SECTION A OVERVIEW

Updates

Reviewed by RO Feb 2020

Links refreshed Sept 2020

And again July 2021

Unicef playbook October 2021

Content policies for YouTube Kids Dec 2021

Hedin cars case (SW) January 2022

EC 5 key principles June 2022

Links refreshed October 2022

Elite Smile Ro decision March 2023

Reviewed November 2023; 3 links renewed

New ICC Code September 2024 (EN)

Above has new Chapter E Teens & Children

Swedish translation of Code Nov 2024

Commission's call for evidence on DSA minors protection guidelines; closed 30th Sept 2024

EASA on the above and two calls for tender August 8, 2024

Google's legislative framework to protect children online. October 2023.

From the EC 5 key principles of fair advertising to children. Commentary from Covington & Burling here June 23, 2022. The principles are not legally binding, but obviously important.

The new Strategy for a better internet for children (BIK+ strategy) was adopted on 11 May 2022 by the European Commission. Press release here, full text of the Communication here.

SCOPE

Children - identified in this context as under 13 Explanation Defined by the Data Protection Act as ‘at least’ 13, and in the iCC Code children as 12 and under, youth 13-17  - are protected from advertising for sectors that they are not permitted to use, such as alcohol or gambling, rules for which are separately available. These pages apply to all advertisers, as the rules for children apply across the board, and especially for those sectors that a) are used by children legitimately and b) where there are no rules that prohibit communications to children, but where there are sensitivities because of the audience or the product category or both. Though Food and Soft Drinks fall into this description, there’s a separate tab for those on the home page, as it’s such a heavily advertised and complex sector. 

SOURCE OF RULES

A number of markets include a separate and specific children’s code; Sweden is not among them, though there are plenty of rules. Principal source is the ICC Code (EN 2024; SW 2024 - the Code includes a new Chapter E on Children and Teens) on which the Self-Regulatory Organisation RO bases its decisions, and legislation from various sources, that must be observed when communicating to or with kids. The starting point is that ‘special care should be taken in marketing communications directed to or featuring children or teens’ (article 20, ICC Code), and all Swedish television advertising to children is prohibited. Additionally, the Market Court under cases1983:16 and 1999:26 prohibited the sending of personally addressed direct marketing (mail, email, SMS etc.) to children under 16. There is, it should be said, a particularly delicate and politicised environment around the issue of advertising to children in Sweden.

ICC

The core of the children’s rules, indeed the core of all advertising rules in Sweden, is the ICC Advertising and Marketing Communications Code (EN 2024), also linked above. The applicable code in Sweden is obviously the Swedish version. Article 20, Children and teens, spelt out in our content section B, is the most important to these pages, together with the new Chapter E on Children and teens and child-specific data and digital communications rules from Chapter C. In the content section we include rules for toys and for video games, both of which are from trade associations as there is no specific code for either in Sweden, but both of which sets of rules are pretty solidly based on legislation and/ or international self-regulation.

TOYS AND VIDEOGAMES 

Rules from ICTI – the International Council of Toy Industries – are linked here and set out under content section B; the PEGI Code of Conduct includes advertising rules in article 11, also shown in content section B.

LEGISLATION AND GUIDANCE

The Marketing Act 2008:486 (EN), transposing UCPD 2005/29/EC and providing the cornerstone of communications legislation in Sweden, requires in Section 7 (via a transposing of the UCPD 'blacklist' annex) that advertising may not exhort those under the age of 18 to buy advertised products or persuade their parents or other adults to buy advertised products for them. There’s a relevant Market Court case here (SW); see p.152 of the decision. The statements in question translated into English by RO are: 1. ‘That doesn’t remain for long’ and 2. ‘Before it’s too late.’ The Swedish Consumer Agency’s Guidance on Marketing to Children (SW) is an important influence in this context. 

