How the Swedish Forest Agency processes personal data
The Swedish Forest Agency is the public authority in charge of forest-related issues. Our mission is to promote that the management of the Swedish forests leads to that the objectives of the Swedish forest policy are attained. This often means that we must handle your personal data.
We protect your personal data
The Swedish Forest Agency is only allowed to process your personal data if there is a legal basis and the processing has a specifically declared purpose. In addition, the processing must meet other certain requirements to be justified. For example, The Swedish Forest Agency must ensure that:
- the processing of personal data is limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed
- personal data are accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date
- personal data are not stored for longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data are processed
- personal data are processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorized or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organizational measures.
What is personal data and what does processing of personal data mean?
Personal data is information that can directly or indirectly identify an individual. Typical examples of personal data are:
- Names
- Personal identity numbers
- Addresses
- IP addresses
- Case identification numbers
- Residential geographic locations
- Images and sound recordings that can be used to identify a person
Processing of personal data refers to a wide range of measures that can be applied to data. This includes the gathering, registration, storage, organization, merging or printing of data.
Controller
The Swedish Forest Agency is the controller of your personal data. This means that the Swedish Forest Agency is responsible for processing your personal data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
If you have any questions you may contact us directly by phone at +46 (0)36-35 93 00, or by sending an e-mail to skogsstyrelsen@skogsstyrelsen.se.
Alternatively, you can send a letter to Skogsstyrelsen, 551 83 Jönköping.
We also have a data protection officer who you may contact by sending an e‑mail to dataskyddsombud@skogsstyrelsen.se.
From where do we collect your personal data?
- From you directly. Personal data is for example processed when you communicate with us, when you submit a notification or an application.
- From external actors. In order to fulfil our obligations, we sometimes need to gather personal data from other parties, for example other agencies like Sweden's County Administrative Boards, the Swedish Board of Agriculture, the National Heritage Board, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and Lantmäteriet.
What personal data do we process and for what purpose?
The Swedish Forest Agency handles personal data in many different contexts and a full account of all contexts is not possible within the framework of this general information. The Swedish Forest Agency will provide you with specific information as to why we process your personal data for each specific processing. We will also inform you about the legal basis for the specific processing of your personal data. The following headings exemplifies our most common reasons for processing your personal data.
Exercise of official authority
We need your personal data to be able to make decisions in various cases which concern our activities, for example when you have reported a clear felling. When dealing with your notification we will process personal data such as your name, your address, your property unit designation, your personal identity number and coordinates for the area where your property is located. This processing of your personal data is carried out as part of our exercise of official authority.
Public interest
The Swedish Forest Agency has been commissioned by the Government to promote the kind of management of Sweden's forests that enables the objectives of forest policy to be attained.
This may mean that we provide information about our activities and provide advice on matters for which the authority is responsible. For example, we may arrange specific meetings with forest owners. Therefore, there is a public interest for processing your personal data in various contexts, for example your contact information when we send out information about our training opportunities and our magazine.
Contracts
In some cases, we act as a contracting party in various contractual relationships. We have a legal basis for processing your personal data when the processing is necessary for fulfilling a contractual agreement with you.
Fulfilling a legal obligation
There are laws and regulations which dictate that we must process your personal data, for example the Bookkeeping Act. In such cases we process your personal data as the processing Is necessary in order to fulfil a legal obligation.
Legitimate interest
The Swedish Forest Agency is a large public agency with many employees. To be able to handle salary payments, administrate leaves and other matters regarding an employment we need to process our employees’ personal data. This is not a part of the agency’s core business. The processing of personal data only takes place when it is necessary for a purpose related to a legitimate interest for us and your interest of protection of your personal data does not outweigh that legitimate interest.
Consent
The Swedish Forest Agency can request your consent to process your personal data. This means that we cannot process your personal data without obtaining your consent. Your consent shall be explicitly given and shall clearly state that you consent to the processing och your personal data in the way that we have specified. You can at any time withdraw your consent.
Parties that we share your information with
- Various public authorities. The Swedish Forest Agency cooperates with several public authorities because of our activities. We may share your information with, for example, Sweden's County Administrative Boards or Lantmäteriet.
- Courts, adversary parties etc. When handling cases, we may need to transfer your personal data to other parties and in case of legal disputes, we may need transfer your personal data to a court.
- Since we are a public authority, most of the documents that are submitted to the agency and are kept here are public documents. The documents that we draw up, for example various decisions, become public documents as well. According to the Swedish Constitution, everyone has the right to access public documents. If your personal data is part of a public document the agency may have to disclose the information upon request, if your personal data is not classified.
- In certain cases, the Swedish Forest Agency needs external help with handling the information that we process. These external services or parties may, for example, include cloud-based services for storing information, cooperative efforts with hired consultants, or purchases of different IT systems, such as our payroll service. Those who help us with these services are called processors. When using processors, the Swedish Forest Agency establishes a data processing agreement which ensures that the processors process your personal data in accordance with our instructions and adhere to the same level of security as the Swedish Forest Agency when handling the data.
How long is my data stored for?
It depends on the type of data and the context in which the data is used. The Swedish Forest Agency is obliged to follow the rules and regulations set out in the GDPR, meaning that we, among other things, shall apply the storage limitation principle. According to this principle, personal data shall not be stored for longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data are processed.
As a public authority, the Swedish Forest Agency is generally required to preserve public records. Our public documents shall be kept in order and may not be deleted without specific rules stated in the Archive Act.
Your rights
When we process your personal data, you have certain rights. Your rights may differ depending on the legal basis for our processing of the personal data. As a public authority, we also must adhere to the principle of public access to official records and the Archive Act, which may limit your rights in certain cases.
Information and access to personal data
You have the right to receive information when we gather and process your personal data. For example, you have the right to receive information about
- what personal data we process
- the purpose of the processing
- to whom we disclose or may disclose your personal data
- if possible, how long we will store your personal data
- he right to request rectification or erasure of personal data or restriction of processing or to object to processing
- your right to lodge a complaint with the Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection
- where we gather your information from, if not gathered from you directly.
Request rectification
If you consider your personal data to be inaccurate or incomplete, you have the right to request rectification and, in some cases, to have incomplete personal data completed.
Erasure
In some circumstances, you have the right to have your personal data erased. However, the erasure cannot interfere with our requirement to keep public documents or the rules and regulations stated in the Archive Act. Also, the right to have your personal data erased does not apply if we process the data as part of our exercise of official authority or if we process the data performance of a task carried out in the public interest.
Limitation of processing
You have the right to require that the Swedish Forest Agency limits the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances.
Data portability
You have the right to receive your personal data which you have provided to the agency, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and you have the right to, if technically possible, transmit those data to another controller. This applies to the processing of personal data that you have provided to the agency, which is carried out on the legal basis of consent or a contract.
Contact information and complaints
To exercise your rights or if you have any queries about our processing of your personal data, you may contact the Swedish Forest Agency or our data protection officer. If you’re not satisfied with the answer received, you have the right to file a complaint with the Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection.