Official publications and legislation

Accessing databases

Students and staff at the University of Gothenburg can access the databases through the university network, or by logging in with the GU account when outside of campus. Everyone visiting the University Library can use our computers to access the databases.

About accessing e-resources off-campus

Most of the publications listed below are only available in Swedish. Read the summary below to learn more about Swedish government and its publications.

More about how Sweden is governed

Legislation

All laws and amendments are published in the Swedish Code of Statutes (SFS). Legislation newer than 1998 is freely available at the Riksdag website. Most of the documents are only available in Swedish. Legislation older than 1998 and statute books are available in print at the Economics Library or the Humanities Library. Statute books are collections of laws in which the text is updated with the current year's legislative amendments. You can find statute books and older legislation by searching in Supersearch.

Government bills

A government bill is a proposal from the government to the Riksdag. Find out what government bills that precedes legislation in the SFS registry at the website Lagrummet.se. Government bills can be found in the Library's databases in legislation or on the Riksdag website. Older bills are available in print at the Humanities Library and can be found using special registers, ask the Library staff for help with finding older government bills.

Swedish Government Official Reports (SOU series)

Swedish Government Official Reports (SOU series) contains reports of inquiries that are presented to the government as proposals. SOU in digital versions can be found in the SOU database or on the government's website. Printed versions of SOU are available at the Economics Library and can be found by searching Supersearch.

The Ministry publication series (Ds)

The Ministry publication series (Ds) contains reports of inquiries conducted by the ministries that are presented to the government as proposals. Ds in digital versions can be found in the Library's databases in legislation or on the government's website. Printed versions of Ds are available at the Economics Library and can be found by searching Supersearch.

Older official publications and legislation Older official publications and legislation are held in printed versions at the Economics Library and the Humanities Library. Between the years 1522 and 1833 legislation was published in annual collections. The annual collections mostly contain decisions on taxes and prohibitions, but also laws, statutes, decrees, announcements, instructions, and regulations made by the king, the state and different government bodies. The Swedish Code of Statutes (SFS) was initiated in 1825 and collects all laws and amendments from then on. Parts of the older publications have been digitized by the National Library.

Digitized official publications and legislation 1521-1970

Older printed annual collections of legislation can be requested by the information desk at the Humanities Library and then read in the reading room. Publications from the Riksdag of the Estates and onwards are placed on open shelves at the Humanities Library and can be accessed by anyone. The publications at the Economics Library are from the two chamber Riksdag, from 1906 and onwards, and can be searched in Supersearch and then read in the library. The material is not available for home loan.

Case law from Swedish courts are available in the Library's law databases. The InfoTorg database contains the largest collection of case law. The JUNO database and databases from JP Infonet also contains case law from Swedish courts. Publications with case law from Swedish courts are available at The Economics Library .

Law databases

You can find international law and EU legislation by using the Library's law databases. The Library also has access to other official publications from the EU and the UN.

Databases with international and EU law
More about finding EU material
More about finding UN material

Contact the Economics Library if you need any help with finding official publications, legislation and case law.