Sweden

About the Flag

Sweden is a constitutional monarchy located in Northern Europe bordering the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Bothnia and Skagerrak between Finland and Norway. It is a member of the OECD, the UN, and the IMO. The King is the Chief of State; the Prime Minister is the Head of Government. There is a unicameral parliament. Stockholm is the capital and Swedish is the main language, though English is widely spoken, as are Finnish and Lapp to a lesser degree. There is a civil law system with customary law influences. An industrial country, Sweden has one of the highest living standards in the world with a mixed system of high tech capitalism and extensive welfare benefits. It has a modern distribution system, excellent internal and external communication, and a skilled labor force. Principal exports are machinery, motor vehicles, paper products, pulp and wood, and iron and steel products. Major trading partners include the EC countries and the United States. The unit of currency is the Swedish krona.

Registration of ships and other maritime matters are covered in the Swedish Maritime Code (1994:1009). In 1997, following Sweden’s membership in the EU, the legislature put new legislation in place detailing in which situations a vessel shall be considered Swedish and entitled to fly the Swedish flag and in what situations  egistration must be or can be made in the Swedish Ship Register. According to the 1997 regulation, a managing owner for a shipping partnership may be a natural person or a legal entity. There are two separate registers, the Register of Ships and the Register of Ships under Construction (jointly referred to as the Ship Register).