Consumer rights etc.

Lars Beckman (M)

Mr. Speaker! We are now debating the Committee on Civil Affairs' report on consumer rights, and I begin by moving for the approval of the committee's proposal and the rejection of all reservations.

Mr. Speaker! Even in this area, we are improving Sweden step by step. Imagine back a couple of years to how it was in the autumn of 2022 when inflation spiraled – and inflation means, as everyone knows, price increases. The price increases were over 10 percent, so when the government took office, one of the most important goals was to press down inflation and cost increases. That was achieved, and now inflation is normal. In 2022, electricity prices spiraled so much that the government had to pay out electricity subsidies to both households and companies, and the gasoline and diesel were so expensive that ordinary households could hardly afford to fuel the car. Even the interest rates were high.

Mr. Speaker! In a couple of years, we have thus pushed back inflation to a normal level. Sweden now has gasoline and diesel prices that are among Europe's lowest instead of highest, and interest rates are lower. This means that consumers have more money in their pockets. Together with tax cuts, it means that consumers and households get a better economy, which is very good.

Mr. Speaker! I would like to take the opportunity to thank Sweden's food retailers in the countryside for ensuring that we have a community service there. I believe that the retailers in Vallsta and Arbrå in Hälsingland and in Hofors in Gästrikland find it extremely difficult to recognize themselves in the Left's rhetoric about high profits in the food trade. The smaller and medium-sized stores have had it very difficult economically during the inflation economy. These retailers have not been cutting gold due to the price increases; it has been exactly the opposite. I am happy and grateful that there are people who want to run rural stores, because it is obviously important for the community service in the whole country.

As said, the government is improving Sweden step by step even in this area, and one of the issues concerns the Chinese sites. The Moderates and the government consider it completely unreasonable that Temu and Shein exploit the duty-free status. Now we are working both nationally and at the EU level to remove this duty-free status.

To those of you watching the debate, I want to say: Do not buy products from these Chinese low-price sites! They are many times directly dangerous. They can contain chemicals that are dangerous for children, and it can be electrically dangerous or other products.

If you buy, for example, a rabbit cage, it can be a cage that according to Swedish law is not even suitable for a guinea pig. Therefore, avoid buying via the Chinese sites! Then we shall help and ensure that Swedish trade and legislation are protected, and hopefully, an EU regulatory framework will be put in place that ruins things for the Chinese sites.

Another area, Mr. Speaker, concerns the assignment regarding customer services that the government gave to the Consumer Agency and which was reported last week. The report has not yet received much attention, but it shows that there are major deficiencies in companies' customer services.

The government will, of course, have to look at the concrete proposals that the Consumer Agency provides. Our position is that it should be just as easy to cancel an agreement as it is to obtain it. If one can obtain or supplement a TV subscription on a Saturday, one should be able to cancel a TV subscription on a Saturday. It should not be the case that one can obtain a TV subscription on a Saturday but can only cancel it every other Wednesday, odd weeks, between 12:00 and 13:00. This is the feeling that consumers often have today, or that they have to wait for hours in a telephone queue. This is an area that we are currently looking into.

Another area that the government is working hard on together with the banking sector is bank fraud. The Moderates and the Social Democrats are organizing a seminar in the Riksdag next Tuesday which will be well-attended. What we are looking at is precisely how we can stop and prevent bank fraud.

We were some Moderates who visited a commercial bank, and they showed and told us how they work. They have stepped up the work significantly over the last two years. That bank has 500 employees who work on stopping bank fraud – 500! They also told us that they have good cooperation with the government. If additional legislation is needed, it will of course come.

The government is also taking measures against over-indebtedness, which is a priority area for the government. We have also given a mandate to the Consumer Agency and received a report concerning municipal consumer advisors. We have municipal self-government in Sweden. It is an important fundamental principle that municipal politicians shall have full authority over their municipality. There, one must look at how we can support the municipal consumer advisors.

Another issue that we are following closely and that we have worked on and are working on is telemarketing. I know that the government is following the developments closely and is reviewing what can be done. There are some parties that want to ban telemarketing. We Moderates consider it to be a serious intervention in the market economy to ban telemarketing, but we also have respect for the fact that there are many consumers who simply become absolutely furious when they are called. The question is, therefore, not simple.

