Covid­19; Governmental Transparency and The Public Health Agency of Sweden

Swedish administrative law includes great possibilities to transparency for the general public. According to The Principle of Public Access to Information all completed documents at a government agency can by default be accessed by the public if not the agency can motivate legal secrecy. Their motives for secrecy must have a foundation in the Public Access and Secrecy Act. This legal tradition is very old and was introduced as early as 1766. During the COVID­19 pandemic (2020 and forwards) the work at governmental agencies have not been easy. Offices have been closed temporarily and contact with thepublic have been limited because of restrictions. The workplace has been moved from the traditional office space to digital environments as employees have been forced to work from home. The Public Health Agency, who have the main responsible to communicate with the public regarding matters of the pandemic, have had many requests for information during this time. In this paper reactions from media and the public regarding The Public Health Agency’s information management is investigated