Freedom of speech in general is guaranteed by one of the Swedish Fundamental Laws. Thus a short-term trend in opinion cannot change the constitution. The detailed content of the above mentioned legislation has been formed by decisions from the Swedish Market Court, which is a specific court dealing with issues relating to marketing in general including marketing of alcohol and tobacco. To safeguard the interest of the consumer Sweden has an ombudsman who is in charge of looking after consumer interest. The ombudsman appears as plaintiff in quite a few cases in front of the Swedish Market Court.
Commercial speech is offered lesser protection thaN regular speech.
For example there are two laws limiting the freedom of speech in area of tobacco and alcohol advertising. In the area of regulations concerning consumer credits Swedish law contains some limitations. According to Swedish law on consumer credits companies are obliged to include explicit information about for example the actual rate of interest. This law however does not contain any limitations as to the content of the advertising or commercial itself. However, advertising on tobacco and alcohol are the two most important areas of limitation of commercial speech.