In summary, consumers get more money in their pockets. Now that we have increased the renovation deduction, I want to urge the Swedish people to take the opportunity to renovate the balcony, re-wallpaper, replace windows and improve energy efficiency, because now there is a very good opportunity that the Tidö parties and the Social Democrats voted for yesterday. It is very good.

I vote in favor of the proposal in the report.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Anna-Belle Strömberg (S)

Mr. Speaker! The report on consumer rights is about giving all consumers good conditions to make the right decisions.

It is about the preventive work, so that we consumers do not let ourselves be deceived into various subscription traps, unreasonable contractual terms, privacy violations, quick credits or over-indebtedness. These are just a few examples of what the report contains.

The purpose of the consumer law legislation is to protect consumers against companies that do not follow agreements or otherwise breach the rules. It is primarily the Consumer Agency that has the supervisory responsibility over laws within the consumer area and shall ensure that they are followed.

In our opinion, the possibilities that exist today are not sufficient to intervene against companies that break the rules. We believe that those who break the regulations should receive more tangible consequences in the form of sanctions and fees.

It is extremely important that the Consumer Agency is given sufficient resources and the right skills development to manage the supervision in the rapid development of new technology that we are seeing, which can protect consumers. Therefore, we think it is good that the government has now appointed an inquiry to review the need for governance and control of compliance. It is to be reported by the autumn. The Consumer Agency's mandate is to describe skills-enhancing measures. This is something we look forward to following.

Mr. Speaker! When it comes to contacts with companies' customer services, the Consumer Agency's report shows that consumers experience major problems with customer services. The Consumer Agency submits proposals for measures, for example the following:

A regulation should be introduced with the meaning that companies may not make it more difficult to terminate a service than it is to join it.

An EU-wide solution is preferable to national separate regulation, but if EU legislation is delayed, the Consumer Agency considers there to be reason to proceed with national legislation.

A new sanction possibility should be introduced.

Requirements should be introduced regarding consumers' ability to access and preserve or save the content of communications, regardless of the contact channel.

It was this that Lars Beckman presented.

Sveriges Konsumenter also reported in their report from April how difficult it can be to cancel a service, and they also suggest that it should be legislated away complicated cancellations, just as France and Germany have done. They already have such national legislation.

We think these are good proposals for measures that align well with our motion that one should be able to terminate a service or a contract without visual obstacles or other tricks that complicate termination. We Social Democrats look forward to the government proceeding with the proposed measures.

Mr. Speaker! Another area that we Social Democrats consider to be extremely important is consumer guidance in every municipality. In the report, we have submitted a special statement based on the fact that in our proposal for the state budget for 2025, we have included a new appropriation of 85 million kronor. The purpose is to give all consumers access to functioning consumer guidance in their vicinity by making consumer guidance an obligatory task for the municipalities.

Since our motion ended up in the budget report and not in this report, we must closely follow the developments regarding municipal consumer guidance and take necessary initiatives in contexts other than in this report.

Mr. Speaker! We also propose in our motion on over-indebtedness that measures should be taken against unscrupulous credit providers and that consideration should be given to introducing a grace period and a right of withdrawal for the disbursement of payday loans and so on. Here too, we view it positively that the government has appointed an inquiry to analyze and take a position on whether rules should be introduced regarding a changed repayment order, absolute prescription, measures to get more perpetual debtors to apply for debt restructuring and potentially changed rules on debt restructuring as well as time limits for consumer credit agreements.

What is not included in the assignment is to propose a system for debt and credit registers. We already have an announcement here. Arena Idé released a research report last month on exactly over-indebtedness, where they also propose that the government should introduce a national debt register.

Even in the Swedish National Audit Office's auditing report on economic violence, the assessment is that the government has not moved forward with the proposals to introduce a debt register, which would mean an obligation for creditors to provide information on debts. This shows that it is urgent that the issue is investigated and that a proposal for a national debt register is developed.

Mr. Speaker! In advertising and social media, there is plenty of manipulated and retouched images that give young people unrealistic beauty ideals. In Norway and France, there is a law that says it must be stated when commercial images have been retouched if the body shape has been changed.

