Sweden/ 5.2 Legislation on culture  

There is very little overarching legislation in the cultural field. Apart from general legislation adopted by parliament, there are however a great number of regulations issued by the government to guide central institutions on the use of government funds for various cultural purposes. The legal foundation for these is typically parliament decisions, especially budgetary decisions, as opposed to legislation. The laws listed below are general laws enacted by parliament which, together with parliamentary decisions such as the objectives for cultural policy, act as a framework for lower level decisions. These laws are discussed more in detail in chapter 5.3.

Table 1:     List of existing cultural legislation

The following conventions and other international legal instruments related to culture have been adopted by Sweden. Please note that this list includes some of the more important and relevant documents, not all international agreements in this field.

• Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (1996);
• Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (1904);
• Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, (1985);
• Convention for the Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage (1985);
• Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict with Regulations for the Execution of the Convention (1985);
• Convention for the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage of Europe (1992);
• Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage of Europe (1985);
• Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003);
• Convention on means to Prohibit and Prevent the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (2002);
• Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, (2005);
• Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989);
• European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (1999);
• European Landscape Convention (2000);
• Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (1999);
• International Convention for the Protection of Performers, producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations (1962);
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1971); and
• World Intellectual Property Organisation Copyright Treaty (1996).

(SOU 2003:121, updated from various other sources, including the Swedish Arts Council)

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