Regulations
According to Section 2 of the Ordinance on obtaining an Opinion from the Swedish Better Regulation Council (2008:530), as well as the guidelines of the Government Offices of Sweden for the submission of basic data to the Swedish Better Regulation Council, the Council's Opinion must be procured when legislation is proposed that may have effects on the working conditions of enterprises, their competitiveness or other conditions affecting them.
The obligation to obtain the Council's Opinion in connection with legislation that impacts business applies, in fact, to all government agencies and the Government Offices of Sweden.
According to the Ordinance on Regulatory Impact Assessment (2007:1244) all administrative agencies under the Government must create an impact assessment before adopting regulations and general advice. The ordinance went into effect on 1 January 2008 when the Ordinance on the special impact analysis of rules on small businesses (1998:1820) ceased to apply. A specification is given of precisely what an impact assessment should contain in Sections 6 and 7 of the Ordinance on Regulatory Impact Assessment. These regulations show that the report must, among other things, contain a description of the goals that to be achieved by the proposed legislation, alternative solutions, who will be affected by the regulations, financial and other impacts of the regulation and the compliance of the regulation with the obligations arising from Sweden's membership in the EU. If the regulation has effects on the working conditions of enterprises, their competitiveness or other conditions affecting them, then the impact assessment must also contain a more detailed description of precisely which companies are impacted, what the regulation involves for the administrative and other costs of these businesses, the effects of the regulation on competition conditions as well as whether special regard must be shown towards the needs of small businesses in the formulation of the regulations. In June 2008, a new provision, Section 15 a, was inserted into the Committees Ordinance (1998:1474). If an official government report contains a proposal for a new or amended regulation, then pursuant to this provision the financial and other impacts of the proposal must be specified in the official report. The impacts must be specified in a manner that corresponds to the requirements that are found in Section 6 and 7of the Ordinance on Regulatory Impact Assessment. Guidelines have been put in place on the design of impact assessment established by the Government Offices of Sweden. According to the guidelines, Sections 6 and 7 of the Ordinance on Regulatory Impact Assessment must also serve as guidance in the preparation of impact assessments made by the Government Offices of Sweden.