Throughout the autumn and winter, Systembolaget has repeatedly raised the issue with the government of being allowed to extend the hours for home deliveries and deliveries to agents. This is evident from internal documents that SVT News has taken note of.
Currently, the regulations stipulate that home deliveries of alcohol may only be carried out within the framework of Systembolaget's physical opening hours. The state-owned company justifies its request for wider time windows by stating that it wants to adapt its operations to the growing e-commerce sector. Systembolaget told SVT that it is about meeting "a major shift with changing customer behaviour and increased demand for digital purchases and more flexible delivery solutions".
Minister for Health and Social Affairs Elisabet Lann (KD), who bears responsibility for alcohol legislation, views a review of the regulations positively and points to the logistical challenges of the current system, among other things.
"Transport becomes more expensive for Systembolaget when they have to deliver their goods before the time Systembolaget closes. It becomes unnecessarily expensive," she told SVT.
A legislative amendment would require a decision in the Riksdag (Swedish Parliament), and Elisabet Lann believes that the government should investigate the possibility of separating delivery times from store opening hours. She makes it clear that extending the opening hours of physical stores is not currently on the agenda, something she opposes for public health reasons. Systembolaget has also confirmed that they are not pursuing the issue of extended store hours.
"I would like to see a solution found," says Elisabet Lann.
Systembolaget applied for a similar rule change in 2021. At that time, it concerned both later home deliveries and extended Saturday opening hours in stores, but the proposal was then rejected by the S-led government. This time, the focus is solely on adapting the logistics for e-commerce.