The government has now completed a bill that has been drafted quickly due to the bomb wave at the beginning of the year. Some of the acts are suspected to have been committed with explosives originating from, for example, construction sites.
A problem has been that the municipalities have failed in their supervision of how legal explosives are handled.
According to the bill, the Swedish Agency for Civil Contingencies (MSB) will now ensure that the municipalities conduct supervision. The government expects this to improve supervision and increase the number of controls. In 2022, the municipalities issued 3,750 permits for explosive goods, but only 352 supervisions were carried out.
In the wrong hands
The MSB will receive funding in the budget for this task and will also be given the right to instruct the municipalities to tighten up permit reviews, says Carl-Oskar Bohlin (M), Minister for Civil Defence.
According to him, the municipalities understand that the law needs to be tightened.
The bill also means that the municipalities will always have to assess whether there is a risk that explosives may end up in the hands of criminals when permits are granted. Such a risk is, for example, if the applicant has connections to criminals.
Another legislative tightening is that those who have permits to handle explosives must notify the relevant municipality when they are to be used.
A major problem
According to the investigation, a major problem is that municipalities do not have knowledge of when a blasting operation is taking place at a construction site, since the permit may have been issued in another municipality.
Bohlin states that the government is preparing further legislative tightening, which did not make it into the rapid processing that has now taken place.
We are now closing the loopholes step by step, says Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer (M).
He points out that a large part of the bombings last winter were carried out with smuggled powerful bangers and fireworks, and that Sweden is working in the EU for stricter rules on such pyrotechnics.
It is incredibly important that we now have high pressure against all kinds of explosive goods used in the wave of violence, says Strömmer.
The legislative tightening will come into force on July 15.
The MSB will provide municipalities with more support in their work on issuing permits for explosives.
The MSB will monitor that municipalities conduct supervision of explosive handling.
When permits are granted, it will be assessed whether explosives risk ending up in the hands of criminals.
The requirements for revoking permits will be lowered.
Permit holders must notify the use and temporary storage of explosive goods to the relevant municipality.
Permits must be applied for in the municipality where the company is based or where the person resides.
Secrecy will be introduced in supervision cases to prevent explosive goods from being used for criminal purposes.
Source: Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Justice
Footnote: MSB stands for the Swedish Agency for Civil Contingencies.
