CENTRUM FÖR RÄTTVISA v. SWEDEN JUDGMENT
om elektronisk kommunikation; 2003:389)). The Council on Legislation
(Lagrådet), the body giving opinions on request by the Government or a
Parliamentary committee on certain draft bills, has expressed the view that
an interference with private life and correspondence already arises at this
point, because of the State obtaining access to the telecommunications
(prop. 2006/07:63, p. 172).
37. According to the Signals Intelligence Act, intercepted data must be
destroyed immediately by the FRA if it (i) concerns a specific natural
person and lacks importance for the signals intelligence, (ii) is protected by
constitutional provisions on secrecy for the protection of anonymous
authors and media sources, (iii) contains information shared between a
suspect and his or her legal counsel and is thus protected by attorney-client
privilege, or (iv) involves information given in a religious context of
confession or individual counselling, unless there are exceptional reasons
for examining the information (section 7).
38. If communications have been intercepted between a sender and
receiver who are both in Sweden, despite the prohibition on such
interception, they shall be destroyed as soon as the domestic nature of the
communications has become evident (section 2a).
39. If a permit urgently granted by the FRA (see paragraph 21 above) is
revoked or amended by the Foreign Intelligence Court, all intelligence
collected which is thereby no longer authorised must be immediately
destroyed (section 5b(3)).
40. The FRA Personal Data Processing Act (Lagen om behandling av
personuppgifter i Försvarets radioanstalts försvarsunderrättelse- och
utvecklingsverksamhet; 2007:259) contains provisions on the treatment of
personal data within the area of signals intelligence. The Act entered into
force on 1 July 2007, with amendments effective from 30 June 2009,
15 February 2010 and 1 March 2018. The purpose of the Act is to protect
against violations of personal integrity (Chapter 1, section 2). The FRA
shall ensure, inter alia, that personal data is collected only for certain
expressly stated and justified purposes. Such purpose is either determined
by the direction of the foreign intelligence activities through a detailed
tasking directive or by what is necessary in order to follow changes in the
signals environment, technical advances and signals protection. Also, the
personal data treated has to be adequate and relevant in relation to the
purpose of the treatment. No more personal data than what is necessary for
that purpose may be processed. All reasonable efforts have to be made to
correct, block and obliterate personal data that is incorrect or incomplete
(Chapter 1, sections 6, 8 and 9).
41. Personal data may not be processed solely because of what is known
of a person’s race or ethnicity, political, religious or philosophical views,
membership of a union, health or sexual life. If, however, personal data is
treated for a different reason, this type of information may be used if it is