There is now a conflict between public transparency and personal privacy happening in Swedish appellate courts right now. That is, of course, assuming that selling sensitive data is even a transparency right in the first place
The Austrian-based privacy group noyb has filed a lawsuit against Sweden’s Tax Agency, accusing it of illegally selling citizens’ personal information to data brokers, a practice it says violates both national and EU data protection laws.
Earlier this year, a Swedish resident asked the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) to stop sharing his data with private companies. His request was backed by a recent decision from Sweden’s Supreme Court, which ruled that data must be treated as confidential if there is a significant risk that it will be processed in violation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). However, the agency dismissed the request, citing Sweden’s constitutional principle of public access to official records. In response, the privacy rights organization noyb — European Center for Digital Rights has taken the matter to Stockholm’s Administrative Court.
According to noyb’s appeal document, Skatteverket operates the Statens personadressregister (SPAR), a central population registry containing sensitive data on all Swedish residents. This includes names, personal identity numbers, addresses, income levels, and even information about real estate ownership. Under current national laws, this data can be accessed by companies for purposes ranging from marketing to verification. However, the appeal argues that the agency has not properly assessed whether recipients will comply with the GDPR, which it is required to do under a recent ruling by the Swedish Supreme Court.