NCJ Number
90670
Date Published
1982
Length
293 pages
Annotation
This second and final report by the Swedish committee set up in 1979 to study the conflicts between the need for information exchange and the confidentiality rights of citizens recommends that authorities not be restricted in ways that would interfere with effective detection and investigation of economic crime.
Abstract
Passage of the 1981 law on secrecy affected authorities' (police, prosecutors, tax officials, and other government officials) legal capacity to exchange personal information maintained in data banks. In short, this cramped public officials' ability to cooperate at a level adequate to continue their investigative work in the area of economic crime. The committee suggests an amendment is needed to implement some general rule on information exchange that would protect individual citizens but not interfere with cooperation among authorities in countering economic crime. Specific changes to the law are recommended as follows: (1) government officials should be obligated to divulge information to police and prosecutors if the information truly suggests that a crime has been committed; (2) government officials should be allowed to pass on information to each other that is discovered in the course of official duty if the information indicates that a crime may have been committed: (3) government officials should be required to pass on any information to police and prosecutors that is discovered in the course of official duty that suggests a crime is going to be committed. The report includes the text for suggested changes to the law.