More people to be protected by non-contact orders

The Riksdag voted in favour of the Government’s proposal for new rules on non-contact orders, which will give greater protection to vulnerable people.

Non-contact orders can be issued if there is a risk that the person against whom the order applies will commit an offence against, persecute or otherwise harass the protected person.

The new rules are expected to have greater crime prevention effects than previously, and to make it possible to impose a greater number of non-contact orders. 

This means, for example:

• monitoring someone in an inappropriate way will be introduced as a new grounds for imposing non-contact orders;
• a new presumption rule will be introduced, according to which the conditions for imposing non-contact orders will always be considered to be fulfilled following a sentence for a serious domestic violence offence;
• extended and specifically extended non-contact orders will be imposed more easily and will apply to a greater number of areas;
• it will be possible to impose a non-contact order when a person is expected to put pressure on someone in connection with forthcoming legal proceedings, for example, testimonies.The amendments will come into force on 1 July 2025.At the same time, the Riksdag rejected proposals in motions of which four proposals were submitted during the general private members’ motions period 2024.