Enterprise and industry

Sweden’s seventh international Office of Science and Innovation was established at the Embassy of Sweden in London on 1 January 2022. The Office will develop and strengthen collaboration between the UK and Sweden on issues linked to the Government’s life sciences strategy, its export and investment strategy, the Research and Innovation Bill, and the Government’s strategic partnership programmes.

On 23 December, more infection control measures will be introduced in accordance with the Government’s action plan for introducing infection control measures. This is due to the increased community transmission of COVID-19 and the increased burden on health and medical care services.

The Government has introduced further COVID-19 infection control measures due to increased transmission rates and somewhat growing pressure on health care services. The Government also wants to reintroduce further support and compensation to reduce community transmission. Furthermore, the Government is presenting a plan for business support that may be reintroduced if stricter social restrictions need to be reimposed. Vaccinations remain the key to reducing the risk of infection, disease and death, and to avoiding the introduction of further measures.

The State is a significant company owner in Sweden. The portfolio of state-owned enterprises contains 46 fully and partially owned enterprises, of which two are listed. The State has a substantial responsibility to be an active and professional owner. The Government’s overall objective is for the enterprises to create value and, where applicable, to ensure that the specifically adopted public policy assignments are performed well.

Joint non-paper by the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden (2021-04-28).

The government has previously presented a plan for how the advice and restrictions introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are to be adapted and removed. At a press conference on 7 September, the government announced that restrictions on attendance numbers at public gatherings and events are planned to be removed as of 29 September 2021.

The Government on instructed the Swedish Tax Agency and Tillväxtverket (the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth) to make preparations so that as of 1 April 2022, the Tax Agency can be the managing authority for Tillväxtverket’s currently responsibilities under the Act on aid in the event of short-time work.

The Government has decided to extend the government credit guarantee scheme, ‘Företagsakuten’, to support small- and medium-sized companies in financial difficulty due to the pandemic from 30 June to 30 September 2021.

The Government has today decided to extend turnover-based support to sole traders and trading partnerships with at least one physical person as a partner to cover the period March–June 2021. This support is based on an agreement between the government parties, the Centre Party and the Liberal Party.

The government parties, the Centre Party and the Liberal Party have agreed on supporting SAS to access liquidity equivalent to SEK 1.5 billion. This support from the Swedish State is subject to the European Commission’s approval of the measures and corresponding support from the Danish State.

The situation for the travel industry remains serious. Earlier in the pandemic, travellers sometimes accepted replacement holidays instead of a refund when package tours were cancelled due to the outbreak. Many of these replacement holidays are now also being cancelled. The Government is therefore working on a proposal that will give package tour operators the option of taking government loans to refund money to travellers. The proposal is based on an agreement between the government parties, the Centre Party and the Liberal Party.

In the spring amending budget, the Government announced that the central government rental support scheme would be extended through the second quarter of 2021. Following an agreement between the government parties, the Centre Party and the Liberal Party, the Government now intends to examine the conditions for extending the scheme through the third quarter of 2021.

To help businesses overcome the consequences of the pandemic, the Government will propose extending the turnover-based support for sole traders and trading partnerships in which at least one partner is a natural person to cover July, August and September 2021. The proposal is based on an agreement between the government parties, the Centre Party and the Liberal Party.

On 8 april the Government adopted an ordinance on rent rebates for certain vulnerable sectors for the period 1 January–31 March 2021. The adopted ordinance means that the rebate scheme enters into force and can be applied for as of 3 May. The decision follows directly from the approval of the rebate scheme by the European Commission last week and is based on an agreement between the governing parties, the Centre Party and the Liberal Party.

In January this year, the Government announced that the State aid to businesses that rent properties would be reintroduced for the first quarter of 2021. As a result of the increased community transmission and the negative economic impact on many businesses, the Government now also proposes that this rent rebate be extended for the period 1 April–30 June 2021. The Government’s proposal is based on an agreement between the government parties, the Centre Party and the Liberal Party.

To save jobs and businesses, it has been proposed that turnover-based support for sole traders and trading partnerships in which at least one partner is a natural person be extended to cover May and June 2021. The proposal is based on an agreement between the government parties, the Centre Party and the Liberal Party.

The Government today decided to introduce turnover-based support for trading partnerships in which at least one partner is a natural person. This support covers the period March 2020–February 2021 and can be applied for as of 29 March. Turnover-based support for trading partnerships is based on an agreement between the government parties, the Centre Party and the Liberal Party.

To mitigate the economic impact of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases, the Government has proposed that the State aid in support of certain commercial tenants receiving a rent rebate – introduced in spring 2020 – be reintroduced for a three-month period, January–March 2021. Today, the Government notified the support to the European Commission for approval. The Government intends to adopt the legal framework as soon as the support is approved by the Commission.

The Government previously announced that turnover-based support for sole traders would be extended until the end of April 2021. Today, the Government can announce that in connection with the extension of the turnover-based support for sole traders, a possibility will be introduced for sole traders who have received unemployment benefit during the support period in their application and sole traders who have taken parental leave or sick leave during the reference period to also access the extended turnover-based support.