SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Andreas Eriksson, Anders Arthur, David Nykvist and Saga Hanson, TIME DANOWSKY Advokatbyrå
starts to run when the claim materialises. For con- tractual claims, this is typically the date of the con- tract. For tort claims, the date of the act giving rise to the loss at issue is considered to start the clock. The limitation periods under the Limitation Act may be interrupted not only by the creditor initiating legal proceedings, but also by the debtor recognising the debt or by the creditor sending a claim in writing. Special rules may apply to certain types of claims, for instance, in the fields of transportation law, labour law, insurance law and intellectual property law. Such rules often provide for shorter limitation periods and/ or stricter requirements for interrupting them. In prac- tice, many claims may also effectively become time- barred due to the obligation to give notice of breach of contract within a certain – often short – time, which is considered to be a general principle of Swedish contract law. 2.2 Court Structure The Swedish court system consists of general courts, administrative courts and specialist courts. The general courts decide criminal and civil cases, including most types of commercial disputes, while the administrative courts handle appeals of decisions of the administrative authorities on a wide range of matters, including taxes, administrative fines and permits. The specialist courts are courts with specific subject matter competence and jurisdiction over mat- ters in their respective fields. The specialist courts – some of which are considered to be part of the sys- tem of general courts – include the patent and market courts, the land and environmental courts, and the labour court. The courts of first instance in the system of gener- al courts are the district courts. The district courts’ rulings can be appealed to courts of appeal. The Supreme Court is the court of last resort, but very few cases are given leave to appeal. This only hap- pens where the Supreme Court finds that there is a need for precedence or where there have been severe procedural errors in the lower courts. The administrative courts are structured in a similar manner with the administrative courts as the courts
of first instance. Their decisions may be appealed to the administrative courts of appeal, and the Supreme Administrative Court as the court of last instance. 2.3 Pre-Action Conduct Members of the Swedish Bar Association have an ethical obligation to notify the respondent before legal action is taken, in order to give the respondent the opportunity to settle the matter. Failure to observe this rule could lead to disciplinary sanctions for the advocate, but this does not prevent the initiation of proceedings as such. It should also be noted that this obligation does not apply where there are compelling reasons not to give advance notice. This could, for instance, be the case if a delay in initiating proceed- ings could lead to a loss of rights for the client. Furthermore, under the Debt Recovery Act ( Inkas- solagen ) – before legal action is taken – a creditor is generally required to give the debtor written notice of the claim and give a reasonable time for the debtor to pay voluntarily, or state its objections to the claim. Failure to do so could in theory result in liability for damages. Similar exceptions as those set out in the preceding paragraph apply. 2.4 Stages of Court Proceedings Summons Application Court proceedings in a commercial dispute start by the claimant submitting a summons application to the relevant district court and paying the application fee, currently SEK2,800. The summons application should include the request for relief and the circumstances on which the claim is based, as well as the evidence on which the claimant relies. Service of Summons The court administers the service of the summons on the respondent, which is requested to submit a writ- ten response (statement of defence) setting out the respondent’s position regarding the claim and the cir- cumstances and evidence relied on. If the respondent does not provide its response on time, the court may issue a default judgment. Written Submissions and Oral Preparatory Meeting If the response is submitted, this is typically followed by further written submissions from the parties as
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