SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Helena Selander, Pontus Scherp and Fredrik Norburg, Norburg & Scherp
compensation may be reduced where the claimant has contributed to the harm suffered. Swedish law does not provide for exemplary or puni - tive damages in antitrust damages actions. However, where it is impossible or excessively difficult to quan - tify the harm precisely, the court may estimate the amount of damages at a reasonable level. A passing-on defence is available. A defendant may argue that the claimant passed on some or all of an overcharge resulting from the infringement to its cus - tomers and therefore did not itself suffer that part of the loss. The burden of proving the passing-on rests with the defendant. Interest is payable from the date on which the dam - age occurred. Until proceedings are initiated, interest accrues at a rate corresponding to the Swedish refer - ence rate plus two percentage points. From the date of service, interest accrues at the Swedish reference rate plus eight percentage points. As a general rule, where two or more undertakings are responsible for harm resulting from the same compe - tition law infringement, they are jointly and severally liable for the resulting damages. The Competition Damages Act provides for certain exceptions to this principle. Small and medium-sized enterprises, within the meaning of Commission Rec - ommendation 2003/361/EC, may benefit from limited liability where their market share remained below 5% during the infringement and the application of the ordi - nary rules on joint and several liability would irretrieva- bly jeopardise their economic viability and cause their assets to lose all their value. Subject to the statutory conditions, their liability is generally limited to harm suffered by their own direct and indirect purchasers or suppliers. This exception does not apply in cer - tain circumstances, including where the undertak - ing led the infringement, coerced other undertakings to participate in it or has previously been found to have infringed competition law. Nor does the limita - 9. Liability and Contribution 9.1 Joint and Several Liability
tion apply where an injured party would otherwise be unable to obtain full compensation from the other infringers. An undertaking that has received immunity from fines under a leniency programme remains liable for dam - ages. Its joint and several liability is, however, gener - ally limited to harm suffered by its own direct or indi - rect purchasers or suppliers. It may also be liable to other injured parties where full compensation cannot be obtained from the other undertakings involved in the infringement. Specific rules also apply where an infringer has set - tled with an injured party. As a general rule, the set - tling infringer is no longer liable to the settling claimant for the remaining claim against the other infringers. However, the settling infringer may remain liable where the remaining damages cannot be recovered from the other infringers, unless this possibility has been expressly excluded by the terms of the settlement. 9.2 Contribution Where several undertakings are liable for the same competition law infringement, an infringer that has compensated the injured party may recover an appro - priate share of the payment from the other infringers. The allocation between the infringers will depend on their respective responsibility for the harm. A specific limitation applies to immunity recipients under a leniency programme. The amount that such an undertaking may be required to contribute is gen - erally capped by reference to the harm suffered by its own direct or indirect purchasers or suppliers.
10. Other Remedies 10.1 Injunctions
Injunctive relief is available in private antitrust pro - ceedings, including by way of interim measures under the general rules in Chapter 15 of the Swedish Code of Judicial Procedure. Such measures may include interim orders prohibiting or requiring certain conduct, as well as attachment of assets.
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