FINLAND Trends and Developments Contributed by: Tuuli Timonen, Annika Lampela and Tony Chokairy, Dottir Attorneys
of projects. Additionally, the novelty of the technolo- gies at stake may mean that performance benchmarks and industry standards are still developing, which may result in misalignment and disputes between parties over contractual compliance and liability. With the emergence of new technologies, combined with an emphasis on grid stability and a push towards greater self-reliance in energy, comes a level of regula- tory uncertainty, which can cause disputes – particu- larly where regulations change to adapt to new tech- nologies and circumstances before long-term projects are completed. This emphasises the need to account for such potential regulatory changes and the associ- ated risk allocation already at the stage of contracting. The adoption of new technologies may also result in unforeseen delays when interfacing with authorities, as authorities attempt to establish practices to deal with new kinds of projects. At the same time, new actors are entering the market. The Finnish energy sector has traditionally consisted of the same, established actors with very little vari- ance. In recent years this has changed, however, par- ticularly due to emerging technologies providing new entrants with the opportunity to establish themselves in the market. This diversification of players has also played a part in giving rise to an increase in disputes. New entrants may not be aware of practices which the older, established players consider established indus- try practice, potentially leading to misaligned expec- tations. Further, smaller-scale players may also face issues of financing or solvency – questions that have traditionally been somewhat absent from the Finnish energy market. In addition to renewable energy and emerging tech- nologies, nuclear energy continues to play a signifi- cant role in the Finnish energy landscape. Looking forward, renewed interest in nuclear energy may give rise to a new generation of projects and associated disputes. Overall, within the energy sector and beyond, con- struction and large industrial projects continue to gen- erate a growing number of disputes. Despite this con- tinued trend, internationally-used mechanisms such as dispute adjudication boards and dispute review
boards remain largely unknown or unused within large projects in Finland. Nonetheless, there has been some cautious interest in the use of such mechanisms, and the Finland Arbitration Institute (FAI) has established a working group to prepare a set of FAI dispute board rules for that purpose. It remains to be seen whether this initiative will lead to broader adoption of dispute boards in resolving disputes. Recent and Upcoming Regulatory Changes There are several recently implemented and planned reforms to procedural legislation in Finland. First, a comprehensive reform of the Finnish Arbitration Act is currently underway. The reform is expected to result in the enactment of a new Arbitration Act that is more closely aligned with the UNCITRAL Model Law in structure and substance. Key proposed changes include, for example, the removal of the formal written form requirement for arbitration agreements and the introduction of clearer rules for deciding the law appli- cable to arbitration agreements. The reform would also expressly recognise an arbitral tribunal’s competence to rule on its own jurisdiction, which is not explicitly enshrined in the current Arbitration Act, though it is nonetheless a broadly recognised power of arbitral tribunals seated in Finland. In addition, the reform is set to introduce provisions on tribunal-ordered provi- sional measures. Such provisions are not included in the current Arbitration Act. Court proceedings have faced and will likely continue to face reforms as well. First, the reform whereby wit- ness testimonies given in district courts will be vid- eo-recorded is (presumably) set to enter into force in autumn 2026. After this reform, when an appeal is lodged, witnesses will no longer be heard again in the Appeal Court and Supreme Court stages, except in special circumstances. Instead, their testimony will be evaluated based on the video recorded during their testimony in the district court. Further reforms to court proceedings are also likely, largely due to continued issues with protracted civil (and criminal) proceedings in Finnish courts. For example, the Finnish government has submitted a proposal for a small claims dispute proceeding, which is currently being considered. If enacted, the propos- al would result in a new type of judicial procedure
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