konfidentiell

Konfidentiell is an adjective used in Swedish to describe information, documents, or communications that should be kept secret and limited to authorized persons. The term signals that disclosure could harm individuals, organizations, or national interests. In practice it is used in government, business, journalism, and everyday administration to mark handling restrictions.

In government and public administration, konfidentiell information is typically subject to access controls and may be marked with labels or stamps; it is not publicly accessible. In the private sector, it applies to trade secrets, client data, internal memos, and material covered by non-disclosure agreements; journalists and researchers may encounter konfidentiell sources or data that require careful handling.

Handling konfidentiell material usually involves physical security measures (locked storage) and digital safeguards (restricted access, logging, encryption). Leakage or improper disclosure can lead to disciplinary actions, civil liability, or criminal penalties depending on law and contract. In Sweden, confidentiality protections intersect with the Public and Secrecy Act and data-protection rules such as the GDPR when personal data is involved.

Etymology: konfidentiell derives from Latin confidens, via French confidentiel, and is cognate with similar terms in many European languages; in Swedish the form konfidentiell is standardized.

Synonyms and related terms include förtrolig and sekretessbelagd.