Authorisation to prosecute
The Swedish judicial system has extensive powers to investigate and pass judgment on crime even if it has been committed outside Swedish territory. Due to this extended jurisdiction, the Government or the Office of the Prosecutor-General must, in certain cases, take decisions allowing Swedish prosecutors to initiate prosecution proceedings for the crime before a Swedish court.
The requirement concerning authorisation is justified by the fact that in some cases - from an international point of view - it may be inappropriate or even harmful for Swedish authorities to prosecute crime without having been granted this kind of authorisation to prosecute by the Government or the Office of the Prosecutor-General.
Existing provisions mean that special authorisation to prosecute is required even with regard to certain crimes within the country, namely certain crimes on foreign vessels or aircraft, and also as a general rule for crimes committed abroad (see Chapter 2, Sections 5 and 5a of the Swedish Penal Code and the Ordinance on authorisation for the Office of the Prosecutor-General to authorise initiation of prosecution in certain cases [1993:1467]).
Further, the Government can decide that Swedish prosecutors may initiate prosecution proceedings in a Swedish court should someone infringe upon the sanctity of the maritime grave proclaimed at the site of the wreck of passenger vessel Estonia, see the Act concerning Protection of Peace of the Maritime Grave at the Wreck of the Passenger Vessel Estonia (1995:732).
There may also be other situations in which authorisation by the Government is required in order to initiate prosecution. An example where the Government issued authorisation of this kind was the Government´s decision of November 2001 on authorisation to initiate prosecution for harassment of His Majesty the King.
