Public documents

The principle of public access to official documents (offentlighetsprincipen) means that as much as possible of what affects the public should be dealt with transparently. One of the most important components of the principle is that every individual is entitled to access to public documents. This right is laid down in the provisions of Chapter 2 of the Freedom of the Press Act. Anyone who asks to be provided with a public document has the right to do so anonymously and does not, as a rule, have to say what the information is going to be used for. The principle of public access to official documents and the right of access to these documents applies to all public-sector HEIs. The principle of public access to official documents also applies to Chalmers University of Technology and Jönköping University. It is laid down in Section 4 of Chapter 2 of the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (2009:400) and the annex to the same statute.

Printed documents, films, tape recordings and electronic information registered in computers are different types of documents in the sense used in the Freedom of the Press Act. If the principle of public access is to apply, they must also be “public” documents. A document becomes public when it is received by or drawn up by a public authority and is in its keeping. The right to access to public documents can only be restricted by legislation, in other words the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act.

According to the Ordinance on the Registration of Studies at Universities and University Colleges (1993:1153) all HEIs are required to keep records about their students. These include information about entry requirements, selection criteria, students' results, examinations and qualifications awarded. The information in these registers, for instance LADOK, is open to everybody according to the same rules as those that apply to public documents at public authorities.

An examination (answer sheet) should become a public document once it has been given to the students taking part in the examination. There may be grounds for invoking the provisions of the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act before the examination is held to make it possible to refuse to provide the examination to others.

Examination answers handed in by a student to a HEI are documents that have been received and should be considered public documents that have to be provided on request. The Parliamentary Ombudsman has ruled that examination answers with the examiner's comments do not have to be released until a grade has been determined. This question has not yet been tested in a court of law.

The regulations issued by the National Archives allow public authorities to sift out some of the public documents. These stipulate, for instance, that a written examination (examination answers) may be returned to a student after it has been graded and that examination answers that have not been returned may be sifted out two years after grading. One copy of an answer sheet must always be retained.