Response to interpellation 2025/26:584 on the implementation of the EU's ELV Regulation in Sweden
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns the implementation of the EU's ELV regulation in Sweden. L argues that the government has been clear that vehicle owners' interests shall be taken into account and that vehicles of particular cultural interest must not become too restricted 1. L believes that the government has succeeded in preventing vintage cars from being classified as decommissioned 2 and wants to minimize the administrative burden through simple processing 2 3 4. L emphasizes that the exemptions shall maintain the rolling cultural heritage 3 4. SD considers it important to have simple, clear, and predictable criteria to avoid extensive individual processes 5. SD wants to use existing data in the road traffic register 5 and demands a balance between environmental goals and respect for the individual's property 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Klimat- och miljöministern Romina Pourmokhtari (L)
Madam Speaker! Rashid Farivar has asked me three questions.
He asks what measures I intend to take to ensure that the ELV Regulation, that is, the regulation on circularity requirements for vehicle construction and the management of end-of-life vehicles, is implemented in Sweden in a way that protects Sweden's vehicle culture, the rolling cultural heritage, and the right of ownership.
He also asks how I intend to ensure that the Transport Agency and other relevant authorities apply the regulation in a legally secure, uniform, and predictable manner so that vehicle owners do not risk having their vehicles incorrectly classified as decommissioned.
Finally, he asks what initiatives I intend to take so that the national possibilities for exceptions permitted by the ELV Regulation – for example, for specially built vehicles, competition vehicles, and other vehicles of particular cultural interest – shall be fully utilized in the implementation of the Regulation in Sweden.
As my substitute Johan Britz answered the written question regarding the implementation of the ELV Regulation that arrived in April this year, the EU Regulation that has been negotiated will be directly applicable in Swedish law. Therefore, Sweden's government has from the start been very clear in the negotiations in the EU Council of Ministers, based on the position that the government has anchored with the Riksdag that vehicle owners' interests shall be taken into account, that the regulation must not become too intrusive or restrictive when it comes to vehicles of particular cultural interest. This has been a priority issue for Sweden during the negotiations.
According to the agreement between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, that which is considered to be of particular cultural interest shall be assessed at the national level. A vehicle that has been assessed at the national level to be of particular cultural interest is not covered by the requirements in the regulation. The Government's ambition is to take the vehicle owners' interests into account and that it remains unchanged. Against that background, it is my assessment that the new EU regulation will be able to satisfy the interests we have in Sweden in a satisfactory way.
According to the Administrative Procedure Act, all legislation shall be applied by authorities in a legally secure, uniform and predictable manner. The Act states, among other things, that cases shall be handled as simply, quickly and cost-effectively as possible without compromising legal certainty, and it also states that authority decisions are generally appealable and that the individual can appeal a decision that goes against them.
Regarding the possibility of national exemptions, specially built vehicles, competition vehicles and other vehicles are already excluded in the regulation if they are considered to have a special cultural interest in the Member State.
Rashid Farivar (SD)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister for Climate and the Environment, for the answer!
Let me begin by saying congratulations to the Minister and her family on the occasion of the newborn child. It is a very special and beautiful time in life, and I want to wish the Minister and her family all the love, health, and happiness in life.
I also want to express my regret that we are standing here in the chamber so late in the evening. I know that a newborn child needs its mother more than ever at that moment, and it was naturally not my ambition with this interpellation that the Minister would have to work so late in the evening – especially not considering the family puzzle that comes with becoming a parent.
Madam Speaker! I want to start with my third question because I find the Minister's answer there particularly interesting. The Minister says that the government considers it important to ensure that vehicles of special cultural interest are exempted from the regulation's requirements. She also says that the work to ensure how these vehicles are best to be protected in Sweden is still ongoing within the Government Offices.
This is positive, but it is also precisely why I think it is important that we discuss how it is to be done in practice. It is one thing to say that vehicles of particular cultural interest shall be able to be exempted and another thing how an ordinary vehicle owner shall actually be able to show that his or her vehicle is covered by the exemption.
Madam Speaker! I have received feedback from Motorhistoriska riksförbundet and Nätverk på gemensam väg. They point out an important issue: If every vehicle is to have to be assessed individually in order to be covered by the exemption, the exemption itself risks becoming an administrative burden for the vehicle owner.
I therefore want to ask the Minister whether it is the government's ambition to find criteria that are as simple, clear and predictable as possible, so that the vehicle owner does not have to go through an extensive individual process to prove something that can already be verified through Swedish registers and existing agency data.
Madam Speaker! A concrete example is specially built, modified, rebuilt, amateur-built, and upbuilt vehicles. Sweden has a very extensive culture surrounding such vehicles. Many of them are already registered in the road traffic register in different categories. If information that already exists in the road traffic register can be used to confirm that a vehicle is covered by an exemption, it should, in my opinion, be a considerably simpler path than for every individual vehicle owner to have to start from scratch.
This also applies to competition vehicles. Motorsport vehicles change continuously depending on the competition, track, and technical requirements. It would therefore be unreasonable if the owner were to have to verify every individual change, for example by identifying every component with a serial number, in order for the vehicle to be able to maintain its status.
