum level.
About thirty authorities have been tasked with simplifying things for companies, and there are requirements for reporting back.
The requirement for physical receipts has been abolished. This may feel like a rather small part, but it actually facilitates things for the companies. A large part of the bookkeeping and the daily transactions are digital today.
The list can be long. In Sweden, it should be easy to start, run and develop companies. The regulatory burden and the administrative costs need to decrease. Companies and entrepreneurs should be able to focus on their core business.
At the same time, Madam Speaker, the government has acted quickly and resolutely to combat crime. During the last two years, Sweden's government has taken several measures to combat economic crime and stifle the criminal economy.
One example is the establishment of a financial intelligence center. In December 2024, the government decided that the Swedish Police Authority shall establish a financial intelligence center. The purpose is to deepen the cooperation between the Swedish Police Authority, the Swedish Economic Crime Authority, the Swedish Tax Agency and the private actors in order to effectively counter the criminal economy.
Legislative proposals have also been submitted regarding corporate-related crime. In June 2024, the government submitted the referral to the Council on Legislation, Bolag och brott, which contains rules to prevent and combat crime within companies. The implementation of the proposals in the bill includes the criminalization of corporate hijacking, harsher penalties for crimes against the goalkeeper ban, and strengthened control possibilities for Bolagsverket.
The rules for Fskatt have been tightened. In June 2024, the government decided on a referral to the Council of Legislation with proposals for changes in Fskatt's area to protect serious business and counter criminal economy.
In the autumn budget, the government presented a package of measures to strengthen the work against the criminal economy. The package included stricter rules to counter incorrect payments from public systems, increased appropriations to agencies such as Skatteverket, Kronofogdemyndigheten, Tullverket, and Försäkringskassan to prevent and combat economic crime, as well as measures against money laundering and corporate crime.
Madam Speaker! We can see that during this mandate period, the government has shown in a good way that it is possible to combat economic crime while simultaneously facilitating and supporting new entrepreneurship as well as the operation and development of companies. It is of the utmost importance for society to combat crime, to simplify entrepreneurship, and to create the greatest possible benefit for society.
Markus Kallifatides (S)
Madam Speaker! We Social Democrats support a significant number of the committee's proposals to reject motions in the area of association law, primarily with reference to the ongoing preparation of reform proposals in the Government Offices.
In all essential respects, it is still the work of the previous, Sledda government in the area that is being continued by the Kristersson government. So far during the mandate period, digital company and association meetings, business prohibitions as a result of prohibitions against conducting business activities that have been issued in another state, and the abolition of requirements for preserving accounting information in original can be mentioned. It is a welcome modernization of the accounting rules which now also applies to us Members of Parliament.
It is naturally fundamentally good for Sweden that there is broad consensus here in the Riksdag that association law issues regarding corporate forms, corporate governance, accounting rules, etc. should be investigated and prepared carefully before decisions on new legislation are made. Furthermore, I perceive that there is also great consensus that association law must be designed with a number of legitimate objectives in mind. Some such objectives are the companies' need for reasonably smooth administration, the state's interest in order and regularity, including in tax collection, and the public's opportunities to monitor their interests as employees, customers, or suppliers to, for example, limited companies. Here we can also include the interest of protection against the exploitation of association forms such as limited companies for criminal activity.
The right of association is an area for sense and balance, like almost all political areas.
We Social Democrats have made a promise to constructively and critically review proposals when they are placed on the Riksdag's table and have foretold that we will return with our own initiatives during the mandate period. This we have done.
An important area to ramp up efforts in is the fight against economic crime, money laundering, and tax evasion. This crime undermines the welfare state, erodes trust, and threatens the serious actors in the markets. These types of crimes are also closely linked to other crimes within both organized crime and labor market crime.
We Social Democrats believe that the government should take more measures to make it harder for gang criminals who currently use companies as criminal tools. We have welcomed, and constructively contributed to, the fact that Bolagsverket now has an expanded mandate and tools to maintain good order in its registers. It is an important issue.
We also mean that the government should reintroduce the audit requirement for more - in the long run all - limited companies, review whether more crimes should lead to business prohibitions, and raise the requirement for minimum share capital in limited companies.