We believe that even in Sweden, there should be a requirement to state if retouched images are used in marketing, and that the government should take the initiative for such a law. In P1 and in Örnsköldsviks Allehanda on April 13, I learned that Social Minister Jakob Forssmed wants to introduce a law stating that all advertisements where the body shape has been altered through manipulation must be marked. My question then is: When will that law come?

Mr. Speaker! When it comes to powers of attorney, there are in most cases no specific formal requirements. This can be exploited by violent men when it comes to exercising economic violence against women. We believe that a formal requirement for powers of attorney, for example corresponding to the formal requirement that exists for wills, appears to be a useful tool to strengthen the preventive work against men's economic violence against women.

In the spring of 2024, the Riksdag, on the proposal of the committee, urged the government to review whether special form requirements should be introduced for powers of attorney, for example for large loans, and to return to the Riksdag on the matter.

In the Government's referral 2024/25:75, it is stated that work has been initiated in the Government Offices to consider which measures should be taken in connection with that specific announcement.

But in the Swedish National Audit Office's review of whether the state is working effectively to counter economic violence in close relationships, the conclusion is that there are significant deficiencies in the state's work. The Government and the authorities have not taken sufficient measures to counter economic violence.

The report also states that the bills consistently lack the perspective of economic violence. And the problems have not been raised when it concerns, for example, formal requirements for powers of attorney, insufficient credit checks, or difficulties in getting rid of debts as a result of economic violence.

Against the background of previous announcements and the National Audit Office's report, we Social Democrats consider it extremely urgent that the government returns as soon as possible with measures regarding formal requirements for powers of attorney.

In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I stand behind all our reservations, and I move for the approval of reservation 21, which concerns formal requirements for powers of attorney.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Larry Söder (KD)

Mr. Speaker! It is appropriate that we are debating consumer policy today, as the government has presented the new Director General for the Consumer Agency: Lena Aronsson. We should welcome her and wish her good luck in her work. It is an important agency for us as consumers, but also for municipalities and organizations that work with consumer policy.

That we have consumer protection and a market that both protects the consumer and provides the consumer with the information needed to make choices that are as well-considered as possible is important.

We consumers are quite often very helpless against companies if we do not have laws and rules that support us when we consider ourselves mishandled or even cheated. The Government has supported the National Board for Consumer Disputes with more funds so that it can manage to handle the cases that come in from consumers within a reasonable time. The Government has therefore also increased the value amounts within different product groups for when a report can be made to ARN.

We now see the effect of these reforms. The number of cases is decreasing, and the waiting time to have one's case decided is decreasing. We are happy about that. But at the same time, we must be attentive to whether we have chosen the correct value amount or not. If there becomes a distortion such that the consumer does not have completely obvious inaccuracies reviewed, one must return to that.

The government has also addressed the issue of making it as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to sign up for one. All too often, it is very easy to sign up for a subscription online. But when you want to cancel it digitally, it is not possible, and you have to call instead. And in many cases, it is very difficult to get through on the phone. We believe that if one can sign up for a subscription digitally, one should be able to cancel it in the same way.

Many of us have probably heard of Nigerian letters or Nigerian emails, where someone tries to trick you into sending money or handing over your details. The Nigerian letters that have been seen have been poorly written, and one might have been able to see through them. But now they are more sophisticated. The email can look like it comes from your bank or from your parcel carrier. You can quite easily be tricked into believing that this is legitimate and that it is actually the company you are trading with that is sending the email.

I believe that the most important thing for us to be able to protect ourselves against this is as much information and enlightenment as possible. The banks can do a lot, and they do a lot. But I believe that we as consumers also must receive the information and the enlightenment that exists regarding this.

The government has also worked on the issue of telephone fraud, which unfortunately is more common than we actually think. Anyone can be deceived. It happens easily, especially in a society where the fraudsters' methods are becoming increasingly sophisticated.

The beginning of 2025 shows alarming statistics, and the police now state that fraud against the elderly is increasing sharply. There were 31,155 reported telephone crimes. In comparison with December 2023, 12 percent more crimes were reported.

Many elderly people are affected, and they may not realize that they have been deceived when they pick up the phone.

The government has countered telephone fraud through assignments to PTS. At the same time, it should be known that the banks have actually done their homework. The amount that these crimes comprise is 40 percent lower than in 2023.

