Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Table of Cases
- Table of Legislation
- EU Legislation and Soft Law
- Swedish Legislation, preparatory work, etc.
- United Kingdom
- United States of America
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Risk and uncertainty: basic concepts and tools for the application of the precautionary principle
- 3 The precautionary principle in international law
- 4 The precautionary principle in EU law
- 5 The precautionary principle in Sweden
- 6 The precautionary principle in the United Kingdom
- 7 The precautionary principle in the United States
- 8 Conclusions
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - The precautionary principle in Sweden
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 November 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Table of Cases
- Table of Legislation
- EU Legislation and Soft Law
- Swedish Legislation, preparatory work, etc.
- United Kingdom
- United States of America
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Risk and uncertainty: basic concepts and tools for the application of the precautionary principle
- 3 The precautionary principle in international law
- 4 The precautionary principle in EU law
- 5 The precautionary principle in Sweden
- 6 The precautionary principle in the United Kingdom
- 7 The precautionary principle in the United States
- 8 Conclusions
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The development and status of the precautionary principle in Sweden
Introduction
Precautionary considerations have a long tradition in Sweden. Some commentators have traced a ‘precautionary principle’ as far back as the 1940s in some areas of Swedish law. Since the late 1960s something resembling a modern precautionary principle guiding all environmental and health regulation has been in effect. Despite this, the precautionary principle, and risk regulation in general, has attracted little attention from scholars in the area. One reason for this is that nature and health protection is historically an uncontroversial issue in Sweden. The culture of spending free time in the forests and on the coast is very strong. The Nordic countries are the only ones in the world which sustain the concept of ‘allemansrätt’, which means that everyone enjoys a total freedom of access to nature. The fact that Swedish decision-making is traditionally consensus-based may also have been an influence. This is further emphasised by the unique political stability that Sweden has enjoyed, which has enabled the government to pursue a steady and continuous dialogue with industry.
Even though the precautionary principle rarely functions as an individual legal principle in Swedish law, but, instead, functions together with other legal norms, an attempt is made here to isolate the influence and the meaning of the principle. The same structure as was followed when discussing the precautionary principle in EU and WTO law is followed here.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Application of the Precautionary Principle in PracticeComparative Dimensions, pp. 152 - 214Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010