Yes. However, they are not called civil protection orders in Swedish legislation. Instead, they are called contact bans. In the Restraining Order Act (1988:688) (Lag om kontaktförbud), Section 1 states that there is a general contact ban that can be granted to a victim of domestic violence. The general contact ban is limited to cover direct contacts, such as phone calls, emails, regular talking, seeking the victim, etc. According to Section 2 of the same act, the contact ban can be expanded to ban the perpetrator from visiting certain places and around certain places, such as workplaces and homes.
According to the same act, anyone with a legitimate need for a restraining order can petition for one. An order is granted by a prosecutor. According to Section 7 of the same act, a petition for a civil protection order can be brought up by the victim/survivor, other affected person or even by the prosecutor him/herself.
The aforementioned Restraining Order Act, Section 1 a, regulates contact bans when the parties share housing. A contact ban can be issued toward an individual that has a common residence. Although this is the case, GREVIO[7] expressed some concerns about the fact that there is no specific regulation giving authorities the right to directly remove a person from a residence that the individual shares with the victim, which has not yet been solved by the Swedish legislators.
Yes and no. Protective orders can be issued in situations where a crime has been committed, when there is an investigation about a potentially committed crime, a combination of the two, or if there is a potential risk of a crime being committed.
According to the Restraining Order Act, Section 6, matters of protective orders will be handled promptly. If the matter is acute, it should be handled "particularly" promptly, which is often the case when dealing with domestic violence cases.
Other preventive protective orders can be issued for situations when there is an underlying risk of domestic violence that has not yet taken place. Such preventive orders demand that there are certain circumstances that point toward a potential crime against a specific subject from a specific subject (see Section 1). See also above under Section 2.In Sweden, there are ordinary, extended and even more extended variations of protective orders.
Firstly, under the Restraining Order Act, Section 4, different time limitations and allowed extensions depend on the situation and the kind of order. The different kinds of orders also vary in severity. As mentioned, Sweden has three variations from smaller protected areas to larger ones.
The applicable law gives a right to a protective order valid up to a maximum of one year (the Restraining Order Act, Section 4). For protective orders regarding individuals with shared housing, the order can be a maximum of two months. The general protective order can be extended by a maximum of one year at a time, except when there is electronic surveillance (e.g., so-called intense electronic surveillance or an ankle bracelet) involved, in which case it is extended by a maximum of six months at a time. For orders regarding individuals with shared housing, the order can be extended two weeks at a time.
Yes. The aggressor does not need to be present when issuing a contact ban.
In April 2020, a report on statistics on protective orders was published by the Development Centre for Swedish Prosecutors. During 2019, about 10,000 applications for contact bans were made. Approximately 2-4 out of 10 applications were granted. The investigation showed that there were regional differences and that further education was needed.[9]
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According to the relevant legislation (the Restraining Order Act, Section 7), there is no mandatory prescribed form for a petition for a civil protection order. In other words, there are no formal requirements for filing a request. Although this is the case, some things should be stated in the application, such as evidence. The prosecutor has to objectively evaluate the material provided and make a decision based on that evaluation. Without adequate evidence, it is hard for the prosecutor to grant a contact ban without disregarding the fundamentals of the rule of law.
This demands — according to the prosecutor's office and its handbook on contact bans — a certain awareness when dealing with domestic violence cases and contact bans. The fact that no formal requirements are set for a request for a contact ban means that it is important to be observant about whether people involved in ongoing cases, e.g., in phone calls or letters, express what can be interpreted as a request for a restraining order and/or contact ban.The judge or judges only try the decision that the prosecutor has taken about a contact ban in cases of appeal according to the act on contact bans. Cases like this occur when the individual against whom the contact ban is issued, or for whom the contact ban is issued, wants to get the case tried by a court. This also follows the act on contact bans.