Selling into Sweden through distributors

How the market buys

Swedish procurement notices are not published on one national portal. Under the Act on procurement statistics (2019:668), in force since 1 July 2020, contracting authorities advertise their procurements in advertising databases registered with Konkurrensverket, the Swedish Competition Authority, which keeps the register and supervises the databases. Upphandlingsmyndigheten, the National Agency for Public Procurement, sets out the rule plainly: below the EU thresholds the notice must be published in a registered advertising database; above them it goes to TED and to a registered database as well. Procurements that must be advertised, above and below the thresholds, must also be followed by an award notice (efterannons).

The operators of the registered databases report data from notices and award notices to Upphandlingsmyndigheten, which is the statistics authority and runs the national statistics database. For a supplier the result is a market spread across several databases, which is one reason the award notices on TED are a useful common record for the larger contracts.

Swedish public buyers range from central government agencies to regions and municipalities. Where the award notices in your category name a Swedish distributor or wholesaler rather than a manufacturer, that company already holds the customer relationships you want. Sweden ranks 8th of 123 countries and regions in the 2025 EF English Proficiency Index, so an approach in English will normally be understood.

Lawful first contact

Swedish law separates natural persons from legal persons. Section 19 of the Marketing Act (marknadsföringslagen, 2008:486) allows a trader to use e-mail for marketing to a natural person only if that person has consented in advance, with a narrow exception for marketing the trader's own similar products to existing customers. Section 20 requires every marketing e-mail to contain a valid address to which the recipient can send a request for the marketing to stop, and it states expressly that this also applies to marketing to a legal person. The government bill that introduced the rules, prop. 2003/04:43, explains the difference: unlike the consent rule, the address requirement also covers marketing intended for a legal person. The Consumer Ombudsman (Konsumentombudsmannen) supervises compliance with the Act and can issue injunctions backed by a fine (sections 28 and 42).

So a first e-mail to a Swedish limited company, sent to its general address, is lawful without prior consent, as long as the message carries a working opt-out address and you honour any request to stop.

A sole trader (enskild näringsidkare) is a natural person, and the government bill behind section 19 says expressly that natural persons who are traders are protected, so consent is needed before e-mailing one (prop. 2003/04:43). What is not settled in the Act: section 19 does not say whether a message to a named employee's work address, such as firstname.lastname@company.se, counts as marketing to a natural person. The cautious reading is to treat named addresses as personal, write to the general address (info@, order@, sales@) and leave named contacts until the distributor replies. Where you do process a named person's address, data protection law applies to it as well.

In practice: write a short, specific message about why your range fits what the distributor already sells; identify your company in full; give a working address and a one-line way to opt out; record any objection and stop at once. Writing in Swedish is courteous, but a clear message in English is acceptable as a first step.

What local distributors expect

Before a Swedish distributor takes on a new range, expect it to ask for:

• Product information in Swedish for its own customers — instructions, price lists and marketing text — with technical files in English as a starting point.
• Conformity evidence for the category: CE marking and declarations of conformity where the product is regulated, test reports, and environmental and chemical-content data where buyers ask for them.
• A transparent commercial structure: margin, territory (Sweden alone or the Nordic region), account ownership and exclusivity, discussed openly and early.
• Dependable logistics over long distances: lead times you can keep, stock within reach, and a plan for spare parts and returns.
• Patience and follow-through: expect a decision to involve several people, and keep to what you agree.

How to enter, step by step

1. Read the record for your categories. Choose the CPV codes that describe your range and look at Swedish contract award notices on TED for contracts above the EU thresholds. Below them, notices and award notices sit in the advertising databases listed in Konkurrensverket's register, so check the ones your buyers use. Note which distributors and wholesalers win repeatedly.
2. Check the central framework agreements. Statens inköpscentral at Kammarkollegiet procures framework agreements for other state authorities (and, in IT and telecoms, for municipalities and regions too); the suppliers with the best tenders sign the agreements, but being on one does not guarantee orders. Adda, owned by SKR and a majority of Sweden's municipalities, supports municipalities and regions with coordinated supply. If your category is covered, the suppliers on those agreements are the companies to approach.
3. Prepare Swedish product information. Instructions, price lists and marketing text in Swedish for the distributor's customers, with technical files in English as a starting point.
4. Assemble conformity evidence. CE marking and declarations of conformity where the product is regulated, test reports, and environmental and chemical-content data where buyers ask for them.
5. Make the first contact by e-mail to the general address. Write to info@, order@ or sales@ with a short, specific message on why your range fits; identify your company in full, give a working opt-out address, and stop at once if asked. Leave named contacts until the distributor replies.
6. Prepare the first meeting. Set out margin, territory (Sweden alone or the Nordic region), account ownership and exclusivity openly, with lead times you can keep over long distances, stock within reach and a plan for spare parts and returns.
7. Follow through. Expect the decision to involve several people, keep to what you agree, and use later award notices to see where your range wins.

Where the evidence comes from

Above the EU thresholds — EUR 140,000 for supplies and services bought by central government bodies and EUR 216,000 for other public authorities from 1 January 2026 — Swedish buyers must publish contract award notices, and those notices appear on TED, the online supplement to the Official Journal of the EU. Each notice names the winning company and carries CPV codes, so the distributors that repeatedly win, for example, medical consumables or office furniture contracts, can be identified from the public record. Below the thresholds, notices and award notices sit in the registered advertising databases.

Cresques reads the award notices for the CPV categories you choose and shows who already sells that category in Sweden. It does not help you bid for the contracts; the notices are evidence of who the buyers already trust, and the lawful first contact above is how you reach them.