The English name ....

... for the new authority will be the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency.

This unique name has been chosen for 3 main reasons:
1 The name reflects the all encompassing tasks of the agency, that is to say, the whole spectrum of contingencies from, for example, road traffic accidents, fires, chemical emergencies, power cuts and other technical failures all the way up to bomb threats and other antagonistic attacks, epidemics, natural disasters and war.

2 To avoid confusion with those civil protection agencies around Europe that do not have such a comprehensive mandate and that are not strategic national government authorities, but rather, municipal or regional bodies providing a “hands on” operational service for the protection of the public during emergencies.

3 To avoid confusion with the names of previous Swedish authorities that will be closed down on the last day of 2008.

The word contingency means

1. A possible but not very likely future event or condition, eventuality (e.g. war, epidemic).
2. Something dependent on a future event
3. A fact, event, incident.

The name has been created in consultation with a working group consisting of experienced professional translators from two different Swedish government authorities and experienced administrators from government authorities, and with reference to and research on the use of the term Civil Contingencies in other countries, especially the UK.