Forty-Hour Week Convention, 1935 (No. 47) - Sweden (Ratification: 1982)

Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Article 1 of the Convention. The principle of the 40-hour week. The Committee notes that while section 5 of the Working Hours Act sets normal working hours at 40 hours per week, sections 8 and 8a of the same Act allow overtime beyond the statutory limit (up to 350 hours during a calendar year). Considering that these provisions authorize practices that would possibly lead to unreasonably long hours of work, in contradiction to the principle of progressive reduction of hours of work, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures adopted or envisaged to ensure that the application in practice of such provisions do not contradict the principle of a 40-hour week. Specifically, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the total numbers of daily and weekly hours (normal hours plus overtime) that workers in different sectors effectively work.

Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Article 1 of the Convention. The principle of the 40-hour week. The Committee notes the comments submitted by the Swedish Confederation for Professional Employees (TCO) concerning the 2011 amendments to the Working Hours Act. In this respect, the TCO is critical of the removal of the requirement that an employer has to apply for an exemption from the law for additional overtime, extra overtime, and emergency overtime as this will mean, in practice, that such overtime will automatically be permitted, the employer will not be required to give reasons for such overtime, and the result will be hazardous for employees. The TCO estimates that in practice this amendment means an automatically permitted overtime of 350 hours per year instead of the previous 200 hours per year. The TCO further states that overtime is used increasingly as an alternative to hiring additional employees, i.e., an increase of over 11 per cent between 2009 and 2012, and permissible overtime has increased from 200 hours per year to 350 hours per year. Moreover, the TCO expresses its concern that, by lowering the level of protection in legislation, employers may likewise attempt to avoid having such prerequisites to additional overtime requests in the context of upcoming collective bargaining negotiations. Finally, the TCO states its opposition to transferring the responsibilities for the enforcement of the provisions of the Working Hours Act to the safety delegate. The Committee requests the Government to transmit any comments it may wish to make in reply to the observations of the TCO.

Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Article 1 of the Convention. Forty-hour week. The Committee notes the provisions of the Working Hours Act (1982:673), as last amended in 2005, in particular section 10 which introduces the possibility of averaging working hours over a reference period of at most four months provided that the working week does not exceed 48 hours on average. The Committee understands that this provision intends to give effect to the requirements of EU Directive 2003/88/EC concerning certain aspects of the organization of working time and, more generally, reflects the current tendency for more flexible working arrangements. However, the Committee wishes to recall that, according to Paragraph 12(1) of the Reduction of Hours of Work Recommendation, 1962 (No. 116), which was designed to facilitate the implementation of the Convention, the variable distribution of working hours over a period longer than one week should be permitted only when special conditions in certain branches of activity or technical needs justify it. Therefore, while noting that under section 5 of the Working Hours Act, where the nature of work or working conditions generally so demand, working hours may be averaged for a period of not more than four weeks within an average of 40 hours per week, the Committee requests the Government to explain the implications of the new rule on 48-hour maximum weekly average in so far as the principle of a 40-hour week is concerned.  

In addition, the Committee notes that under section 8 of the Working Hours Act, where additional working hours are required, overtime hours may be worked up to maximum of 48 hours for each four-week period (or 50 hours during a calendar month) but subject to an upper limit of 200 hours during a calendar year. The Committee wishes to refer, in this respect, to Paragraph 14 of Recommendation No. 116, which envisages exceptions of three kinds (permanent, temporary, periodical) to the normal hours of work and provides that the competent authorities in each country should determine the circumstances and limits of such exceptions. The Committee further refers to paragraph 79 of its General Survey of 1984 on working time in which it noted that undue facilitation of overtime, for example, by not limiting the circumstances in which it may be permitted or by allowing relatively high maximums, could in the most egregious cases tend to defeat the Recommendation’s objective of a social standard of a 40‑hour week and make irrelevant the provisions as to normal working hours. The Committee therefore requests the Government to supply more detailed information on the conditions under which overtime is permissible in the light of the relevant provisions of Recommendation No. 116.  

Part V of the report form. Application in practice. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide together with its next report up to date information on the practical application of the Convention, including, for instance, extracts from labour inspection reports showing the number and nature of contraventions reported with regard to hours worked in excess of the 40-hour week; statistics concerning the categories and number of workers to whom the principle of a 40-hour week has been applied and the number of hours worked in excess of the 40-hour week; the categories and number of workers to whom the principle of the 40-hour week has not as yet been applied and the normal hours of work applicable to these workers; official studies or reports on working time issues and especially the question of the reduction of hours of work in relation to factors such as the effect of new technologies and employment policy objectives; trends on working time arrangements as reflected in recent collective agreements, etc.