9.1.2 The Code Group and Swedish Code of Corporate Governance 2004

In October 2003 the Code Group, chaired by Erik Åsbrink, was established as a joint effort of the Government Commission on Business Confidence (Förtroendekommissionen) and a number of business organisations1 (Code Group 2004a: 3). They published a proposal for a Swedish Code of Corporate Governance as a discussion document in April 2004. The committee received 78 reactions to the proposal and summarised them in a report. Finally, this led to the publication of the first Swedish Corporate Governance Code (hereafter: SCCG 2005) in December 2004, which consists of rules and introductory text (Code Group 2005: 12). The SCCG 2005 focuses on five areas: (1) the shareholders’ meeting, (2) appointment of the board and auditors, (3) the board of directors, (4) company management and (5) information on corporate governance. The elements of the SCCG 2005 that focus on independence are described below and are in some cases compared with the initial proposal of the Code Group.