When a Swedish business says no to your refund, Swedes don’t hire a lawyer. They file with ARN. Here is how the board works, what changed in 2024 and 2025, whether you can use it as a visitor, and what to do if the company ignores the result.
When you need this
A Swedish shop, hotel, restaurant, airline or car-rental firm has rejected your complaint, or stopped answering. A refusal letter mentions “ARN” and you don’t know what that is. You’re back home and want to pursue a Swedish company without paying for legal help. Or ARN has ruled for you and the money still hasn’t arrived.
What ARN is, and why Sweden has it
Allmänna reklamationsnämnden (ARN, the National Board for Consumer Disputes) is a government agency that recommends how a dispute between a consumer and a business should be solved. It is Sweden’s official body for out-of-court consumer dispute resolution under the EU rules on the subject.
The idea is simple: a broken jacket or a disputed hotel charge shouldn’t need a court. So the whole process is in writing, and neither side attends. Each case is decided by a chair who is a lawyer with experience as a judge, usually sitting with members nominated in equal numbers by consumer and business organizations.
The numbers show what you can expect. In 2025 ARN received 24,603 cases. Consumers won fully or partly in 39 percent of the cases tried on the merits, so it is a neutral board, not an advocate. And 76 percent of decisions in the consumer’s favor were followed at once.
What has changed: the fee and the new value limits
Two changes make many older guides wrong.
Good to know: older guides may still describe ARN as free. It is not. Since 1 August 2024 every complaint costs 150 kr, and since 1 August 2025 the minimum claim values are higher (SFS 2025:610).
The fee is paid when you file and is not refunded, even if ARN declines the case. But you can ask, in your complaint, for ARN to recommend that the business pays it back. Only the economic claim counts toward the limit; claims for non-economic harm and the fee itself are left out.
| Area | Minimum claim since 1 August 2025 |
|---|---|
| Bank, insurance, boats, housing | 3,000 kr (was 2,000 kr for bank and insurance) |
| Motor vehicles, travel, furniture | 1,500 kr |
| Air, rail, sea and bus passenger rights | 750 kr |
| Electronics, energy contracts, clothing, shoes, laundry, gaming, everything else | 750 kr |
ARN can still try a smaller or late claim if it raises a question of principle or there are other special reasons, but don’t count on it.
A third change catches people who follow old webshop footers: the EU’s Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform closed on 20 July 2025. A complaint sent there goes nowhere.
Can ARN take your case?
ARN’s rules set no residence requirement for the consumer, and complaints in English are accepted unless the business objects. What matters is the business: it must target the Swedish market or have a sufficient connection to Sweden. ARN also tries only claims governed by Swedish law, which normally means a contract made in Sweden. A hotel in Gothenburg qualifies. A foreign webshop qualifies only if it targets Swedish customers or has a sufficient connection to Sweden.
Run through ARN’s own checklist:
- Private use: you bought for yourself, not for a business.
- From a business: not from a private person. A flea-market seller, a private cabin owner or a second-hand app sale can’t go to ARN (see booking a Swedish cabin).
- Refused or ignored: the business said no, or had a reasonable time to answer and didn’t.
- Within one year of your first complaint to the business, not from its refusal.
- Above the value limit for the area.
- Not excluded: healthcare, buying property or a tenant-owned flat, tenancy disputes other than money claims, legal services, cases needing a medical assessment, bankrupt businesses, and anything already in court or with Kronofogden.
Cases that need witnesses or large investigations may also be rejected, because the procedure is written only.
If the business is in another EU country, Iceland or Norway with no Swedish connection, ARN refers you to the European Consumer Centre network instead. For airline claims, see flight delay compensation and delayed or lost baggage; for trains, train delay compensation.
How to file, step by step
- Complain to the business first, in writing. Say what is wrong and what you want, and keep a copy. That date starts the one-year clock, and ARN may dismiss a case where you never complained to the business. For goods, this is your reklamation (complaint); see returns, ångerrätt and reklamation.
- Wait for an answer, or for a reasonable time. Silence counts as a no. By law, a business that rejects your claim must tell you in writing which dispute board you can turn to and whether it will take part.
- Check that ARN can try it, using the list above.
- Get free advice if you need it (see below).
- File with ARN. The web form takes the 150 kr fee at filing. With a printed form, ARN sends a payment request afterwards. Attach the receipt or booking, your complaint and the company’s answer, and ask for the fee to be repaid.
- Answer ARN’s requests on time. ARN sends your complaint to the business and its reply to you, and may ask you for more. Not sending requested information is one of the commonest reasons a case is dismissed.
- Read the decision. It comes in writing, with reasons.
One more protection: while the case is at ARN, any legal time limit on your claim is extended, so it expires no earlier than one month after the case ends.
After the decision: binding or not?
An ARN decision is a recommendation, not a judgment. The business can legally ignore it, and ARN has no power to make it pay. There is also no appeal; either side can ask for reconsideration only if a decision is obviously wrong, within four weeks.