GENDER PORTRAYAL 

1. Advertising that objectifies: advertising that portrays people as sex objects, for example via clothing, pose and context, in a way that can be considered to be degrading. What is considered to be degrading is influenced, among other things, by whether the person has a connection to the product and how and where the advertising has been shown;
2. Stereotyping in advertising: advertising that portrays people in stereotypical gender roles and which can be considered to describe or convey a degrading presentation of women or men;
3. Advertising that is degrading in any other way and therefore is obviously gender discriminatory.

These rules scan have an impact in children’s advertising if, for example, kids’ toys are presented as  ‘guns for boys and dolls for girls.’

CHANNEL RULES 

GDPR and children

Privacy issues should be reviewed with specialist advisors

The General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR) applied directly in EU member states from 25 May 2018, replacing the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC. Rules from the GDPR on children’s data are set out under Online Commercial Communications in our channel section C; a brief extract from the EC’s Data Protection pages provides that: ‘your company/ organisation can only process a child’s personal data on grounds of consent with the explicit consent of their parent or guardian up to a certain age’. In Sweden, the former Personal Data Act 1998:204 is repealed, and replaced by Law 2018:218 (SW), which ’complements’ the GDPR with some supplementary provisions, one of which – section 4 of chapter 2 – allows a child’s consent if he/ she is ‘at least 13 years old’. See our section C and the GDPR itself (key articles 8 and 12). An assembly of the articles and recitals relevant to children is here.

Broadcast

The Radio and TV Act (2010:696) (EN key clauses), as amended, adopts provisions in accordance with AVMS Directives (2007/65/EC and 2010/13/EU) relating to advertising, sponsorship and product placement in broadcasting. It’s this act that, uniquely in EU member states, prohibits broadcast advertising to children under the age of 12 years. Details in our channel section C.

GENERAL RULES

It's important that the rules for all product sectors, shown below under the General tab, are also understood; adjudications against children’s advertising may well come from general misleadingness or taste and decency rules, for example. The principal source of rules for all advertising content is the ICC Code linked above. Otherwise, in terms of general content, The Marketing Act 2008:486 (EN), contains rules transposed from the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 2005/29/EC, the cornerstone of European marketing legislation.

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SECTION B CONTENT RULES

1. SELF-REGULATION

1.1. ICC Code children’s rules

1.2. Toys. ICTI and TIE

1.3. Video Games. PEGI

1.4. Food and Soft Drinks

1.5. Adjudications

2. LEGISLATION AND GUIDANCE

2.1. The Marketing Act

2.2. Consumer Agency guidance

3. GENERAL RULES

3.1. Statutory

3.2. Self-regulatory

1. SELF-REGULATION

1.1.  ICC Code (EN 2024) Children’s/ teens rules

Article 20 from General Provisions

• Special care should be taken in marketing communications directed to or featuring children or teens. Marketing communications should not exploit the natural credulity of children or the lack of experience of teens and should not strain their sense of loyalty. In directing marketing communications to children and/or teens, the principles of this Code should be applied with due regard to the age and other characteristics of the actual target group, their differing cognitive abilities, and developing personal privacy rights independent of parents or guardians
• Marketers should respect standards and laws prohibiting the marketing of products that are subject to age restrictions such as alcoholic beverages, gambling and tobacco to minors*
• For further specific rules, see Chapter E Children and teens (below)

*The term minor here refers to those below the legal purchase age, i.e. the age at which national legislation permits the purchase or consumption of such restricted products. In countries where purchase age and consumption age are not the same, the higher age applies in relevant markets

Article E1 General principles

• Marketers of products which are illegal to purchase by those under a particular age, should take reasonable steps, e.g. by using appropriate audience targeting tools, to avoid targeting that group in the selection of the content, platform and/or audience (as appropriate) to which their ads are directed. They should also undertake measures, such as age screens, to restrict access by those under the requisite age to websites featuring these products.
• The above also applies in the case of products which according to age-grading or similar are inappropriate for use by those under a particular age.
• Marketing communications directed to children or teens should not be inserted in media where the editorial matter is unsuitable for them.
• Marketers, platforms and publishers are encouraged to consider technical means and tools to help children and teens distinguish commercial content and to avoid directing marketing communications to target groups for which the content, even if legal, is not suitable.
• Marketing communications directed to children or teens should be clearly distinguishable to them as such. If the commercial nature is not otherwise clear from the form, format and media, it should be disclosed in a clear, conspicuous manner in a way likely to be understood by members of the target group.
• Marketers should generally seek appropriate consent from a parent or legal guardian before offering children or teens remuneration of any kind to encourage them, for example, to utilise their personal social media channels to promote the marketer’s products.
• Marketing communications that invite children or teens to make a purchase or contact the marketer should encourage them to obtain, as appropriate, parental or legal guardian’s consent if any cost, including that of a communication, is involved.

