SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Andreas Eriksson, Anders Arthur, David Nykvist and Saga Hanson, TIME DANOWSKY Advokatbyrå
EEA party may be ordered to provide security for the respondent’s costs, if requested by the respondent in its first submission. If security is not provided, the case will be dismissed. Certain arbitration rules also expressly provide for the possibility to issue interim orders on costs. For instance, the Arbitration Rules of the SCC Arbitration Institute provide that an arbitral tribunal may, in excep- tional circumstances and at the request of a party, order a claimant or counterclaimant to provide secu- rity for costs in a manner the arbitral tribunal deems appropriate. This can happen at any time during the proceedings. If a party fails to comply with such an order, the arbitral tribunal may stay or terminate the proceedings in whole or in part. 6.5 Interim Injunctions It is possible for a party to apply for interim injunc- tions in Sweden. In general civil law cases, this follows from Chapter 15, Section 3 of the Code of Judicial Procedure, which provides for a right for courts to order “other” appropriate measures to safeguard the applicant’s rights pending the final resolution of the dispute. Such measures may involve a prohibition, subject to a fine, on engaging in certain activities or performing certain acts. In this connection it should be noted that the position of Swedish law is that interim measures, as a general rule, should not be ordered where the disputed matter as such would effectively be determined by the interim order. This applies in particular if the ordered meas- ure cannot be reversed. Only in special circumstances would an interim order with that effect be allowed. In the words of the Supreme Court in the case NJA 2018 p 189, this would be in “situations where immediate satisfaction of the applicant’s rights […] are of very significant importance to him or her”. 6.6 Summary Judgment The general rule in the Code of Judicial Procedure is that a case must be decided following a main hear- ing, or – if the case can be decided without a hearing – following a full exchange of written submissions on the matter.
There are, however, certain situations where courts may decide a case in simpler forms. For example, if the claimant’s complaint clearly lacks merit, the court may immediately render a judgment without issuing a summons. The court may also issue a default judg- ment against a party that fails to participate in the proceedings in material respects, such as by failing to file a response or failing to appear at a hearing. Furthermore, the Code of Judicial Procedure allows for matters that are of immediate relevance to the out- come of the dispute or that can be isolated from other parts of the case to be decided separately. The starting point in arbitration is also that a full review of the case must be made before the award is ren- dered. However, as in the case of court proceedings, the Arbitration Act allows for separate awards to be rendered on separate issues or parts of the dispute. It is also possible for the parties to agree on simpli- fied procedures, as long as due process requirements are met. In that vein, the SCC Arbitration Rules pro- vide that a party may request that the arbitral tribunal decide one or more issues of fact or law by way of summary procedure, without necessarily taking every procedural step that might otherwise be adopted in an arbitration. 7. Mass Claims and Class Actions 7.1 Procedural Mechanisms In Sweden, there are two different categories of class action lawsuits for which there are different systems. Class Action Act The first is governed by the general Class Action Act. The Class Action Act allows for any type of civil pro- ceedings in general courts to be brought by a repre- sentative for a wider group (class) of claimants on the conditions set out in the Act. The representative could be either a class member, a non-profit consumer or employee organisation, or a designated public authority. In addition to the requirements in respect of standing, the Class Action Act sets forth the following condi- tions for bringing a class action:
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