16
LEANDER v. SWEDEN JUGDMENT
the individual can prove that he depends on obtaining information from the register in
order to secure his rights, and the Government authorise such information to be given
to him."
As of 1 January 1981, the 1937 Act was replaced by the Secrecy Act
1980 (sekretesslagen, 1980:100) and similar regulations are now to be found
in Chapter 7, section 17, of this Act.
No evidence has been adduced of any special ordinance allowing
individuals in the applicant’s situation to obtain extracts from the police
registers.
42.
A decision by an authority other than the Parliament or the
Government to refuse access to a document is subject to appeal to the courts
(Chapter 2, section 15, of the Freedom of the Press Act).
In several recent cases decided by the Supreme Administrative Court,
individuals have been refused access to information contained in the secret
police-register as they had not obtained or sought the previous authorisation
by the Government required by the above-cited section 3 of the Police
Register Act (Yearbook of the Supreme Administrative Court - 1981: Ab
100 and Ab 282 and 1982: Ab 85).
This is consistent with the events in the present case, in that the
Government declared themselves competent to examine Mr. Leander’s
request to be acquainted with the information about him released by the
National Police Board (see paragraph 16 above).
However, no appeal - either to the Government or to the administrative
courts - against a decision of the Board to release information to the
requesting authority seems to be available to the individual concerned, since
he is not considered to be a party to the release procedure before the Board
(see the Supreme Administrative Court’s decision of 20 June 1984 in case
1509-1984).
43. Even if a certain document is secret, the Government always have a
certain discretionary power to release it, and a person who is a party to
judicial or administrative proceedings in which the document is of relevance
may still be allowed access to it. The basic provisions in this respect were,
until 30 December 1980, contained in section 38 of the 1937 Act (as
amended by Act 1974:567), which stated:
"Whenever it is found necessary in order to secure public or individual rights, the
Government may, without being subject to the restrictions otherwise laid down in this
Act, provide for the release of documents.
If a document which may not be released to everybody can be presumed to be of
importance as evidence in a trial or police investigation in a criminal matter, the court
which handles the case or which is competent to decide questions relating to the police
investigation may order that the document should be released to it or to the officer in
charge of the police investigation. The foregoing does not however concern
documents referred to in sections 1-4, 31 and 33. If the contents of a document are
such that the person who has drawn it up may not, according to Chapter 36, section 5
(2), (3) or (4), of the Code of Judicial Procedure, be heard as a witness in regard