There is also an opening in the new regulation for other types of vehicles than the examples explicitly mentioned. Even there, I think it is important that the government is forward-looking.
Above all, Madam Speaker, I would like to ask if the Minister shares the view that the goal must be that the exceptions should be easy to use, legally secure and predictable for the vehicle owner and not just exist on paper.
Klimat- och miljöministern Romina Pourmokhtari (L)
Madam Speaker! I would like to start by thanking you for the kind and encouraging words. I managed to get home and ensure that both the children and my husband were in a good mood, as well as have some dinner with them before this debate, so it went perfectly. I am also very much looking forward to debating the ELV Regulation again, as it has been a while since I stood in the chamber and spoke about this work.
To begin with, we have, just as the member points out, a major challenge regarding the application of this type of regulation in our country. We have a very extensive rolling cultural life in Sweden. We have a vehicle culture that truly stands out, and I would say it is part of Swedish culture to see the vintage cars that regularly line up on the streets.
An important part for the Swedish government has been to ensure that one can obtain such an exemption, that is to say that we do not directly get legislation that immediately takes effect in Sweden where primarily vintage cars are straight away classified as decommissioned vehicles. It would have been a total catastrophe for our vehicle culture, and I am very proud and happy that the government has succeeded in stopping such a situation. It does not mean, however, that the danger is over, but just as the member points out, we must review how we can apply such a regulation in the best possible way in our country.
The very most important thing, I would say, is how we ensure that we carry out this type of exception in an effective manner. Here, it is purely formal that all the national work begins with an implementation of the regulation only once the regulation has been decided and published, which has not happened yet. That does not mean that we are going to lean back, but from the government's side, we obviously need to be well-prepared on how one can best apply such a regulation.
I absolutely take with me the possibility of utilizing tasks that already exist. What we have so far been able to identify in this regulation is that the relevant authority, at the vehicle owner's request, shall be able to issue certificates that the vehicle is exempt.
Somewhere it is quite clear in the regulation that the relevant authority becomes responsible for issuing these certificates. In that case, the greatest fear is the administrative burden and a slow process in issuing the certificates. Therefore, I believe it is completely correct to discuss how we can reduce the administrative burden and ensure that this goes as quickly as possible and that there is no long delay that creates problems for everyone who owns such a vehicle and has such a cultural interest.
It is important that the status, which is often documented, can be conveyed to the relevant authority in the best possible way. I cannot account for exactly how we from the government's side want such a process to look, because we do not decide on anything of that sort until the ordinance is published and finished. I will, however, very gladly enter into a discussion about how we can ensure that the administrative burden is reduced as much as possible.
Finally, I want to mention once again something that I took up in my first answer. We have a law in Sweden, the Administrative Procedure Act, whose purpose is that cases should be handled as simply, quickly and cost-effectively as possible without compromising legal certainty. There are therefore such motivations in our legislation today, and they are particularly important in this context.
Rashid Farivar (SD)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the Climate and Environment for the answer. I truly appreciate the dialogue we have tonight.
I now want to move on to my first two questions, as I perceived that the Minister, in his answer, primarily referred to the independence of the authorities.
I naturally share the view that the government should not intervene and direct how an administrative authority makes decisions in an individual case. That is a fundamental principle in our constitutional system. My question, however, was not about the minister intervening and directing in individual cases. My question was instead about how the government intends to ensure that the new regulatory framework receives a legally secure, uniform, and predictable application in Sweden. That is an important difference.
Madam Speaker! The Minister says himself that the work on the national possibilities for exceptions is still ongoing within the Government Offices. It must then be reasonable to ask the government how it intends to design this work so that vehicle owners can feel secure. There are experiences from previous cases regarding the import and export of vehicles where vehicle owners have had to bear a very heavy administrative and economic burden in contact with authorities, for example, the Transport Agency. In some cases, it concerns years of processes, large costs, and companies that have had their operations severely hindered.
I do not mean that these historical cases automatically dictate how, for example, Transportstyrelsen will apply the new ELV regulation, but they show why legal certainty, clarity, and predictability must be built in from the start. When a new and extensive regulatory framework is to begin being applied, it is better for the government to prevent problems than for individual vehicle owners to first have to pursue their case through several instances to get justice.
Therefore, I want to ask the Minister: What work is being carried out within the Government Offices to develop clear Swedish criteria and guidance before the ELV Regulation begins to be applied, and how does the government intend to ensure that the relevant authorities have a common and clear interpretation of what applies?
Madam Speaker! I also want to return to the right of ownership. For many people, a vehicle is not just a means of transport. It can be a historical vehicle, a custom build, a racing vehicle, a vehicle that has been inherited in the family for generations, or a vehicle that is part of a business. When the regulatory framework changes, there must therefore be a reasonable balance between the environmental and recycling goals and the respect for the individual's property. I hope that the Minister can be clearer in his answer this time.