There are other measures that the government has implemented.

They are trying to make price changes and differences in price levels regarding food visible, so that we are not deceived into thinking it is a special price when it is not.

Work has been done to improve knowledge regarding budget and debt counseling, and a mandate has been given that the budget and debt counseling should actually become more equal across the country.

Municipal consumer guidance has been strengthened through assignments to the Consumer Agency. It is important for consumer guidance that the Consumer Agency works as much as possible towards it.

More funds have been proposed for the Fastighetsmäklarinspektionen to counter money laundering. This was done in the budget bill for 2025. It has been rolled out. Fastighetsmäklarinspektionen is a fairly new agency that we believe needs time to be as effective as possible. And more funds are needed.

With that, I move for approval of the committee's proposal.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Björn Tidland (SD)

Mr. Speaker! Today the Committee on Civil Affairs is debating consumer rights, considering Report 2024/25:CU12. In the report, one finds eight reservations from SD. But according to established practice, I move today for approval only of reservation 3, Advertising directed at children. It is therefore the motion proposals 6, 7 and 9.

Mr. Speaker! Children are, to the highest degree, consumers. Since children find it more difficult than adults to filter and be critical of the messages they encounter, they are extra susceptible to advertising messages. It is therefore important that the legislation protects children from advertising.

Children spend more and more time in the digital world. Today, there is a lack of bans on advertising targeted at children on the internet and in apps. Such advertising can lead to strong pressure to purchase among children.

Legislation and rules for advertising aimed at children need to be updated and strengthened, as well as follow the digital development. One way to protect children could be to introduce an age limit for advertising on the internet.

Mr. Speaker! Hidden marketing in social media is largely unregulated. It is also personalized based on the individual's activity online, and it can therefore operate without the consumer being aware of this. There is a great deal of work to be done to regulate the industry.

Sweden should not only defend its right to stricter laws against marketing aimed at children but also work within the EU for stricter legislation throughout Europe. More controls and sanctions are needed against companies that violate the law regarding advertising to children.

Mr. Speaker! SD considers that consumer protection for children who, through video games and so-called skins, are indirectly encouraged to gamble on money needs to be tightened. Skins are bought and sold in video games, and it is to be regarded as a form of gambling.

One way to address the problem would be to introduce mandatory BankID for gambling and for the purchase of skins. A requirement for BankID for all transactions and purchases of games, skins, and updates would make it more difficult for minors to gamble away large sums of money, as it is impossible to identify oneself with someone else's BankID.

In summary, it can be stated that the rules for games aimed at children need to be tightened.

Mr. Speaker! For a long time, there has been a major problem with so-called greenwashing. This means that companies or organizations market their products as environmentally friendly, sustainable, climate-smart, or green without them either improving the climate or having any environmental benefit in that respect at all.

In many cases, companies or organizations use eco-friendly claims to appear more sustainable than they actually are. False environmental claims are a way to mislead consumers. It is problematic, as the phenomenon has grown in scope in tandem with the increasing discussion in society about acting in an environmentally friendly manner.

Those who mislead consumers with false environmental claims give consumers a false impression of environmentally friendly choices. There is a job to be done here.

Mr. Speaker! Fraud involving fake invoices is a widespread problem that affects companies, municipalities, and authorities. Micro and small enterprises that have limited resources to protect themselves against these invoices are particularly hard hit by this form of organized crime.

The problem with these frauds has existed for a long time, and despite investigations, the problem persists. Something must be done.

SD considers that the state needs to take greater responsibility so that entrepreneurs can, at an early stage, gain access to information regarding unscrupulous companies that send out scam invoices.

SD also considers that a special authority-administered warning list regarding scam invoices must be introduced.

Companies also need to receive increased support to contest incorrect invoices and request rectification from the Enforcement Authority. Furthermore, the government should produce proposals for sanctions against these fraudsters.

Finally, I want to mention that there are a number of proposals in the report that could indeed have received a majority here in the chamber, but SD chooses not to follow up on these. This concerns the following three areas.

First, it concerns the formal requirements for powers of attorney. We believe that there should be a requirement that powers of attorney concerning major financial commitments shall be drawn up in written form and witnessed. We therefore still stand behind our proposal in motion 2024/25:1389 proposal 35.