• 2.1 When demonstrating a product’s performance and use, marketing communications should not:

a. minimise the degree of skill or understate the age level generally required to assemble, activate or operate products or otherwise achieve the advertised effects or result
b. exaggerate the true size, value, nature, durability and performance of the product in a manner not likely to be understood by the target group
c. fail to disclose the need for additional purchases, such as accessories, or individual items in a collection or series, required to produce the result shown or described

• 2.2 Fantasy, computer generated images and other technologies should not be used in a manner that is likely to make it difficult for those in the target group to distinguish between reality and fantasy regarding the actual attributes of the product or its expected performance or the commercial nature of the marketing communication. Special care should be taken with regard to younger children as they may have particular difficulties in distinguishing fantasy creations from reality.
• 2.3 Disclosures necessary to communicate limitations or other material features of the advertised product should be provided in a way likely to be understood by reasonable members of the target group.

• Marketing communications should not contain statements or visual treatments that could have the effect of harming reasonable members of the intended target group mentally, morally or physically.
• Considering the expected physical and mental capabilities of the target group, marketing communications should not:

• portray children or teens in unsafe situations or engaging in actions harmful to themselves or others; regarding adult supervision see Article 20.
• induce children or teens to engage in activities or behaviour that is potentially hazardous, harmful or inappropriate for the target group.

Marketing communications targeting children or teens should not:

• Suggest that possession or use of the promoted product will give a child or teen physical, psychological or social advantages over other children or teens, or that not possessing the product will have the opposite effect
• Undermine positive social behaviour, lifestyles and attitudes
• Incite or condone abusive behaviour towards individuals or groups by peer pressure, bullying or similar actions
• Idealise unhealthy bodily appearances, nor incite or condone physical self-harm
• Undermine the authority, responsibility, judgment or tastes of parents or legal guardians, having regard to relevant social and cultural values and the physical and cognitive abilities of the intended target group
• Marketing communications should not include any direct appeal to children to persuade their parents or other adults to buy products for them. Factual disclosures regarding the need for parental or guardian’s consent to purchase does not contravene this provision.
• Prices should not be presented in such a way as to lead children or teens to an unrealistic perception of the cost or value of the product, for example by minimising them. Marketing communications should not imply that the product being promoted is immediately within the reach of every family budget.
• Marketing communications which invite children and teens to contact the marketer should encourage them to obtain the permission of a parent or other appropriate adult if any cost, including that of a communication, is involved

Article E5 Children’s personal data
Set out under Cookies and OBA header in our following channel section C
 

Article E6 Privacy of children and teens

• Marketers should ensure that relevant information pertaining to the collection and processing of personal data from children or teens is communicated. Where relevant and practicable, this should be done in terms understandable to the target group

Article E8  Other guidance on marketing communication to children and teens

• For the use of minors as influencers, see General Provisions Article 18.3
• With respect to digital and data-driven marketing communications, see Chapter C, Articles C5 and C17.8 (IBA)
• The ICC Toolkit: Marketing and Advertising to Children
• For other specific rules on marketing communications with regard to children and teens, within the context of food and non-alcoholic beverages see the ICC Framework for responsible food and beverage marketing communications and within the context of alcoholic beverages see the ICC Framework for Responsible Alcohol Marketing Communications

​

1. 2. Toys

From ICTI:  International Council of Toy industries

Guiding Principles for Advertising and Marketing Communication to Children

“Play is essential to healthy child development and toys are integral to play. Accordingly, it is appropriate to make children, parents and caregivers aware of the availability and benefits of specific toys using marketing techniques, provided this is carried out in a responsible manner

