Wholesale trading in spirits and alcoholic beverages
Wholesale trade in alcoholic beverages and alcoholic beverage-like preparations requires that you be authorised as a warehouse keeper or as a registered recipient of such goods. If you have sold alcoholic beverages or alcoholic beverage-like preparations, you will also need to submit statistical data.
You must be approved as a warehouse keeper or registered recipient
As a wholesaler, you must be approved as a warehouse keeper or as a registered recipient in order to engage in wholesale trade in spirituous liquor, wine, strong beer (beer over 3,5 vol. percent alcohol), other fermented alcoholic beverages and alcoholic beverage-like preparations. The Swedish Tax Agency decides on these approvals and you may only trade in the beverages covered by the approval.
You can sell spirits and alcoholic beverages to the following
As a wholesaler, you may sell alcoholic beverages and alcoholic beverage-like preparations to:
- Systembolaget
- other wholesalers who have the right to trade in the corresponding goods
- persons with a licence to serve alcohol
- persons who have been accepted as a tax-exempt consumer for the use of alcoholic products in technical, industrial, medical, scientific or similar activities
You are obliged to ensure that your buyers have the right to purchase these goods or resell the goods.
Only you as a wholesaler are allowed to repackage and bottle alcoholic beverages. You may also send out, export, bring in and import the goods covered by the approval you have received from the Swedish Tax Agency.
You need to submit statistics on your sales
The Public Health Agency is responsible for keeping statistics on, among other things, the sale and manufacture of alcoholic beverages. If you are or have been approved as a warehouse keeper by the Swedish Tax Agency during the accounting period, you therefore need to report certain information to us.
The information you provide shall refer to the accounting period from 1 January to 31 December. The form must be submitted by 1 March at the latest. You can register statistical reports of sales/manufacturing either through our e-service or by sending the form to the Swedish Public Health Agency. The address of the Public Health Agency can be found at the bottom of the form.
The Public Health Agency will send out a pre-printed statistical report on sales/manufacturing to the wholesalers concerned at the end of the year. If you have not received a statistical report on sales/manufacturing or have lost the pre-printed form, you can contact us to get a new form. You can also contact us if you have any questions about the report.
Data on alcoholic beverage-like preparations shall be provided for the first time no later than 1 March 2022 for the period 1 January to 31 December 2021. Information on how to report this data will be available in 2020.
| Title | Instructions |
|---|---|
| Who must report? |
Anyone who has been approved as a warehouse keeper or registered consignee of alcoholic beverages at some point during the reporting period. |
| How do I report? |
Either on the paper form or through our e-service |
| Reporting period |
1 January – 31 December. Data on alcoholic beverage-like preparations shall be provided starting with the period 1 January to 31 December 2021. |
| Last submission date |
1 March of the year after the reporting period |
| E-service for reporting |
Note that the e-service for reporting only applies to the pre-printed form |
| Zero reporting through the e-service |
If you do not have anything to report, i.e. reporting zero through the e-service reporting fields, you will receive a message that this is correct. If this is correct, you need to click the save button again for the report to be registered (in case of zero reporting through the e-service, you need to click on the save button twice for the report to be registered). |
| The paper form is sent to |
Public Health Agency of Sweden, Box 505, 831 26 Östersund |
e-service for reporting (atr.folkhalsomyndigheten.se) (in Swedish)
Obligation to provide information and confidentiality
If you are a permit holder, manufacturer or wholesaler or a trader in technical spirits, you are obliged under the Alcohol Act to provide the information necessary for the Public Health Agency to keep statistics on the activities. The Public Health Authority's regulations on statistical data on the manufacture of alcoholic beverages and wholesale trade in spirit drinks, wine, strong beer and other fermented alcoholic beverages (FoHMFS 2014:2) describe in more detail the data to be reported.
The statistical reports received by the Public Health Agency are public documents and therefore be disclosed on request. We always carry out a confidentiality review of the information that can be disclosed if a document is requested. Information contained in a report on the personal or financial circumstances of a wholesaler is not disclosed if it could cause harm or detriment to the individual or their relatives. For information contained in a public document, confidentiality is valid for a maximum of fifty years.
The provisions on which this information is based on
Chapter 4. Sections 2-4 of the Alcohol Act (2010:1622) (riksdagen.se) (in Swedish)
Chapter 9 Section 14, second paragraph of the Alcohol Act (2010:1622) (riksdagen.se) (in Swedish)
Section 4a, second paragraph of the Alcohol Regulation (2010:1636) (riksdagen.se) (in Swedish)
Sections 9, 12 and 31e of the Alcohol Tax Act (1994:1564) (riksdagen.se) (in Swedish)
Chapter 30 Section 20 of the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (2009:400) (riksdagen.se) (in Swedish)
The information on this website is intended for general information purposes only and does not replace what is written in the Alcohol Act and the Alcohol Tax Act. There may also be other laws or regulations from other authorities that you need to be aware of.