The Riksdag did, however, decide in the spring of 2024 on an announcement regarding formal requirements for powers of attorney, and in the government's communication 2024/25:75, which was mentioned here earlier, it is stated that work has been initiated on the basis of the announcement. Against that background, we have chosen not to reserve ourselves.

It concerns the second [point] regarding consumer credits and over-indebtedness. It is important to counter risky lending and to prevent people from becoming over-indebted by granting them loans that they cannot repay. We therefore still stand behind our proposals in motion 2024/25:1381, proposals 4, 5, 7 and 8.

I am awaiting the result of the ongoing preparation of the proposals in the partial report A New Consumer Credit Directive (SOU 2024:69), but we have chosen not to reserve ourselves.

It concerns the third consumer guidance. We believe that municipal consumer guidance needs to be developed so that all citizens are given the opportunity for local consumer guidance. We therefore still stand behind our proposal in motion 2024/25:1381 proposal 2.

Since the Consumer Agency has recently reported a mandate from the government to strengthen and develop the support for municipal consumer guidance, we have chosen not to submit any reservation.

SD will follow up on the result of the preparation of the Consumer Agency's report and return with proposals if there are grounds for it.

Mr. Speaker! This was an account of selected parts of the Sweden Democrats' consumer policy here in the Riksdag. Consumer issues are both important and pressing because we are all actually consumers, whether we want to or not.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Märta Stenevi (MP)

Mr. Speaker! The Prime Minister has his tablet, and I have my computer with me!

We have now debated consumer rights here in the chamber for a long time. But consumer rights for whom? When the consumer is to assert their right against a company or a lender, what opportunities do they have then? Who is it that offers support, and who monitors irregularities?

Mr. Speaker! Half of the country's municipalities currently completely lack municipal consumer guidance. In those cases, residents are instead referred to the Consumer Agency's consumer guidance. But there, one cannot get the same help as in the municipalities. For example, one cannot get help writing a complaint to the National Board for Consumer Disputes or help with interpreting a contract.

Even if you are lucky enough to live in a municipality with consumer advisors, is it then obvious that you specifically can get help in a way that you can access? According to the inheritance fund project Consumer Rights for All, half of the country's consumer advisors completely lack training in communication and accessibility. This means that persons with disabilities find it even more difficult to assert their rights, because it is not possible to ask the question or to access the answer.

Mr. Speaker! Did you know that the number of Swedish men who are subfertile, that is, have such poor quality in their sperm that they have difficulty having children, is heading towards 50 percent? Within a short future, in the Sweden of low birth rates, soon half of all men may have difficulty having children.

The reason is probably lifestyle factors and environmental toxins. But how is one to know how to avoid the chemicals that hinder family formation? How do we reach consumers so that they can make conscious choices and avoid as many as possible of those forever chemicals that kill the little swimmers and cause so much sorrow when children are not conceived?

Mr. Speaker! There are those of us who do not want to support companies that abuse legislation, exploit loopholes, or simply have as a business model to sabotage our common environment. But how do we know which companies these are?

Mr. Speaker! Some here surely remember the reports surrounding my fund holdings in 2021. Unlike the current Minister, I had reported all my holdings very carefully. I had not, as some other ministers are just now, participated in decisions in the government that could potentially have benefited my wallet. No, the reporting in 2021 was about the fact that 200 kronor of my savings capital had been placed in oil via a fund that I had been recommended by my bank. No errors had been committed.

That those 200 kronor still appear in the comment sections, often with the hashtag #SD2026, is mostly due to the fact that I am a member of the Green Party. I moved my money. I can handle the comments. But, Mr. Speaker, is it easy to penetrate fund information today? What is actually the difference between an advisor and a salesperson within the financial sector? Is it simple for our elderly to understand?

Mr. Speaker! Sveriges Konsumenter works on all these questions. For decades, they have helped Sweden's consumers – me, you, everyone else – to understand our rights, so that all the wise proposals debated here gain traction and so that we can demand our rights. But in its blind pursuit of civil society, the government has removed the funding for Sveriges Konsumenter entirely. It affects the elderly. It affects children. It affects people with disabilities. It affects all of us.