ICTI and its members are committed both to maintaining ethical standards in marketing and advertising to children across all channels of communication as part of an advertising and marketing self-regulation program and also to adhering to local (national) government regulations and requirements

The object of this set of guiding principles is to ensure that toy industry advertisers and marketers develop and maintain a high sense of social responsibility in advertising and marketing to children around the world. It is not meant to be a code

Rather, these guiding principles must necessarily exist in an environment of national and international codes or practices. ICTI’s intent is not to supersede, but rather to provide them as the base level of acceptable practice for the worldwide toy industry. The ICTI principles may also be subject to local amendment so as to conform to prevailing community standards.

Individual country codes for advertising and marketing communication to children must address and set specific guidelines for the following important principles regarding advertising and marketing communication to children:

• Advertising content and placement must be suitable for the children to whom it is directed
• There must be no sexualisation of children
• Presentation of products must be factual and clear to the children to whom it is directed
• Products must be appropriate and safe for children of the age to whom they are directed
• Situations depicted in advertising and marketing must be socially appropriate
• Parental authority must be recognized and supported
• Pricing, if indicated, must be accurate and clear to those parents and children to whom the advertising is directed
• Competitors must be portrayed fairly
• Any qualifying statements must be clear to those parents and children to whom they are directed
• Popular personalities should be used appropriately
• Premiums should be used and presented responsibly. There should be no sales pressure
• Children’s privacy must be protected absolutely
• There must be no reference to or association with alcohol-related products / companies
• A responsible lifestyle and consumption of food and beverages must be depicted
• Advertising must be clearly separated from programming
• Online advertising must indicate a clear, prominent and comprehensive privacy policy for websites or on-line services directed to children”

From Toy industries of Europe (TIE)

Communications with children’s interests in mind (EN)

1.3. Videogames

From the PEGI (Pan European Game information) Code of Conduct

Article 11: Advertising and promotion

• 11.1 Advertising materials shall follow the PEGI Labeling and Advertising Guidelines and in particular show the age rating granted to the Product concerned or, should the license be pending, show the final age rating expected, taking the higher age category as a reference in case of doubt
• 11.2 The design of print, broadcast and on-line advertising of Products shall comply with laws and regulations applicable to the age category concerned
• 11.3 More generally, the following principles shall apply:

1. All advertisements shall accurately reflect, to the best extent possible both the nature and content of the Product publicized and the rating associated with that Product. Advertisements should not mislead consumers as to the Product’s true character
2. Advertisements shall not in any way exploit a PEGI System rating of a Product as such rating is intended as a recommendation only
3. All advertisements shall be created with a sense of responsibility towards the public
4. All advertisements shall aim to avoid content that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence to the average consumer targeted
5. Signatories shall not specifically target advertising for Products rated 16 or 18 to consumers for whom the product is not rated as appropriate
6. Signatories shall ensure that ancillary or separate products that are being sold or promoted in association with a core Product contain content that is appropriate for the audience for which the core Product is intended
7. Signatories shall not enter into promotion of Products rated 16 or 18 with another company’s brands, products, or events, if it is reasonable to believe that such company’s products, brands or events will reach consumers for whom the Product is not rated as appropriate
8. Signatories shall inform the public by means of a general statement of the existence of sponsorship(s) and / or the existence of ‘product placement(s) associated with any Product. In this regard use of a trademark or brand solely to provide authenticity to the Product environment shall not be held to constitute either product placement or sponsorship provided that license holders do not receive payment in exchange for such use

• 11.4 The PEGI system shall be open to magazine signatories for the age rating of compact discs and / or DVDs attached to such magazines (cover discs) when they contain excerpts from interactive software products and / or audiovisual material related to such products provided that those products are published by other signatories

PEGI also publish labelling and advertising guidelines that deal with specific media and situations.  Check with PEGI

1.4. Food and Soft Drinks

Rules are set out in full under the specific Food and Soft Drinks tab on the home page of this website. There follows a few key references relevant to children

