SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Viveka Classon, Karin Rättzén and Sara Stålebring, Advokatfirman Vinge KB
settings primarily when one party’s position resembles that of a consumer, such as in cases involving small businesses. 9.6 Enforcement of Awards Sweden has signed and ratified the New York Con- vention on the Recognition and Enforcement of For- eign Arbitral Awards, and arbitral awards are gener- ally enforceable in Sweden. The Swedish Arbitration Act ( Lag (1999:116) om skiljeförfarande ) governs the enforcement of arbitration proceedings for both domestic and international arbitrations. Arbitral awards issued in Sweden are enforceable in Sweden in the same way as a judgment from a nation- al court. Foreign arbitral awards are enforced in Swe- den after exequatur proceedings. The latter means that an application must be submitted to the Svea Court of Appeal, and the application will be granted unless the opposing party has had the opportunity to present its case. This allows the opposing party to challenge the enforcement. 9.7 Alternative Dispute Resolution According to the Swedish Code of Judicial Procedure, the courts have an obligation to work toward the par- ties reaching a settlement or, otherwise, an amicable solution, unless it is considered inappropriate due to the circumstances in the case. If the parties agree, the court can decide to initiate mediation between the parties. In such cases, a mediator is appointed, and the parties are summoned to a meeting with the mediator. 9.8 Penalties for Late Payment of Claims According to the ICA, an insurance undertaking which has been advised of an insured event must take the measures necessary to settle the claim. These meas- ures must be implemented quickly and take into account the interests of the insured and other injured parties. As a general rule, insurance compensation is paid out within one month of the entitled party reporting the insured event and submitting any nec- essary documentation reasonably required to verify the obligation to pay. If the party making the claim for compensation is clearly entitled to at least a certain amount, this must be paid immediately. These provi-
sions are mandatory for consumer insurance, but can be negotiated for non-consumer insurance. If the insurance undertaking fails to pay in time, it is obliged to pay interest in accordance with the Swed- ish Interest Act ( Räntelagen (1975:635)). The insurance undertaking also has obligations under the IBA to act in accordance with good insurance standards. Seri- ous or repeated violations of the ICA may therefore
lead to sanctions by the Swedish FSA. 9.9 Insurers’ Rights of Subrogation
As outlined in 9.1 Insurance Disputes Over Coverage , the insured party may, under certain circumstances, assume responsibility for the claim in cases involving liability insurance.
10. Insurtech 10.1 Insurtech Developments
The insurance market is being challenged by digital innovation, mainly with respect to the conclusion of contracts, although also to some extent with regards to claims handling, where some undertakings use AI and chatbots to process claims. Web Scraping Many startup insurers and insurance intermediaries provide comparisons between policy terms through web scraping insurance coverage details from pro- viders’ websites. Web scraping is used to log in on behalf of the policyholder to their existing providers of insurance to gather information for collection onto a single platform. The question of web scraping has been discussed by EIOPA in a discussion paper from 2023, but the question has not yet been addressed by the Swedish legislator. App-Based Insurance Insurance products managed through mobile apps are becoming increasingly popular and more common. Many insurance undertakings and intermediaries offer solutions that allow policyholders to purchase insur- ance and file claims directly through the apps. This digital approach enhances convenience, providing
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