Ministry of Justice (Sweden)
Justitiedepartementet | |
Agency overview | |
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Formed | 1840[1] |
Ministers responsible | |
Website |
www |
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Sweden |
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The Ministry of Justice (Swedish: Justitiedepartementet) is a Cabinet-level ministry in the Government of Sweden with responsibility for legislation. The ministry is responsible for the Swedish legal system in Constitution and general administrative law, civil law, procedural law and criminal law. The ministry also handles matters relating to democratic issues, human rights, integration and minority issues, metropolitan affairs, sports issues and non-governmental organisations. It is located in the government chancellery Rosenbad in Stockholm.
Areas of responsibility
- Consumer affairs
- Criminal matters
- Democracy issues
- International Judicial Cooperation
- Judicial system
- Legislation
- Migration and asylum policy
- Strategy to meet the threat of terrorism
- Transparency in the EU
Organization
The Ministry of Justice is headed by the Minister for Justice and Migration Morgan Johansson.
The political executive also includes the state secretaries, the political advisers and the press secretaries.
Other senior officials are the Director-General for Administrative Affairs, three Directors-General for Legal Affairs, the Director-General for International Affairs, the Director of Planning, the Administrative Director, the Head of Personnel and the Head of Information.
Below the executive level, the ministry is divided into 21 divisions.
Beatrice Ask was the head from 2006 to 2014. Tobias Billström was the minister for migration and asylum policy while Nyamko Sabuni led the Ministry of Integration and Gender Equality from 2007 until it was dissolved in 2010.
European Union
European Union-related issues are closely related to the work of the Ministry of Justice. Four areas in particular stand out; judicial and domestic issues (police and judicial cooperation in penal law, judicial cooperation in civil law), internal market issues (e.g. patents, copyright and company law), openness (public access to official documents), and discrimination (equal treatment).[2]
Government agencies
The Ministry of Justice is principal for the following government agencies:
- Chancellor of Justice, or Justitiekanslern (JK). (Official site) Field of operations: Supervises those who are involved with public operations, it is responsible to the Government for protecting the rights of the State and it provides the Government with advice and surveys in legal matters.
- Swedish Commission on Security and Integrity Protection, or Säkerhets- och integritetsskyddsnämnden. (Official site) and Integrity Protection (Swedish: Säkerhets- och integritetsskyddsnämnden) Responsible for supervising law enforcement agencies' use of secret surveillance techniques, assumed identities and other associated activities.
- Swedish Consumer Agency, or Konsumentverket. (Official site) Field of operations: works with consumer issues in such fields as advertising, contract terms, consumer information, household finances and the safety, quality and environmental impact of goods.
- Swedish Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority, or Brottsoffermyndigheten (BrOM). Located in Umeå. (Official site) Field of operations: examines crime victim compensation issues and allocates funds from the Fund for Victims of Crime.
- Swedish Data Protection Authority, or Datainspektionen (DI). (Official site) Field of operations: supervises the protection of individual privacy.
- Swedish Economic Crime Authority, or Ekobrottsmyndigheten. (Official site)
- Swedish Election Authority, or Valmyndigheten. Located in Solna. (Official site)
- Swedish Migration Agency, or Migrationsverket. Located in Norrköping. (Official site)
- Swedish National Board for Consumer Complaints, or Allmänna reklamationsnämnden. (Official site) Field of operations: acts as a court, the primary task of which is the impartial examination of disuptes between consumers and companies.
- Swedish National Board of Forensic Medicine, or Rättsmedicinalverket (RMV). (Official site) Field of operations: the central administrative agency for forensic mental care, forensic chemistry, forensic medicine and forensic gene-related operations.
- Swedish Board of Supervision of Estate Agents, or Fastighetsmäklarnämnden. (Official site) Field of operations: registration and supervision of estate agents.
- Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, or Brottsförebyggande rådet (BRÅ) (Official site) Field of operations: promotes crime prevention, it is responsible for providing the official statistics for the judicial authorities.
- Swedish National Courts Administration, or Domstolsverket (DV). Located in Jönköping. (Official site) Field of operations: The National Courts Administration is the central administrative agency for the public courts, the legal courts, the regional tenancy tribunals, the regional rent tribunals and the National Legal Aid Authority.
- Swedish Legal Aid Authority, or Rättshjälpsmyndigheten Located in Sundsvall. Field of operations: administrates issues concerning legal aid in accordance with the Legal Aid Act.
- Swedish Police Authority, or Polismyndigheten. (Official site) Field of operations: The Swedish Police Authority is the central administrative agency for the police, it is also the principal agency for the National Forensics Centre
- Swedish Security Service, or Säkerhetspolisen. (Official site) Responsible for counter-espionage, counter-terrorism and counter-subversion.
- Swedish Prison and Probation Service, or Kriminalvården. Located in Norrköping. (Official site)
- Prosecutor-General of Sweden, or Riksåklagaren (RÅ). Field of operations: The office of Prosecutor-General is the public prosecutor in the Supreme Court, it represents the highest-ranking prosecutor and it is the central administrative agency for the prosecution authorities.
- Swedish Market Court, or Marknadsdomstolen. (Official site) Field of operations: special court, whose responsibilities include processing of cases and other legal issues under the Marketing Practices Act and the Competition Act.
- Swedish National Supervisory Board of Public Accountants, or Revisorsnämnden. (Official site) Field of operations: The Supervisory Board of Public Accountants deals with issues concerning the approval and authorisation of auditors, as well as the registration of auditing companies.
- Swedish National Gene Technology Advisory Board, or Gentekniknämnden. Located in Solna. (Official site) Field of operations: The Swedish Gene Technology Advisory Board shall promote an ethically justified and safe usage of gene technology through its advisory operations.
- Swedish Travel Guarantees Board, or Resegarantinämnden. Field of operations: responsible for decisions on the size of compensation to which travellers are entitled when package tours have been cancelled or broken off.
References
- ↑ "Justitiedepartementet". Nationalencyklopedin (in Swedish). Retrieved 13 November 2010. (subscription required)
- ↑ Ministry of Justice - EU work