ICC Framework for Responsible Food and Beverage Marketing Communications 

https://iccwbo.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/08/icc-framework-for-responsible-food-and-beverage-marketing-communications-2019.pdf

This is a framework rather than a set of rules per se. The ICC take the general provision in the Advertising and Marketing Communications Code and apply that principle to Food and Beverage marketing communications

1.5. Adjudications

These, a short selection that feature children issues, are taken from the RO website. The particular section on their website is in Swedish, but it includes an adequate translation facility. These cases are assembled in English in a separate b/u file here; the final entry references a stereotyping case. More recently (December 2021), this case (SW) featuring a car, the comedian Joe Labero, & a disappointed child is an example of how the advertising ombudsman Ro appoach issues of child behaviour, referencing articles 18 and 2 of the ICC Code (EN) 

2. LEGISLATION AND GUIDANCE

2.1.  The Marketing Act

• The Marketing Act states under Section 4 and references under Section 7: 'Annex I to Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market shall have the force of law in Sweden. The Government has published the relevant annex in the Swedish Code of Statutes.' Annex I of the Directive is here. This is known as 'The Blacklist.'
• From the above, prohibited is 28. Including in an advertisement a direct exhortation to children to buy advertised products or persuade their parents or other adults to buy advertised products for them. This provision is without prejudice to Article 16 of Directive 89/552/EEC on television broadcasting.

2.2. Consumer Agency Guidance on marketing aimed at children and young people (SW / EN)

This is a significant document as its author The Consumer Agency, ‘ a government agency whose task is to safeguard consumer interests,’ is influential in the Swedish regulatory system. The document does pretty much what it says on the tin, but includes e.g. some cases from the Swedish Market Court to illustrate the key points. We do not reproduce the whole document as it’s too long, but some of what we judge to be the more important issues are set out below. Note that the translation is not always impeccable. The original Swedish is carried in the linked document

2. Direct appeals

• The appendix to the Marketing Act, the so-called black list, sets out the marketing techniques that are in all circumstances forbidden. According to article 28 of the annex (Including in an advertisement a direct exhortation to children to buy advertised products or persuade their parents or other adults to buy advertised products for them.’) it is prohibited to directly invite a child to buy or persuade his or her parents or other adults to purchase the advertised products for them. This provision applies to advertising in all media including websites. In other words, it is permitted to target advertising to children, but it should never include encouragement to purchase directly
• The Market Court ruled in 2012 on a gaming community on the Internet (MD 2013:9). The child will have access to a virtual paper doll that can be made up and dressed on the site. Some activities in the game are free, but to get full access to all the game’s features, the child must buy a membership. The Consumer Ombudsman considered that the site contained direct purchase requests aimed at children. The Market Court agreed to prohibit techniques such as ‘buy’, ‘buy here’ and ‘upgrade to Superstar.’ In addition, the company cannot use claims that the product ‘is not ‘here for long’ and buy ‘before it's too late.’ Such claims put the child in a negative situation by giving it the impression that the child has only a limited time to decide

3. Advertising identification

• The principle of advertising identification is of fundamental importance in the field of marketing law and is found both in the Marketing Act and in the ICC's basic rules for advertising. It must be clear for the recipient in all marketing who is behind the commercial message and that it is actually advertising and not impartial information or editorial text. When marketing is aimed at children, it should be clear to just one child that it is about advertising
• Marketing that lacks clear identification that it is advertising, or the name of the advertiser/ marketer, is usually called hidden marketing. As it does not meet the requirements of the Marketing Act, it is prohibited
• It is also prohibited to mislead about the commercial purpose of the advertising, for example by being designed as an independent review or editorial post in a private individual's blog

