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Updates on Sweden

31 Dec 2005

Sweden ratified on 28 June 2001, becoming the 36th State Party.

On 31 October 2002, the commission responsible for revising the Criminal Code to include crimes listed in the Rome Statute submitted its report to the Government. This report in now published in Swedish, and a summary is available in English here:

On 25 April 2002, the Swedish Parliament adopted the new Act on Cooperation with the International Criminal Court. This bill covers arrest and surrender to the Court, other forms of Cooperation and enforcement of sentences and other decisions, and entered into force on 1 July 2002. The new act does not address issues of substantive criminal law or Swedish criminal jurisdiction.

In a parallel process, Supreme Court Justice Dag Victor was appointed to review the Swedish penal law regarding international crimes, particularly in light of the Rome Statute. The review addressed issues such as Swedish jurisdiction over the crimes and periods of limitation. A report with proposals for legislative amendments was submitted to Parliament.

On 11 April 2001, the Swedish government adopted a bill on ratification of the Rome Statute and submitted it to Parliament. The bill did not include proposals for implementing legislation. A separate bill with such proposals was submitted to Parliament after it had been presented to the Legislative Council and the comments on the ratification bill were received from the national authorities, institutions and NGOs.