Foreign companies can bypass Swedish Personal Data Act (PUL)

Yes I know, I’m here again complaining about the Swedish law protecting personal information that has no teeth! Now it seems that there is another loophole in the law following a new ruling that enables foreign companies to extract and use PII of Swedish residents/citizens, any persons associated with a Swedish ID#. Read more in this article which is in Swedish, but I’ve done an English translation below.


In previous posts I’ve discussed the weaknesses in Swedish law pertaining to the protection of personal information. Basically there is a conflict between the PUL (Personal Data Act) and the Freedom of Expression Act; which present a loophole for companies wanted to make money from PII. Both laws have good intentions, but the latter is being abused.

 

TRANSLATION
Foreign companies can bypass Personal Data Act (PUL)
Foreign companies can get information on Swedes denied to domestic companies with reference to the Personal Data Act (PUL) . A judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court states that a Norwegian agency workers are entitled to get information about all Swedish nurses from the National Board despite the fact that the authorities first denied because it would violate the PUL . But as the law is written, it can not be denied information because PUL is not applicable abroad , reports P3 News . The ruling means that it is now free for foreign companies to request public documents from Swedish authorities and that Swedish companies can open subsidiaries abroad in order thereby to request information , says Dennis Töllborg , professor of jurisprudence.
– There is a remarkable gap in the law.