4.1. Direct marketing

• Advertising that is directly addressed is intrusive to children and young people and they may therefore find it difficult to avoid messages in personally-targeted advertising. Children under the age of 16 are also not entitled to enter into any agreement as a result of such offers without the consent of the parent. According to the judgements of the Market Court (See, among others, MD 1983:16 och MD 1999:26), it is inconsistent with good marketing practice to send addressed direct mail to people under the age of 16
• The Ethics Committee for Direct Marketing (DM Committee) reviews cases relating to both addressed and unaddressed direct mail. The DM committee has commented in several statements that it is contrary to good practice that direct marketing should send addressed advertising to children under the age of 16. The prohibition is based on the fact that persons under this age cannot enter into an agreement

4.4. Internet

• In 2012, a Nordic position on marketing in social media was adopted (De nordiska konsumentombudsmännens ståndpunkt om marknadsföring via sociala medier, den 3 maj 2012). It states, among other things, that traders should not use children and young people for sales and marketing purposes, nor should they encourage social media users to share marketing if it is specifically addressed to children and adolescents
• The Market Court has, in a case concerning a network game aimed at children (MD 2013:9), explored children's ability to enter into an agreement on the Internet. The Consumer Ombudsman considered that the company was reluctant to check that the parents had really approved the children's purchase. The Consumer Ombudsman also said that the purchase agreement that the children would read via the registration process was far too extensive and complicated.
• The Court ruled that parental consent is required for the child's agreement to be valid and that such consent can be given by the parent approving the agreement afterwards. The court did not comment on the fact that the company had made it very difficult for parents to approve the purchase subsequently. As far as the purchase agreement was concerned, the Market Court considered that it was a complicated agreement, but it did not contravene any rules to use that type of agreement with children as long as the content does not violate mandatory provisions, nor that it intends to exploit children and adolescents’ credulity or lack of experience

3. GENERAL ADVERTISING RULES

The full set of general rules, i.e. those that apply to all product categories and audiences, children included, are under the General tab below. Immediately below is only reference to the key influences

3.1. Statutory

• As referenced earlier, The Swedish Marketing Act 2008:486 (an unofficial translation is here) transposes the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) 2005/29/EC and applies to all forms of advertising / marketing, defined as “advertising and other measures in the course of business activities which are intended to promote the sale of and access to products including a trader’s actions, omissions or other measures or behaviour before, during or after sale or delivery of products to consumers or traders”.
• The Act states: “Annex I to Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market shall have the force of law in Sweden. The Government has published the relevant annex in the Swedish Code of Statutes.” Annex I of the Directive is here. This is known as “The Blacklist.”

3.2. Self-regulatory

The following references are not specific to advertising aimed at children, which has been covered earlier, but they apply to all advertisers and all forms of advertising, including that aimed at children. The source is the 2024 ICC Advertising and Marketing Communications Code, the Swedish translation of which applies in Sweden (and a few other countries) and is influential internationally; it’s administered by RO, the Self-Regulatory Organisation, who base their decisions on the code's rules

Section I. General provisions on advertising and marketing communication practice

Section II: Detailed chapters:

Chapter A. Sales Promotion

Chapter B. Sponsorship

Chapter C. Direct Marketing and Digital Marketing Communications

Chapter D. Environmental Claims in Marketing Communications

Chapter E. Children and teens 

SECTION E SOURCES/ LINKS

European legislation

GDPR

Regulation (EU) 2016/679 Of The European Parliament and of The Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation). The GDPR came into force May 25 2018.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679&from=en

Articles relating to Children are Nos. 8 and 12, and Recitals 38 and 58. These have been assembled here:

https://www.g-regs.com/downloads/CHEUGDPRrefs.pdf

European Data Protection Authority

Article 29 Working Party/ EDPB

The Article 29 Working Party was established under Article 29 (hence the name) of Directive 95/46/EC, the Personal Data Protection Directive. The arrival of the GDPR heralded the demise/ re-working of A29WP, and its replacement by the European Data Protection Board:

https://edpb.europa.eu/.

All documents from the former Article 29 Working Party remain available on this newsroom. Article 29 Working Party archives from 1997 to November 2016: 

http://ec.europa.eu/justice/article-29/documentation/index_en.htm.

