Law note · Sweden
Kamerabevakningslagen (Camera Surveillance Act)
Kamerabevakningslagen (SFS 2018:1200), enacted 20 June 2018 and in force 1 August 2018, regulates any TV camera or optical-electronic equipment enabling persistent or regularly repeated monitoring of persons in Sweden, regardless of where the operator is based, confirmed against the statute text. As of 1 April 2025 it eliminated the earlier permit regime in favor of a documented impact assessment, a registry of ongoing surveillance, and a signage duty.
The Act does not itself define or specifically regulate facial recognition or biometric identification; a facial-recognition-capable camera falls within its scope only as surveillance equipment generally, with the biometric-processing duty supplied separately by General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Article 9 and Dataskyddslagen Chapter 3.
This is a distinct instrument from the general comprehensive regime and does not cleanly fit any other registered family; it is filed here as the closest match to a self-contained mini-regime for one collection channel.
What it asks of an app
- Run a documented impact assessment weighing public interest against individual privacy, and register the surveillance, before operating a camera or optical-electronic monitoring system in Sweden, whether or not it performs facial recognition.
When LexLint raises it
Declared activities: processes_biometrics
Primary source: riksdagen.se, Kamerabevakningslag SFS 2018:1200 (direct read)