Legal basis

Lag (2026:806) om anvandning av AI-system for ansiktsigenkanning i realtid for brottsbekampande andamal, in force 1 July 2026. Passed by the Riksdag on 26 May 2026 following Prop. 2025/26:150 and committee report 2025/26:JuU28.

Oversight

Statutory. Use is subject to prior authorisation and to notification duties to affected individuals under sections 19-21 of the Act. The EU AI Act applies directly in Sweden alongside it.

Recorded with lower confidence than most entries on this tracker. The source describes a legal authorisation having been put in place, not a confirmed operational deployment; there is a meaningful difference between a law permitting a technology and evidence that it is actually being used, and only the former was confirmed in the material reviewed. Update, verified August 2026. The distinction this entry drew was right, and it has now been overtaken by events on both sides of it. On the law: the Riksdag approved the government's proposal on 26 May 2026, and Lag (2026:806) on the use of AI systems for real-time facial recognition for law enforcement purposes came into force on 1 July 2026. It permits the Police Authority, and in certain cases the Security Service, to use real-time facial recognition only where absolutely necessary, in three defined situations: to locate or identify a person suspected of being a victim of kidnapping, human trafficking or human exploitation, or who is missing and suspected of being a victim of crime; where there is an imminent risk the person will commit a serious offence endangering another's life or physical safety; or where a person is reasonably suspected of a serious offence carrying four years' imprisonment or more. The legislation is time-limited and subject to evaluation. On deployment: in June 2026 the Police Authority announced it had begun testing facial recognition systems, and stated that footage from the national camera platform, including images of individuals captured through general camera surveillance, would be used as the basis for testing the technology. Status is therefore updated from proposed to trial. This remains testing rather than confirmed operational use against live watchlists, and that distinction should be preserved on this entry until the force states otherwise.

Source: Sveriges riksdag; Polismyndigheten; Regeringskansliet (Prop. 2025/26:150) · last checked 2026-08-24