New act on contingency reserves of food
Published:
The Riksdag voted in favour of the Government’s proposal on an act on contingency reserves of products in the food supply chain, that is the whole process from farm to fork. The purpose of the reserves is to ensure access to food if Sweden finds itself at war or risk of war or if on account of an exceptional event there are, or risk being food shortages in the country.
The following will apply to Sweden’s contingency reserves:
- the Government will decide which products in the food supply chain are to be kept in reserve and in what quantities, as well as where in the country the reserves are to be kept;
- the contingency reserves will be kept by the public agency decided by the Government; a contingency reserve may also be kept be a private actor with which the responsible agency has reached an agreement;
- the products that are to be kept in reserve will be purchased by the responsible agency and owned by the state;
- duty of confidentiality applies to those who participate in private activities on behalf of a public agency to keep contingency reserves and who thereby access sensitive information.
The Government’s assessment is that the contingency reserves should be developed gradually over a longer period.
The amendments will come into force on 1 July 2026.