SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Björn Tude, Daniel Waerme, Caroline Gulliksson Dock and Sandra Aljassani, Gernandt & Danielsson
withhold the award pending payment of compensa - tion (Sections 39–40 of the SAA). The SCC Rules com - plement these requirements by mandating that arbi - trators be impartial and independent and by requiring disclosure of any circumstances that may give rise to justifiable doubts. The SAA does not establish specific ethical rules for counsel appearing in arbitration. However, members of the Swedish Bar Association are bound by the Bar Association’s Code of Professional Conduct. These rules are applied and enforced by the Bar Association, with appeals from disciplinary matters brought before the Supreme Court. In practice, legal representatives in Swedish arbitration proceedings are frequently members of the Bar Association. 13.3 Third-Party Funding Third-party funding is not regulated under the SAA, and there are no legal obstacles to its use in Swedish arbitration proceedings. The SCC has adopted poli - cies that encourage parties to disclose the involve - ment of any third party with a financial interest in the outcome of the dispute. Appointed and prospective arbitrators must also take into account the existence and identity of a funder when assessing their impar - tiality and independence. 13.4 Consolidation The SAA permits consolidation of arbitral proceedings only with the consent of all parties concerned (Section 23a of the SAA). Swedish courts have no power to order consolidation in the absence of such agreement. The SCC Rules contain more detailed consolidation provisions. Under Article 15, the SCC Board may con - solidate separate proceedings into a single arbitration where: • the parties agree; • all claims are made under the same arbitration agreement; or • the claims are made under multiple arbitration agreements that are compatible and arise out of the same legal relationship. The SCC Rules also provide for joinder of additional parties under Article 13 and determination of claims
under multiple contracts in a single arbitration under Article 14, subject to certain conditions. Consolidation is therefore possible in Sweden, but it requires either unanimous party consent under the SAA or reliance on institutional rules such as those of the SCC, which provide more comprehensive mecha - As a general rule, only parties who have agreed to arbitrate, typically by executing an arbitration agree - ment, are bound by it. Accordingly, arbitral tribunals do not possess general authority to extend jurisdiction to non-signatories or third parties. There are, however, exceptions under which non-sig - natories may become bound by an arbitration agree - ment. Such agreements will ordinarily follow the trans - fer of contractual rights; thus, an assignee is generally bound in the same manner as the original party. The same principle applies in situations of universal suc - cession, where rights and obligations pass by opera - tion of law, such as through merger or inheritance. Furthermore, arbitration clauses between a debtor and a creditor are typically enforceable against guarantors or other parties jointly liable for the debt. In cases where a third party, non-signatory, tacitly has entered into the main contract (eg, by performing under the main contract), that party is generally considered to have become bound also by the arbitration agreement in the main contract. nisms for consolidation and joinder. 13.5 Binding of Third Parties These principles apply equally to Swedish and for - eign parties. Nevertheless, the threshold for extending jurisdiction over third parties remains high, reflecting the strong emphasis placed upon consent and party autonomy.
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