Two more recent and significant documents:

• Guidelines on Automated individual decision-making and Profiling for the purposes of Regulation 2016/679. See Chapter V Profiling and Children
• Guidelines on Consent under Regulation 2016/679 (May 2020); see Section 7.1 for Child-specific consent guidelines

EU Framework of law for children’s rights:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/note/join/2012/462445/IPOL-LIBE_NT(2012)462445_EN.pdf

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx

Art 161. No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his or her honour and reputation

UCPD

Directive 2005/29/EC of The European Parliament and of The Council of 11 May 2005 The ‘Unfair Commercial Practices Directive’, known as the UCPD. This is the core consumer protection legislation from the EU, transposed in all member states, and in France placed in the Consumer Code (see entry below). Provisions address misleading commercial practices and include a number on commercial communications. Key is Annex I which lists a number of practices that are “in all circumstances considered unfair.” No. 28 prohibits in advertising a direct exhortation to children to buy advertised products or persuade their parents or other adults to do so for them:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2005:149:0022:0039:en:PDF

AVMSD

Directive 2010/13/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 March 2010 on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the provision of audiovisual media services (Audiovisual Media Services Directive). Article 9: audiovisual commercial communications shall not cause physical or moral detriment to minors. Therefore they shall not directly exhort minors to buy or hire a product or service by exploiting their inexperience or credulity, directly encourage them to persuade their parents or others to purchase the goods or services being advertised, exploit the special trust minors place in parents, teachers or other persons, or unreasonably show minors in dangerous situations.

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=celex%3A32010L0013

AVMSD amendment

Directive (EU) 2018/1808 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 November 2018 amending Directive 2010/13/EU on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the provision of audiovisual media services (Audiovisual Media Services Directive) in view of changing market realities. The background to this significant development of the AVMSD is here. In broad terms, the Directive addresses the changes in media consumption in recent years and pays particular attention to the protection of minors in that context, extending rules to e.g. shared content on SNS. There are ‘strengthened provisions to protect children from inappropriate audiovisual commercial communications for foods high in fat, salt and sodium and sugars, including by encouraging codes of conduct at EU level, where necessary’. See article 4a. Rules for alcoholic beverages are extended to on-demand audiovisual media services, but those provisions (social/ sexual success etc.) are not amended. The Directive entered into force 18th December 2018; member states are required to have transposed into national law by 19th September 2020.

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2018/1808/oj

Channel

Radio and Television Act (SFS 2010:696). This Act implements the Audiovisual Media Service (AVMS) Directive 2010/13/EU. It applies to Broadcasters established in Sweden (Sect. 3 (1)). Specific provisions are for product placement (Ch. 6), sponsorship (Ch. 7) and commercial communications (Ch. 8). Provisions for radio advertising are covered in Chapter 15; the Act also covers on-demand TV. Provisions exceed the AVMS Directive in as much as advertising ‘may not aim to appeal to children under the age of twelve’; programmes primarily aimed at children U12 may not be surrounded or interrupted by advertising (Ch. 7, 8 (3) & Ch. 6 (2)). Consolidated text (Swedish):

http://www.riksdagen.se/sv/Dokument-Lagar/Lagar/Svenskforfattningssamling/Radio--och-tv-lag-2010696_sfs-2010-696/

EN:

http://www.g-regs.com/downloads/SERadio_TVActTSc.pdf

http://www.radioochtv.se/documents/styrdokument/radio%20and%20television%20act.pdf

Data protection

Data Protection pre-GDPR (see above) was primarily the domain of the Personal Data Act 1998:204, which was repealed and replaced by the new Data Protection Act 2018:218 (SW). In force 25 May 2018. Lag (2018:218) med kompletterande bestämmelser till EU:s dataskyddsförordning. The Data Protection Authority Datainspektionen makes it clear that the new law complements GDPR but does not replace any of its aspects. The new law has not been translated; original Swedish here:

https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/lag-2018218-med-kompletterande-bestammelser_sfs-2018-218

Authority

Datainspektionen. The Swedish Data Protection Authority (DPA) is a public authority, a central government agency that reports to the Ministry of Justice. Its principal task is to protect the individual's privacy in the information society. We can’t trace child-specific arrangements from the authority.

