Overview
- The law took effect on 1 July 2026 and compels staffed supermarket and pharmacy checkouts to accept banknotes and coins while obliging banks to preserve cash deposit and withdrawal services.
- The government says the change is aimed at protecting people who lack reliable digital payment access and at strengthening resilience after past outages and a 2025 breach of the BankID system.
- The statute includes wide exemptions, allows merchants to refuse cash for safety or cost reasons, limits coin acceptance to 25 pieces per purchase, and excludes fully unmanned checkouts.
- Some major retailers have already signalled they will not comply and authorities have not published a clear enforcement or penalty regime, leaving practical uptake uncertain.
- Cash use in Sweden is very low — the Riksbank found about 5% of last purchases were paid in cash in 2025 — and the central bank still advises households to keep roughly 1,000 kronor for emergencies while exploring a future e-krona.