Suecia - Legislative implementation of the ECJ decision on the Laval case (2010)

The Swedish Labour Court delivered its final judgement in the Laval case on 2 December 2009, sentencing the Swedish union for construction workers and the national union for electricians to pay damages and legal costs of SEK 2.5 million (approx. EUR 250,000). This was a remarkable ruling, not least since the same Court five years ago pronounced, in an interim decision, the industrial action as lawful according to the Swedish legislation. The Swedish Labour Court’s final judgement on damage compensation, which surprisingly referred to the existing EU legislation, constitutes a violation of the ILO principles on freedom of association.