CENTRUM FÖR RÄTTVISA v. SWEDEN JUDGMENT
included numerous detailed examinations of, in particular, the selectors used
(see paragraph 53 above).
349. The applicant pointed to the fact that some of the acts issued by the
Inspectorate are in the form of opinions and recommendations, rather than
legally binding decisions, and apparently considered that this weakened
substantially the real impact of the Inspectorate’s work.
350. The Court notes that under section 10 of the Signals Intelligence
Act the Inspectorate, when it finds evidence of improper signals collection,
has the power to decide, with legally binding effect, that the collection must
cease or that recordings or notes of collected data must be destroyed. On
certain other issues, such as potential civil liability of the State with respect
to a person or organisation or where there is an indication that a criminal
offence may have been committed, the Inspectorate has a duty to report to
the competent authorities with which the power to take legally binding
decisions lies. The Court considers the above arrangement to be satisfactory.
While it is true that there appears to be no legal possibility under Swedish
law for the enforcement of the Inspectorate’s recommendations when it
seeks the evolution or correction of practices by the FRA, the Court
observes that, according to the conclusions of the National Audit Office
which audited the Inspectorate in 2015, the FRA had routines in place for
handling the Inspectorate’s opinions, the latter’s suggestions were dealt with
in a serious manner and, when called for, gave rise to reforms. The action
decided by the Inspectorate had been taken, with the exception of one case
when the FRA had referred the matter to the Government (see paragraph 54
above).
351. Furthermore, the information available to the Court concerning the
inspections conducted by the Inspectorate confirms that not only in theory
but also in practice it actively reviews FRA’s actions both on a general
systematic basis and also by themes. In particular, over a period of eight
years the Inspectorate has undertaken 102 inspections, including detailed
examinations of the selectors used, the destruction of intelligence, the
communication of reports, cooperation with other States and international
organisations, the processing of personal data and the overall compliance
with the legislation, directives and permits relevant to the signals
intelligence activities. These resulted in several opinions and suggestions to
the FRA and one opinion submitted to the Government. The effect of the
Inspectorate’s activity is illustrated by the fact that, for example, when it
suggested in 2011 some amendments to the FRA’s internal rules concerning
destruction of data, these were introduced the same year (see paragraph 53
above).
352. Finally, the Inspectorate issues annual reports which are made
available to the public and its activities have been the object of audits by the
National Audit Office (see paragraphs 53 and 54 above).