Criticism of the Swedish Transport Agency for referring visitors to its website to an application form only available in English in breach of the Language Act

Summary of the decision: The Swedish Transport Agency referred visitors to its website to an application form in English, stating that the form was compulsory when applying for type-approval.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman notes that, pursuant to the Language Act (SFS 2009:600), the language of administrative authorities is Swedish and that the individual should always be able to communicate with public authorities in Swedish. According to the Parliamentary Ombudsman, an individual has a right to submit an application to a public authority in Swedish. The fact that the form referred to was not only solely available in English but that its use was also described as compulsory when submitting an application was therefore incompatible with the Language Act. For this, the Parliamentary Ombudsman criticises the Swedish Transport Agency.