‘For faster and 24/7 online services, allow machines to make decisions’

To speed up government services and to provide electronic services 24/7, Sweden should change its laws to allow computers to make routine decisions, according to a recommendation from the Delegation for e-government, an advisory board. For basic decisions regarding taxes this is already possible and Sweden should extend these rules, in order to reduce the administrative burden on businesses.

In late November, the Delegation submitted its recommendation to Sweden's Minister of Housing and Urban Development. The e-government advisers recommended that automated decisions should be allowed for routine processes, to handling requests and procedures that require a yes or no answer and without the need for human assessment. It is not about removing legal prerequisites for decisions, they write, nor about changing the requirements on data protection, privacy and IT security.

Burdensome

The Swedish government wants to reduce the administrative burden on businesses, and allowing simple automatic decision would help achieve that goal, the Delegation writes. “The use of modern technology should be seen as a natural part of an agency's activities.”

According to the e-government advisers, unnecessary and complicated rules hinder the development and implementation of e-government services that are intended to be available at all hours and that should allow fast, automatic decisions. “The (legal) uncertainty complicates and delays the development work”, the Delegation writes. Lifting the legal restriction would make development of e-government services easier, saving money.

The e-government advisory group is comprised of representatives from a wide variety of public administrations.

More information:

Delegation announcement (in Swedish)
Delegation report (in Swedish, PDF)
About the delegation
NIFO factsheet on Sweden