Economic crime through companies is harmful to society. Significant tax revenues are lost for the public sector, and individuals suffer large economic losses. Furthermore, honest business owners and entrepreneurs run the risk of being driven out of business by competitors who do not follow the rules.
Trust in companies and confidence in the social system can be weakened. Economic profits generated by companies as tools for crime also finance other serious crime. The serious economic crime that occurs through companies is to be regarded as a threat to the system. A variety of measures must be taken to reverse the development.
Against this background, the Social Democratic government appointed a special investigator in December 2021 with a mandate to consider and propose measures aimed at countering the use of limited companies and other companies to commit crimes and other irregularities.
The investigation submitted the report Companies and Crime - some measures against unscrupulous companies on June 30, 2023. It has led to legislative changes, but the long-debated issue of minimum permitted share capital has not been addressed, Madam Speaker.
The investigation into companies as instruments of crime had, among other things, the task of analyzing the rules on compulsory liquidation in the event of capital deficiency in limited companies as part of the creditor protection system. The investigation concludes that the successive reductions of the requirement for minimum permitted share capital have resulted in the rules no longer being expedient. The Government also stated in the referral to the Council of Legislation that the investigation report's proposals for reformed rules on compulsory liquidation of limited companies will be further prepared in the Government Offices.
Against the background of the solid knowledge base that the investigation report provides on the issue of the size of the share capital, we Social Democrats believe that the government should promptly return to the Riksdag with a proposition on increasing the minimum permitted share capital in limited companies. Therefore, Madam Speaker, I move for approval of reservation 2.
Madam Speaker! In conclusion, I hope that the civil affairs committee's important work with the law of associations will also in the future be characterized by the seriousness that issues regarding the conditions for business and civil society, the functioning of the tax system, and the fight against economic crime deserve.
Larry Söder (KD)
Madam Speaker! It is not often that one can say it, but I agree with quite a lot of what Markus Kallifatides says, that is to say that it is important to have a long-term perspective in the rules of the game for companies, that the Riksdag in large is in agreement about the changes that are made and that it should not depend on which government is in power, but that one should be able to debate and discuss one's way to this. I believe it is good for companies to know what applies, regardless of which government is in power.
What I think is important is that it should be easy to run a business. It should be purposeful to run a business. The regulatory burden must be easy to bear for an individual entrepreneur. The rules should be designed based on the small business owners that exist, not based on the large corporations. It is harder for the small companies to manage all the rules that we impose on them.
We are good at imposing rules on companies. Almost everything we come up with involves a regulatory burden for companies. We sometimes forget to remove what exists and that might be unnecessary, and so more and more is added. It is not only Sweden that is good at imposing regulatory burdens, but the EU is also very good at it. Taken together, it becomes quite tough for a company.
In the report, which is a motion report, there are 26 motions. I can state that there are two parts that there is the most discussion about. One is Bolagsverket's preventive role, for which there are motions and motions.
I can agree that Bolagsverket should have a preventive role. They must ensure that their registers are up-to-date, that there are no people there who should not be there, and that those who are registered as company owners or board members have the opportunity to run the companies that exist there in a purposeful manner.
I can state that work is already being done regarding this, so I do not think at all that it is strange that we reject the motions. This is not due to us having a different opinion, but rather because work is ongoing. I believe that all parties, in one way or another, have the same direction in this, and we think that is good.
The control measures from authorities have become better and better. Those who are best at this are Skatteverket, who ensure that their registers are good and also help entrepreneurs to report correctly. I think it is a good example, but I believe that Bolagsverket can become just as good or even better if we give them time and opportunity.
When it comes to business prohibitions, I also believe we are quite in agreement. It is clear that those people who conduct business activities in an unserious manner should not run companies in Sweden. This should be able to be handled preventatively. When Bolagsverket receives a request to place a person who does not run a company in a serious manner on a board, one should therefore be able to say in a preventative way: No thanks, it is not feasible for you to sit on that company board.