http://www.datainspektionen.se/ 

And in English:

http://www.datainspektionen.se/in-english/  

Cookies 

The Electronic Communications Act (2003:389). Cookies are subject to this act, which implements the e-Privacy Directive 2002/58/EC; an amendment in the form of Act 2011:590 implemented the Citizens Rights Directive 2009/136/EC, also known as the Cookie Directive. Consolidated text:

http://www.riksdagen.se/sv/Dokument-Lagar/Lagar/Svenskforfattningssamling/Lag-2003389-om-elektronisk-_sfs-2003-389/#overgang

Unofficial Translation on PTS website of the original 2003:389 Act:
http://www.pts.se/upload/Documents/EN/The_Electronic_Communications_Act_2003_389.pdf

e-Commerce

E-Commerce Act; Act on electronic commerce and other information society services SFS 2002:562 (E-handelslagen) entry into force 01/07/2002. The law implements the Electronic Commerce Directive (2000/31/EC) and lays down a minimum level of information required from Internet service providers. Relevant articles 8 and 9:

http://www.riksdagen.se/sv/Dokument-Lagar/Lagar/Svenskforfattningssamling/Lag-2002562-om-elektronisk-_sfs-2002-562/

Consumer protection

The Marketing Act SFS 2008:486 (Marknadsföringslagen - MFL); entry into force 01/07/2008.  This Act implements the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive UCPD 2005/29/EC and some provisions of the ePrivacy Directive and aims to prevent marketing that is unfair to consumers and traders (Section 1). It incorporates rules from the Misleading and Comparative Advertising Directive codified in the form of 2006/114/EC, and sets out general e.g. misleadingness rules on commercial communications and information requirements for ‘invitations to purchase’. The Act carries the prohibition of ‘exhortation of children’ under Section 4 by reference to the publication of Annex 1 of UCPD in the Swedish Code of Statutes. Clause 28 prohibits a direct exhortation to children to buy advertised products or persuade their parents or other adults to buy advertised products for them. Consolidated text Marketing Act 2008:486:

http://www.riksdagen.se/sv/Dokument-Lagar/Lagar/Svenskforfattningssamling/Marknadsforingslag-2008486_sfs-2008-486/

English Version of 2008:486 (not up to date; last updated 03/01/2011)

http://www.government.se/content/1/c6/05/03/14/6c7aa374.pdf

Consumer protection authority

The Act is overseen by The Swedish Consumer Agency, a government agency who have a 'general oversight of marketing,' meaning that they can initiate proceedings in the event of violation of the Marketing Act. Cases are normally heard in The Swedish Market Court (Marknadsdomstolen). See more about KOV here:

http://www.konsumentverket.se/Other-languages/

Guidelines re children

The Nordic Consumer Ombudsmen position on hidden marketing. Section 6 covers marketing aimed at children and young people:

https://www.konsumentverket.se/globalassets/publikationer/produkter-och-tjanster/reklam-och-marknadsforing/vagledning-nordisk-standpunkt-om-dold-marknadsforing-konsumentverket.pdf

In English (unofficial translation):

https://www.g-regs.com/downloads/SWGenNordicHiddenMarketing.pdf

The Swedish Consumer Agency’s Guidance on marketing aimed at children and young people is an important influence in this context. A document that shows the original Swedish with a translation is here:

http://www.g-regs.com/downloads/SWChConsAgGuidelinesChildren.pdf

The original Swedish document is here:

http://www.konsumentverket.se/globalassets/publikationer/produkter-och-tjanster/reklam-och-marknadsforing/vagledning-om-marknadsforing-riktad-till-barn-och-unga-konsumentverket.pdf

The Consumer Agency Guidelines on Marketing in Social Media:

https://www.konsumentverket.se/globalassets/publikationer/produkter-och-tjanster/reklam-och-marknadsforing/vagledning-marknadsforing-sociala-medier-konsumentverket.pdf

And here in English (unofficial translation):

https://www.g-regs.com/downloads/SWConsAgencySocMediaGuidelines2020.pdf