Uppgiftsskydd

Uppgiftsskydd is a Swedish term for the protection of information, especially personal data, against unauthorized access, use, disclosure, alteration or destruction. In practice it comprises the policies, procedures and technical measures that organizations implement to safeguard data throughout its life cycle, from collection to deletion.

Legal framework: In Sweden, uppgiftsskydd is primarily governed by the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), together with Sweden's national provisions such as the Dataskyddslagen that implement the GDPR. Before GDPR, the concept was linked to the Personal Data Act (PUL) from 1998. The current framework emphasizes accountability and requires organizations to demonstrate compliance.

Key principles and rights: The core principles include lawfulness, fairness and transparency; purpose limitation; data minimization; accuracy; storage limitation; integrity and confidentiality; and accountability. Data subjects have rights including access to their data, rectification, erasure (the right to be forgotten), restriction of processing, data portability and objection to processing.

Responsibilities and enforcement: Data controllers and processors must implement appropriate technical and organizational measures, perform data protection impact assessments for high-risk processing, and appoint a data protection officer where required. Breaches must be reported to the supervisory authority, and in some cases to the affected individuals. Noncompliance can lead to penalties and corrective orders from supervisory authorities.

Applications and practices: Uppgiftsskydd is relevant across public administration, healthcare, finance, education and many private sectors. Common practices include privacy by design and by default, access control, encryption, pseudonymization and rigorous data-retention policies.