At the same time, business bans should be able to be granted for more parts. We know that criminal activity can be conducted systematically. I believe it is good that we as a state are aware that this can happen and that we are not naive, that is to say, believe that everyone can run a company until the opposite is proven. Some are not suitable.
There is also talk about corporate governance, and there I believe we have much to do. We are naive sometimes and believe that the company has a purpose and that everyone who joins the board has the same purpose. I believe that we should also strengthen that part and work a lot with it.
A motion from one of my party colleagues, which unfortunately has not been forwarded, concerns the Foundations Act. In municipalities, we encounter foundations in many different ways whose purposes are, in principle, not possible to achieve today. They have to fight tooth and nail so that the foundations can be used in a good way.
What is desired is to modernize the Foundation Act so that foundations can be used in a way that is good for society today or also be dissolved. It is difficult to dissolve a foundation today. I think it is a good idea, but I believe that the Government Offices can take the initiative if they think it is needed right now.
With those words, I move for approval of the committee's proposal.
Rashid Farivar (SD)
Madam Speaker! Today we are debating the Committee on Civil Affairs' report on association law – the part of the law concerning associations between legal and/or physical persons as well as commerce and companies. We in the Sverigedemokraterna stand behind all our eight reservations, but to save time, I choose to move for approval of only reservation 10.
Madam Speaker! As an engineer, I have always had a fondness for figures and statistics, so let us start there. In Sweden, there are today approximately 1.2 million companies. Of these, 97 percent are small businesses with fewer than 10 employees. If we include small and medium-sized enterprises, that is to say those with fewer than 250 employees, these constitute a full 99.9 percent of all companies in the country. The large companies with more than 250 employees constitute only 1 per mille of the total number of companies. This shows with all clarity how crucial small and medium-sized enterprises are for Sweden's economy.
The business sector and entrepreneurship need better conditions. We need to review regulations, processes, and the handling by authorities to facilitate the start, operation, and development of companies. This is particularly important in times of uncertainty and recession. Companies create jobs and build the foundation for our welfare.
At the same time, it is crucial that we counter corporate crime and economic crime through both preventive and criminal law measures. We in Sverigedemokraterna pursue a clear line against all forms of crime, including corporate crime. We advocate for zero tolerance towards so-called corporate shell companies and believe that Bolagsverket should be given the opportunity to deny the registration of business activities when there are suspicions that shell companies are involved.
Madam Speaker! In our committee motion on association rights, the Sweden Democrats have submitted 14 requests, of which 13 are addressed in this report. I will not have time to go through all our proposals in detail, but I would like to highlight some of them.
It should be investigated what constitutes an optimal starting capital for limited companies from a liquidation perspective. We propose that the share capital be increased after a certain period in order to create an increased buffer against liquidation.
The threshold for the obligation to audit can be raised, but we oppose the reintroduction of requirements for an authorized auditor for smaller companies.
A consequence analysis should be carried out on how the EU directive Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, abbreviated as CSRD, affects small and medium-sized enterprises in Sweden. The Government should also act clearly at the EU level against increased reporting requirements.
Companies should not be forced to recruit employees or appoint board members based on irrelevant factors such as gender or origin. We oppose all forms of quotas.
The Bookkeeping Act should be simplified with separate rules for annual accounts in order to facilitate things for entrepreneurs.
A zero-tolerance policy against corporate straw men shall be introduced, and Bolagsverket should be given more tools to counter corporate hijacking, including the possibility to deny the registration of companies with suspected straw men.
Swedish law should take into account business bans and set-asides abroad in order to seriously combat crime within the business sector.
Madam Speaker! We need to create better conditions for Sweden's small and medium-sized enterprises. They are the backbone of our economy and a prerequisite for a strong and prosperous society. At the same time, we must stand united against crime and safeguard a sound business climate.
Gulan Avci (L)
Madam Speaker! I would like to begin my speech by agreeing with much of what my colleague Larry Söder raised in his own speech. I will then spend the majority of my time talking about why we need a strong business climate.
