National Board of Film Classification
Statens biografbyrå (SBB)
The staff consists of 11 employees, headed by a Director, also a film classifier. There are three other classifiers and technical and administrative staff.

The examination activities of the SBB are in reality financed by the fees paid by distributors for the films and videos that are submitted and by the licence cards that are required, around 10 million SEK annually.

The fee is proportional to the length of the film. The examination fee for a film of 100 minutes is about 1 900 SEK, in addition to which 975 SEK is charged for the licence card issued for each copy distributed. For documentaries a special rate is applied, 200 SEK, whatever the length.

History
Since the Swedish first film screenings in 1896, the local police authorities granted permission for performances and also examined the content of the films. As might be expected, the personal views of individual police officers carried disproportionate weight and a growing public opinion came out in favour of uniform rules for the showing of films. Then, as now, the debate centered on the potential bad influence of the new medium, particularly on the young.

A milestone in this respect was the issue in 1905 by the Office of the Governor of Stockholm of the following provisions:

"Exhibitions of films shall not include any material that is offensive to public decency or disrespectful to the authorities or private individuals, nor pictures depicting the commission of murders, robberies or other serious crimes, and exhibitions that are open to children shall not include pictures depicting events or situations that are liable to arouse emotions of terror or horror in the audience or for other reasons be considered unsuitable for children to look at."

It was proposed that a central body be set up to examine film and this led to the drafting of a Government bill. The first bill contained a provision concerning "cinematic pictures, the showing of which is liable to give offence for religious or political reasons". This, however, was excluded from the final draft on the grounds that it gave too much scope for subjective interpretations.

The official name given to the film censorship body was Statens biografbyrå, (called SBB in the following) and the operative section of the new law, the Cinema Ordinance, then read as follows:

"Examiners shall not approve cinematic pictures, the showing of which is contrary to law or morality or is otherwise liable to have a brutalizing or agitating effect or to cast doubt on the concept of legality. Therefore, pictures depicting scenes of horror, suicide or serious crimes in such a manner and in such a context as to have such an effect shall not be approved.

Furthermore, pictures that are liable perversely to excite children's imagination or otherwise to have an adverse effect on their mental development or well-being shall not be passed for exhibition at performances to which children under the age of 15 are admitted. Examiners must not deny approval for pictures other than those referred above."

Society as a whole, the institution of film censorship and, above all, the films themselves, have changed a great deal since 1911, as have also the central legal provisions.

Yet one of the fundamental concepts has stood the test of time: films or scenes must not be approved if they are liable to have a brutalizing effect on audiences over the age of 15 (the only restriction that still applies to this category) or to cause children under the age of 15 mental harm.

Two new age limits have been introduced in addition to the 15-year limit: one of 11 years (1960) and one of 7 years (1978).

The rules laid down in 1914, at the time of the outbreak of World War I, relating to military secrets and foreign policy considerations have been abolished, as has the Act prohibiting offences against morality and decency (1971). The repeal of that Act signified the legalization of pornography in the cinema.

At the beginning of the 1990's two of SBB's previous criteria for not approving films or scenes for adult audiences - "perversely exciting" and "liable to encourage crime", as well as the notion that the showing of a film "might in other respects be contrary to law" - were abolished.

Provisions making child pornography a criminal offence have been enacted and are taken into account in the assessments of SBB.

Commercials are no longer examined, but trailers for films are still subject to compulsory examination.