The Swedish Corporate Governance Code (2016)

This revised Swedish Corporate Governance Code is applicable from 1 December 2016. The current version of the Code came into force 1 November 2015, following a comprehensive revision. In view of the time that had elapsed since the last review was conducted in 2009, the Swedish Corporate Governance Board arranged a series of round table discussions, ran an open consultation process and organised a high-level Symposium in 2013 to identify the need for changes to Code rules. The general conclusion following these activities was that the Code works well on the whole, and that major changes were not required, but there was reason to examine some of the details. A reason for the review was the European Commission’s ongoing work in the field of corporate governance, which had resulted in a number of regulatory proposals, primarily:
• The European Commission’s recommendation on the quality of corporate governance
reporting (”comply or explain”),
• An updated shareholder rights directive,
• The directive on non-financial information, and
• The directive and regulation on auditors and audits.