Madam Speaker! It is no exaggeration to assert that a good business climate is important for more people to dare to start companies. It is also no exaggeration to claim that a good business climate contributes to increased growth and paves the way for more jobs to be created. But that, of course, presupposes that it becomes less complicated to be an entrepreneur. That is exactly why this government, of which my party Liberalerna is a part, is actively working for regulatory simplifications so that new companies can be established and already existing companies can grow.
Let us not have any illusions that it is easy to be an entrepreneur. If Sweden is to be a competitive and innovative country, we should neither penalize entrepreneurship through taxation nor make it difficult to be an entrepreneur. That would make Sweden a poorer, less enterprising, and less innovative country.
Everyone loses if Sweden becomes a country where hard work and ambition are punished, where companies and innovations flee abroad, and where small business owners have to spend more time on red tape than on developing their own business. We know, just as the speakers before me mentioned, that jobs do not create themselves. There are approximately 1.1 million companies in Sweden, perhaps more. Over 97 percent of these are precisely small companies with fewer than ten employees. In these companies, four out of five jobs are created. It is therefore no exaggeration to assert that small business owners are important for more jobs to be created and that small companies constitute the backbone of our welfare society.
The Liberals and the government are working hard so that more people will dare to realize their dreams and start companies. With strong entrepreneurship, a good business climate, less red tape and, of course, a stop to tax increases, we will become attractive for more company establishments and investments, both here at home and internationally. But we are primarily paving the way so that more people will dare to take that important step and realize their own dreams while simultaneously contributing to the welfare and job creation.
Many of the motions we have to deal with in the report are important and relevant issues that deserve a good discussion. But many of them are issues that are being prepared at the Government Offices, and it is important not to precede that process.
We will have every reason, Madam Speaker, to return to many of the issues, not least those concerning crime, economic activity involving fraud and so on. The government is not sitting with its arms crossed; instead, work is being done feverishly in many different ways to both strengthen the business climate, enable more people to create companies, and ensure that existing companies can grow.
In conclusion: It is obviously important to curb a development that involves being able to cheat and commit economic crime.
Madam Speaker! With this, I move for approval of the committee's proposal in the report and for the rejection of all motions.
Alireza Akhondi (C)
Madam Speaker! This is a very important report on the regulatory frameworks surrounding business in our vast country.
There is an inherent conflict between creating good conditions for companies to be established, grow, thrive, and contribute to the common good, and the situation that we have unfortunately ended up in with criminal gangs. They use the same regulatory framework to bypass regulations and create the domestic terrorism that we see on our streets and squares. The question then becomes how we resolve these inherent goal conflicts in a way that does not have excessively large negative consequences.
For us in Centerpartiet - as the true friends of companies - it is extra important to ensure that people's drivers to realize their dreams and in that way be productive in our society are given the opportunity to start somewhere. We have been proactive, for example, in the issue of lowering the share capital. We do not want to create thresholds and barriers for companies to be able to come into existence just because one does not have the first down payment. At the same time, we have, even internally, initiated work to ensure that we break the economic structure that the gang criminals' activities are built on.
In the preparatory remarks - which is a good start; I still want to say that - there is a reservation from our side, reservation 9, which concerns business prohibitions. Here we have been clear that society must have access to sharper tools in order to be able to prevent criminals from starting, taking over or running companies and using these as tools to commit crimes. We therefore want that more people should be able to be subject to business prohibitions and that the business prohibition should apply for a longer period.
Today, it is only persons who are convicted of a crime committed within the framework of a business activity who can be subject to a business prohibition. Today's legislation means in practice that only tax crimes and bookkeeping crimes can result in a business prohibition, which means that the gangs who use companies to conduct criminal activities almost always fall outside the legislation.
We want it to be possible to decide on business prohibitions for persons who have committed other serious crimes. We can note that an investigation has recently been presented with proposals to expand the law on business prohibitions to also include crimes that do not have a connection to business activities, Ds 2024:35. But it is also a task for the government to actually prioritize this work and return with proposals that mean it is possible to decide on business prohibitions for persons who have committed other serious crimes.
Against that background, I argue that there is now a golden opportunity for us in this assembly to, while the investigation work is ongoing, close a loophole that criminal networks are exploiting. Given the trail that Tidögänget has left in this debate, it becomes very strange that one does not take advantage of the reservation text that exists in the report.
