History
In 1766 the Swedish king, Adolf Frederick, decided, after several unsuccessful attempts at regulating alcohol consumption, to abolish all restrictions. This led to virtually every household making and selling alcohol.
At the turn of the 19th century, alcohol was highly popular among Swedes. An estimated 175,000 home distilleries had developed by this time, using tremendous amounts of grain and potatoes that otherwise would have been consumed as food to manufacture alcohol. It was later said that most men in Sweden abused alcohol. Women rarely drank alcohol, since it was considered inappropriate.
In 1830, the first moderate drinking society was started in Stockholm. In 1837, the Svenska Sällskapet för Nykterhet och Folkbildning (The Swedish Society for Temperance and Public Education) was founded as the country's first fully-fledged temperance organization.[17] It was immediately promoted by the King, and quickly grew to 10,000 members with local chapters around the country. The Church of Sweden also strongly promoted temperance. Private gain from selling alcohol was strongly criticised by these groups; this opinion was embraced by doctors and members of the Church of Sweden. In 1850, the state began to regulate alcohol. In the city of Falun, a regional organization was established to regulate all alcohol sales in the city and ensure that sales were being done responsibly.
In 1860, a bar was opened in Gothenburg where the state had handpicked the employees and decided how the bar should be run; antisocial and or intoxicated people were to be excluded. This was where people both bought and drank their alcohol, and this subsequently became the foundation for the Gothenburg Public House System used in Norway, Finland and the UK. This was also the year it became illegal to sell to people under the age of 18. Similar state-regulated bars and stores began to open in other towns across the country, and they were hugely successful. Originally the profits were kept privately by the owners, but in 1870 it was decided that all profits should go to the state.
During the First World War, alcohol was strictly rationed. Thus, the state bars and stores started registering purchases. People were allowed only two liters of liquor every three months, and beer above 3.6% ABV (2.8% ABW) was banned.[18] After the war, the rationing continued, using the Bratt System of a household ration book called a motbok. Gender, income, wealth and social status decided how much alcohol one was allowed to buy. Unemployed people and welfare recipients were not allowed to buy any alcohol at all, while as the motbok was issued by household instead of per person, it meant that wives had to share their household allowance with their husbands and in effect got nothing at all. In 1917, Aktiebolaget Spritcentralen (now V&S Group) was formed to take over all wholesale distribution of alcohol. A referendum on prohibition in 1922 advised government not to issue total prohibition. The rationing system was very unpopular. When even the temperance movement protested against it (they felt it encouraged consumption), the government decided a new policy was needed.
In 1955, all regional alcohol monopolies (Systemaktiebolaget) were merged into the present-day Systembolaget enterprise, and the above-mentioned rationing system was abolished, so people were allowed to start buying as much alcohol as they wanted from Systembolaget stores (as long as they are sober, over 21 and not suspected of buying for later private resale). This led to increased consumption, so the government increased taxes heavily and made it compulsory that everyone had to show ID to get served. There was also an age limit of 21, which in 1969 was lowered to 20. In 1965, it became legal for privately run stores to sell beer up to 4.5% with an age limit of 18. 12 years later, after alcohol consumption – especially that of light beers (mellanöl) – rose dramatically, the limit was lowered to 3.5%.
Originally, Systembolaget customers were required to ask shop attendants or use desk service to retrieve desired products. This policy was based on the hypothesis that personal, face-to-face interaction would discourage patrons from buying in conspicuous quantities. Customers would not be permitted to serve themselves until 1991. This self service policy was gradually and subsequently expanded into all Systembolaget stores between 1991 and 2014.[19][20] The last Systembolaget store to convert to self service was the branch at Högdalen in southern Stockholm, which was converted in October 2014.[21] Still, several shops have their hard alcohol at the checkout where customers need to ask for it.
In September 1996, Systembolaget began sales of bag-in-box cask wine[22] after the European Court of Justice ruled in favour of the Swedish brewery Spendrups who complained that Systembolaget's earlier refusal to sell boxed wine violated the EU's free trade agreement with Sweden. By the mid-2000s boxed wine accounted for over half the volume of wine sold at Systembolaget.
In 2003, an almost free quota (for personal use) was allowed when traveling into Sweden from another EU country, resulting in lower sales for Systembolaget, especially in Scania, which borders Denmark by sea with a bridge. Increase in Danish prices has resulted in people driving to Germany instead for purchase. Some cars have been stopped by Swedish police for overweight but not for alcohol import, since four people are collectively allowed to have a total of 800 liters of beer and wine, which is above the allowed load of many standard cars.
In June 2007, the European Court of Justice ruled that restrictions on the private import of alcohol by postal package were unjustified;[6] as a result, Sweden allowed this some time after.
Swedish municipalities retain the right to ban the establishment of Systembolaget shops within their jurisdiction.[23] This has become much rarer over time, because of a more liberal political attitude and the belief that other shops lose customers when people drive to other municipalities for shopping.