If the business ignores you, you have three moves:
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Svarta listan (the blacklist) | The consumer magazine Råd & Rön, not ARN, names companies that don’t follow ARN decisions |
| A written reminder | Quote the decision; many firms pay once reminded |
| Small-claims court | The district court’s simplified procedure, where recoverable costs are capped mainly at one hour of legal advice |
ARN’s 2025 annual report names the weak spot: compliance has slipped because more complaints concern foreign sellers, including social-media shops and dropshippers, that won’t take part. If you paid by card, ask your card issuer about a chargeback while the dispute runs. What happens when debts are enforced is covered in Kronofogden and payment orders.
Help that costs nothing
You don’t have to do this alone, but which help you get depends on where you live.
| You are… | Free help |
|---|---|
| Resident in a Swedish municipality | The municipal konsumentvägledare (consumer adviser), where your municipality offers one; some help with ARN complaints |
| Anyone with a Swedish purchase question | Konsumentverket’s advisers, phone 0771-525 525 |
| Resident in the EU, Iceland or Norway | The European Consumer Centre (ECC) in your own country, part of the same network as Konsument Europa (ECC Sweden) |
| Resident elsewhere | ARN directly, in English |
Before ARN, it’s also worth asking for the business’s own complaints officer. ARN notes that many disputes are settled there. And for travel complaints, remember that the one-year clock keeps running through the holidays, so don’t wait until the next trip.
Practical information
| Item | What to know | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| ARN complaint fee | 150 kr, not refunded; ask for the business to repay it | 2026-10-14 |
| Value limit: bank, insurance, boats, housing | 3,000 kr | 2026-10-14 |
| Value limit: motor, travel, furniture | 1,500 kr | 2026-10-14 |
| Value limit: passenger rights and most goods | 750 kr | 2026-10-14 |
| Deadline | One year from your first complaint to the business | 2026-10-14 |
| Typical time | About six months; 2025 median 174 days for cases tried on the merits | 2026-10-14 |
| ECC advice and mediation | Free | 2026-10-14 |
| Municipal consumer advice | Free where offered, residents only | 2026-10-14 |
FAQ
Is ARN free in Sweden?
Not any more. Since 1 August 2024 every complaint to ARN costs 150 kr, paid when you file online or after a payment request for paper forms. The fee is not refunded even if ARN declines the case, but you can ask ARN to recommend that the business repays it. There is still no lawyer, hearing or cost risk.
Is an ARN decision binding?
No. ARN gives a written recommendation with reasons, and a business can legally ignore it. In practice most comply: in 2025, 76 percent of decisions in consumers’ favor were followed at once. Companies that refuse can appear on Råd & Rön’s blacklist, and the consumer can still go to court, where the ruling’s reasoning helps.
Can a tourist or foreigner file a complaint with ARN?
Yes. The rules set no residence requirement, and ARN accepts complaints in English unless the business objects. The business must target the Swedish market or have a sufficient connection to Sweden, and the claim must fall under Swedish law, which normally means a contract made in Sweden. EU, Iceland and Norway residents can also ask their home ECC.
What are ARN’s value limits?
Since 1 August 2025, ARN normally tries a claim only if it reaches 750 kr for passenger rights, electronics, clothing, shoes and most goods and services; 1,500 kr for motor vehicles, travel and furniture; and 3,000 kr for banking, insurance, boats and housing. The fee and non-economic damages don’t count. Principled cases below the limit can still be tried.
How long does an ARN case take?
ARN says about six months, and you cannot jump the queue. In 2025 the median time for cases decided on the merits was 174 days, down 80 days on 2024. Once a case is ready, the ordinance gives ARN 90 days to decide, with extensions for complex cases. Clear dismissals usually come within days.
What if the company ignores ARN’s decision?
ARN cannot force payment. Check whether the company is on Råd & Rön’s Svarta listan, which names businesses that ignore ARN, and remind the company in writing. To get paid, you would need a court judgment, usually through the district court’s small-claims procedure, where recoverable costs are capped.
Related guides
- Returns in Sweden: öppet köp vs ångerrätt — the rights you take to ARN in the first place
- Reklamation: your three-year right to complain — the complaint most ARN cases rest on
- Flight delays: your compensation rights — the claim that most often ends at ARN
- Booking Swedish cabins — why a private host can’t be taken to ARN
- Kronofogden and debt collection — how enforcement works when a ruling is ignored
Facts verified 2026-10-14. Sources: Sveriges riksdag and Regeringskansliet (Förordning 2015:739 as amended by SFS 2025:610, Lag 2015:671), Allmänna reklamationsnämnden (including its 2025 annual report), Konsumentverket, Konsument Europa, the European Commission, the European e-Justice Portal and Råd & Rön — full register in this topic’s source file. This is general information, not legal advice. Found something outdated? Tell us and we’ll fix it.