To make this simple and clear for everyone watching: Are you in Tidögänget prepared to, here and now, be involved in making decisions to close a loophole that criminals use to commit crimes? If you are not, what you are doing will be nothing more than a castle in the air.
Katarina Luhr (MP)
Madam Speaker! The report on the right of association deals, as you surely hear, a great deal of different issues. I myself had intended today to speak about companies' sustainability reports, an issue that has not become any less relevant now that the right-wing parties in the EU Parliament have opened up to changing and weakening this legislation shortly after it was decided and is in the process of being implemented.
I believe that all of us sitting here know that we are in a time when measures to reduce climate emissions to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement are becoming more and more urgent. At the same time, we have populist politicians who do everything to instead make it look like we have all the time in the world for the transition and that many political decisions have only been introduced to increase red tape. So that is, of course, not the case.
A large part of Sweden's climate impact comes from our consumption emissions. Industry accounts for a large part of Sweden's territorial greenhouse gas emissions and needs to transition to fossil-free status, the sooner, the better. The industrial climate transition in Sweden is beneficial for both the climate and Swedish competitiveness and Sweden's economy, and it contributes to societal development throughout the country. Through a rapid transition of Swedish industry, we in Sweden contribute strongly to the world's conditions to be able to reach the Paris Agreement, not least through new green technology development. Companies that are leading the way today should not have to be penalized by environmentally poorer alternatives.
Greenhouse gas emissions from Swedish consumption that occur in other countries can be reduced through reduced consumption of that type of goods, through consumption of equivalent goods with lower emissions, or through reduced emissions from the production of these goods in other countries. Sweden, through its membership in the EU, has a large influence over policies that can stimulate climate transition in other countries within the EU and outside the EU through global value chains.
The responsibility for reducing consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions shall not be placed solely on the individual consumer. Therefore, it is central that Sweden uses its voice in the EU to work towards an EU regulatory framework aimed at strengthening companies' climate transition – not least through companies' sustainability reporting, a reporting that needs to cover entire value chains and all companies and sectors including the financial sector.
On 1 July 2024, new rules regarding companies' sustainability reporting entered into force. We debated this here in the chamber in May 2024.
The purpose of sustainability reporting is to provide the financial markets with reliable and comparable information from companies regarding environment, social responsibility, and governance. The reporting shall contribute to sustainable investments and additionally facilitate the management of financial risks resulting from climate change and deficiencies in social conditions. It is the frameworks themselves.
The legislation is also intended to create advantages for individual companies. The reporting can facilitate financing and create awareness of opportunities linked to sustainability.
The business sector demands long-term perspective as well as clear rules and frameworks for work on sustainability and fossil-free status. This becomes easier with a common regulatory framework that applies throughout the EU, which gives companies fair conditions on the European market. The legislation also aims to drive the green transition.
The legislation has begun to be implemented. First out are companies with more than 500 employees, and next year the legislation will also cover small and medium-sized enterprises.
When we have previously debated this legislation in the chamber, several members from the Tidö parties have raised a strong concern that the reporting would become complicated and bureaucratic and said that it should therefore be kept at a minimum level. It is not always simple when legislation is changed or when new requirements are introduced. There is much that may need to be considered, and routines may need to be changed. However, it does not necessarily mean that the legislation itself is not favorable for the individual company.
We have proposed that we should support small and medium-sized enterprises in the work of introducing sustainability reporting. When that proposal is now being processed, the committee does not wish to propose any initiative to support these companies. Nor does one wish to work for an EU regulatory framework aimed at strengthening companies' sustainability reporting and climate transition.
We all need to take responsibility for structuring a climate transition. Everyone needs to do their part. The state is an important key to enabling a rapid climate transition and must take an active role in helping the companies that need support in the work.
Small and medium-sized enterprises may need support in the work with implementation, and I believe it is a task for the government to take necessary initiatives to provide the companies with such support.
Therefore, I want to move for approval of the Miljöpartiets reservation 11 regarding corporate reporting on sustainability and diversity.
The deliberation was hereby concluded.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.