What responsibility does the government take for creating the national rules, criteria, and conditions required for a legally secure and predictable application while simultaneously respecting the authorities' independence? And can the minister, when the work is now ongoing within the Government Offices, promise that the expertise of the vehicle owners and the relevant organizations will be taken into account before the Swedish application is finally established? That is the announcement I hope to be able to receive from the minister tonight.
Klimat- och miljöministern Romina Pourmokhtari (L)
Madam Speaker! The short answer is: Yes, the expertise will be taken into account. I believe that we on the government's side had a very good dialogue with interest organizations before the negotiations on this regulation began. Not least, I have greatly benefited from the expertise that the interest groups have been able to contribute.
I have not referred to the fact that the government should not interfere in individual cases as the reason why the government cannot give any absolute statements now. The reason why I cannot say straight out how we intend to implement the exceptions is that we have not decided how we are to design such an exception process. That is because one must wait until the regulation is published before one can work out this type of criteria.
This makes me think that this debate is particularly timely, Madam Speaker. It comes at a stage when we are sitting and working on the design of how the Transport Agency should be able to issue this type of exemption. Therefore, I listened carefully to what the member presented regarding, for example, how one can take advantage of the type of information on status that is already documented by vehicle owners. That type of discussion is very timely to have right now, because that is exactly where we are in the process.
It is not that this is about individual cases and that I cannot comment. It is of course the government's responsibility to ensure that these exceptions are applied and that we in Sweden use them so that we do not have a lot of vintage cars that are classified as decommissioned.
We are going to use these exceptions. The reason I have fought to get the exceptions in is so that Sweden can be able to use them. The question is how we ensure that we do not create a bureaucratic failure, how we ensure that we have a light administrative burden, and how we can in different ways take advantage of information that is already registered. As I said, it would have been very nice to be able to announce straight out how the government intends to do it, but since the government has not yet made a decision on it, I cannot give any straight answers at this stage.
Active work is underway with this. We have received opportunities for exceptions precisely because we want to use them in Sweden.
I mean that there are many examples of issues where one needs to be very clear towards the authorities regarding how one intends to apply, for example, exemptions. I see it in the water legislation, to take an example, and I would say that the ELV regulation is a regulation where we from the government's side need to be clear about what we expect from the authority.
That is roughly where we are today. We are in complete agreement that we need to ensure that the entire administrative burden does not fall on the vehicle owner. One does have to follow the regulation, and the wording in it is that the relevant authority shall, at the vehicle owner's request, issue a certificate. How can that wording be used to facilitate as much as possible for Swedish vehicle owners? We, from the government's side, will take that into account when we formulate our instructions to the authority.
Rashid Farivar (SD)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answers and for this debate!
I would particularly like to return to three questions.
Firstly: How will the government ensure that the ELV regulation is implemented in a way that protects Sweden's vehicle culture, the rolling cultural heritage, and the right of ownership?
Secondly: How shall legal certainty, uniformity, and predictability be ensured when Transportstyrelsen and other authorities are to apply the new regulatory framework?
For the third: How shall Sweden use the national possibilities for exceptions that the regulation actually allows?
Madam Speaker! The Minister has stated today that the work on how vehicles of special cultural interest should best be protected in Sweden is still ongoing within the Government Offices. I thank the Minister for this information and hope that the continued preparation leads to a regulatory framework that is clear, simple, and predictable for Sweden's vehicle owners and which takes advantage of the very strong Swedish vehicle culture that exists.
Madam Speaker! I conclude by thanking Romina Pourmokhtari for the good cooperation our parties have had during the term and for her efforts for Sweden and Sweden's democracy.
This is my last debate in the chamber, so I take the opportunity to thank the Speaker's Bureau and all the staff in the Riksdag Administration for your work.
And once again: Big congratulations to the minister and her family! I wish you all love, health, and happiness ahead.
Klimat- och miljöministern Romina Pourmokhtari (L)
Madam Speaker! I thank the member again for the opportunity to debate this issue. Let me answer very concretely the questions that have been asked. My assessment regarding the first question is that the new ELV regulation will be able to accommodate the Swedish interests we have worked for and that Sweden, through the exemptions we have managed to negotiate, will be able to maintain the Swedish rolling cultural heritage in a satisfactory manner.
When it comes to how the application shall be carried out in a legally secure, uniform and predictable manner, I refer to the Administrative Procedure Act, which places such requirements on our authorities. But the government must, of course, actively follow up that the ordinance is applied in an appropriate manner.
The possibilities for exceptions that the government has negotiated shall be implemented with as little administrative burden as possible, and it is the government's priority when the ELV Regulation is to be applied in Sweden. Certain parts of the regulation are, as mentioned, directly applicable in Swedish law, which means that there will be a complex legal situation surrounding this.
Therefore, it is important that the government shows a great commitment, and I hope that all the enthusiasts out there have noticed this commitment, not least in that we succeeded in negotiating these exceptions.
Finally, I would like to thank the member for good debates also in the Committee on Environment and Agriculture and hope that the member gets a little more time with his family now that he will no longer be a member. A big thank you for the work you have carried out as a member!
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.