We want to see a strong civil society that is completely independent from economic interests and companies, which can support us consumers and ensure that the legislation can also be utilized. I would therefore like to urge my colleagues to press the government to restore the grant to Sveriges Konsumenter so that we can receive this support and consumers actually benefit from all the laws we have spoken passionately about today. After this small request, I move for approval of reservation 22.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Lars Beckman (M)

Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Märta Stenevi, for the contribution! I took the floor because Sveriges Konsumenter was mentioned in the debate.

Mr. Speaker! The Moderates safeguard civil society. It is a very important part of our society. But a civil society that is financed by the taxpayers can reasonably not be a civil society.

Those who are behind Sveriges Konsumenter, and who have founded and run them, are Hyresgästföreningen. I believe they made a billion in profit. Also LO, PRO and other organizations stand behind Sveriges Konsumenter. It is completely correct and right that they run Sveriges Konsumenter for the sake of their members. Sveriges Konsumenter probably does a very good job. But the taxpayers should naturally not pay for Sveriges Konsumenter, in the same way that the taxpayers do not pay for Skattebetalarnas Förening. They finance themselves entirely.

Sveriges Konsumenter is an important organization. But I would like to turn the question around and ask why Miljöpartiet thinks that the taxpayers should pay Sveriges Konsumenter. We transferred money to the National Board for Consumer Disputes. It is a public interest. As a consumer, one can file a complaint with the National Board for Consumer Disputes. There were very long waiting times previously. Now they are significantly shorter. But why should the taxpayers pay for something that LO, PRO and Hyresgästföreningen have founded and established? As I said, Hyresgästföreningen went into with over a billion in profit. Why should the taxpayers pay that? Isn't the point of a civil society that it is precisely a civil society?

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Märta Stenevi (MP)

Mr. Speaker! The simple answer is that we have a common interest in strengthening the position of consumers in the market and in the state having the opportunity to step in and cut the ties that otherwise arise with economic interests.

When one transfers money to the National Board for Consumer Disputes from Sveriges Konsumenter, one misses the fact that one also removes the possibility for many people to get help writing applications to the National Board for Consumer Disputes. One also removes the help to interpret agreements and to pursue issues. That is what happens. One might think that is a task that lies with the Tenants' Association, but I think it is a collective responsibility.

I may think it is a collective responsibility for us to put money in a state budget – I believe it was about 5 million kronor – to ensure that there is funding and opportunities to apply for EU funds to drive consumer rights. That is what the debate is about today. All the proposals that have been debated are about citizens having the opportunity to take advantage of the benefits of the legislation.

If you are in your 80s, it is not entirely obvious how to write to the National Board for Consumer Disputes. It is not entirely obvious how to interpret a contract. It is definitely not easy to navigate how to cancel a subscription.

To enter with a very small amount of money in this context that makes it possible for civil society to scale up against other funds and thereby support the citizens where the municipalities have not succeeded, I think is a very effective and good way to use tax funds and thus also strengthen the consumers against the economic interests driven by, for example, Svenskt Näringsliv and other organizations.

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Lars Beckman (M)

Mr. Speaker! No one questions the importance of Sveriges Konsumenter as an organization. It is very good that LO, Hyresgästföreningen and PRO, among others, have formed that organization?

In the 2018 election, Hyresgästföreningen felt it was so important to campaign against the bourgeois parties that they spent an extra 10 million from their members' money in a purely political campaign directed against, among others, the Moderaterna. Hyresgästföreningen thus has resources, and that they can use the money as they wish is extremely important.

Next week, the Social Democrats and the Moderates are organizing a seminar that I hope the member Märta Stenevi will attend. It is about bank fraud. Sveriges Konsumenter are co-organizers.

No one is questioning Sveriges Konsumenter. On the contrary – they certainly do a great deal of good in these matters. But what it was about, and what I took a point on, was why the taxpayers should pay for it. It is not the case that PRO, Hyresgästföreningen, and LO lack financial resources.

It might even be the case that Märta Stenevi and I could write a joint op-ed about how the labor movement should develop Sveriges Konsumenter even further and that LO, instead of buying advertisements against the bourgeoisie in the 2026 election, should give Sveriges Konsumenter an extra 30–50 million. That might do more good for LO's members than advertising against the bourgeois parties.

So, it is not the importance of Sveriges Konsumenters activities that the debate is about. The question is why Miljöpartiet believes that the taxpayers should pay for it.

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Märta Stenevi (MP)

Mr. Speaker! We are taxpayers, and Sveriges Konsumenter is for taxpayers. It is not a task that I think we should shirk.

It is very interesting to talk about money going to influence campaigns. I hope that the Moderaterna can change their stance and stand behind the lobby register that we have proposed and which some today have said they do not want to stand behind.

It would be very interesting to reflect on what happens with, for example, money pumped into Svenskt Näringsliv that goes to the Red-Green mess and other campaigns, or for that matter, which tax funds have gone to the Sweden Democrats' troll accounts and financed pure attacks and hate campaigns against people such as myself and some others in my vicinity. We can talk about that with great pleasure.

The 5 million that have gone to Sveriges Konsumenter means that we, who represent all of Sweden's citizens, all of Sweden's consumers, in this chamber – not just those who are affiliated with LO, Hyresgästföreningen, or for that matter those who are Moderates, Environment Party activists, or Sweden Democrats – have ensured that money goes toward supporting everyone's opportunities to exercise their rights. It is about the opportunities to pursue issues in the National Board for Consumer Disputes, interpret contracts, understand their rights, and pursue their right to withdraw from a contract. It is our collective responsibility.

If the member wants to write a joint debate article – let us talk about how we establish a lobby register and track which money goes to which influence campaigns, to which troll accounts, to which Facebook groups and to which organizations with shady intentions! I would gladly write a joint debate article about that.

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Lotta Johnsson Fornarve (V)

Mr. Speaker! It is tough to be a consumer in today's Sweden. Inflation and the increased food and electricity prices have caused more and more people to have difficulty making ends meet. The increased cost of living has particularly affected those who already live on small margins. At the same time, it is becoming increasingly difficult and more complicated to be a consumer. More technically advanced products, more complicated financial services, and a global market mean many opportunities but also place consumers before great challenges.

Despite the existence of extensive consumer protection, consumers are constantly at a disadvantage. This applies both when choosing products and services and in disputes. Advanced methods are used to get us humans to consume as much as possible. Every day we are flooded with advertising where we are urged to consume more goods and services. The marketing is often very aggressive and frequently turns to groups of consumers who are already economically vulnerable.

Swedish consumer policy has a long tradition and is included as a natural part of the welfare society, Mr. Speaker. It should be self-evident that consumers who experience problems with a contract or a purchase can receive help and support, and that the support is equivalent regardless of where in the country one lives. On the contrary, we now see how the development is heading in the wrong direction and how municipal consumer guidance is instead decreasing.

Many municipalities offer some form of consumer guidance, but unfortunately, this is often all too deficient with limited opening hours and too few staff. The Consumer Agency notes that 122 of the country's municipalities do not have any consumer guidance at all. This means that 2.3 million consumers have great difficulty obtaining support and help. It is against that background completely necessary to legislate for the introduction of an obligation for the country's municipalities to provide good consumer guidance so that Sweden's consumers can be guaranteed an equivalent consumer support across the entire country.

Consumer rights etc.

Mr. Speaker! Recently, there has been a lot of attention regarding telephone sales using completely unacceptable methods. We have seen how unprofessional telemarketing companies specifically target the elderly to trick them into subscriptions that are difficult to cancel. We have also seen that there are links to gang crime. But even more normal telemarketing companies are persistent about everything from electricity contracts and broadband to questionable health supplements and mobile subscriptions.

Even for those who do not buy anything, the calls themselves generally constitute a source of disturbance with intrusive salespeople who do not want to let you hang up. The very format of telephone sales is based on obtaining quick decisions that one perhaps would not have made in a context where one had been given the chance to think the matter through more carefully.

Some time ago, requirements for written acceptance after the calls were introduced. It is naturally a step forward, but it has not solved the problem. Sometimes it has even worsened them when the consumer is pressured into approving agreements with BankID, which makes these agreements more binding.

We in Vänsterpartiet therefore propose that an inverted Nixregister should be introduced instead. This means that one should be able to register in advance if one wants to receive such telemarketing, otherwise one should be spared from it. With that, I move for approval of reservation 1.

The deliberation was hereby concluded.

(A decision was to be taken on 14 May.)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)