Sweden – Increases Tax on Electronics with Flame Retardants

The Swedish tax law (Act 2016:1067) on electronics containing flame retardants was revised by the Swedish Ministry of Finance to increase tax rates and update the products included within the scope of the law.  The law requires that a tax be paid on certain EEE products when they are placed on the market in Sweden; however, a tax reduction is available if the products can be shown to not contain bromine, chlorine or phosphorus.  Swedish Law 2019:489 amending the Tax on Chemicals in Certain Electronics Law 2016:1067 was published on June 26, 2019.

The law uses the Combined Nomenclature (CN) customs codes to determine which products are in scope.  Section 3 of the law, which sets out the products that must pay the tax, is updated and includes the CN codes shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Products included in scope of Swedish Tax Law (Act 2019:489)

Product CategoryCN Codes and Products
18418 10 (Combined refrigerator-freezers, fitted with separate external door), 8418 21 (compression type household refrigerators), 8418 29 (other refrigerators), 8418 30 (chest type freezers not exceeding 800 litres) and 8418 40 (upright type freezers not exceeding 900 litres)
28422 11 (household dishwashers)
38450 11 (fully automatic household or laundry washing machines including machines which both wash and dry of a dry linen capacity not exceeding 6kg), 8450 12 (other fully automatic household or laundry washing machines including machines which both wash and dry with built in centrifugal drier) and 8450 19 (other fully automatic household or laundry washing machines including machines which both wash and dry),
48451 21 (machines for washing, cleaning, drying, ironing etc textile yarns, fabrics, or other support used in the manufacture of floor coverings of a dry linen capacity not exceeding 10kg)
58471 30 (Portable automatic data-processing machines weighing not more than 10kg), 8471 41 (data-processing machines comprising in the same housing at least a central processing unit and an input and output unit) and 8471 49 (other portable automatic data-processing machines)
68508 11 (vacuum cleaners with self contained electric motors of a power not exceeding 1500 W and having a dust bag or other receptacle capacity not exceeding 20 L)
78516 50 (electric instantaneous or storage water heaters and immersion heaters and 8516 60 (other ovens, cookers, cooking plates, boiling rings, grillers and roasters),
88517 11 ( line telephone sets with cordless handsets), 8517 12 (Telephones for cellular networks or for other wireless networks), 8517 18 (Other apparatus for the transmission or reception of voice, images or other data, including apparatus for communication in wired or wireless network) and 8517 62 (machines for the reception, conversion, and transmission or regeneration of voice images or other data including switching and routing apparatus)
98519 30 (turntables / record decks), 8519 50 (telephone answering machines), 8519 81 (sound reproducing apparatus including cassette players not incorporating a sound recording device) and 8519 89 (other magnetic, optical or semi conductor media)
108521 10 (magnetic tape type video recording or reproducing apparatus) and 8521 90 (other video recording or reproducing apparatus),
118527 12 (pocket size radio cassette players), 8527 13 (other apparatus combined with sound recording or reproducing apparatus), 8527 19 (radio broadcast receivers not capable of operating without an external source of power used in motor vehicles) , 8527 91 (other combined sound recording or reproducing apparatus housing one or more loudspeakers), 8527 92 (clock combined sound recording or reproducing apparatus) and 8527 99 (printed circuit board sub assemblies)
128528 41 (Cathode-ray tube monitors of a kind solely/principally used in an automatic data processing system of heading 84.71), 8528 49 (other monitors), 8528 51 (other monitors), 8528 59 (projectors), 8528 71 (reception apparatus for television not designed to incorporate a video display or screen) , 8528 72 (other colour) and 8528 73 (other monochrome), and
139504 50 (video game consoles and machines).

For a taxable good referred to in categories 1–4, 6 or 7 of Table 1, the tax payable is increased from SEK 8 to SEK 11 per kilogram of the net weight of the taxable good (not exceeding SEK 440  per taxable good).

For a taxable good referred to in categories 5 or 8–13 of Table 1, the tax payable is increased from SEK 120 to SEK 160 per kilogram of the net weight of the taxable good (as above, up to a maximum tax of SEK 440 per taxable good).

An official list of taxable goods, along with their corresponding CN codes, can be found on the Swedish Tax Agency website[1]. The amendment enters into force on 1 August 2019.

[1] Swedish Act, https://www.svenskforfattningssamling.se/sites/default/files/sfs/2019-06/SFS2019-489.pdf