SWEDEN Trends and Developments Contributed by: Björn Tude, Daniel Waerme, Caroline Gulliksson Dock and Sandra Aljassani, Gernandt & Danielsson
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Sweden as an Arbitration-Friendly Seat: Recent Developments Reinforce a Long-Standing Tradition Introduction Sweden’s reputation as one of the world’s foremost seats for international arbitration is built on more than institutional pedigree. It rests on a legal system that limits court intervention to defined grounds, a judi - ciary that engages carefully with novel questions of arbitral jurisdiction, and the SCC Arbitration Institute (part of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, SCC) – an institution with a long track record of adminis - tering complex, high-value disputes from across the globe. That framework does not stand still. Two legal developments from 2026 illustrate how it continues to be tested on the hardest questions the field has to offer. The first is a ruling from the Swedish Supreme Court confirming that most-favoured-nation clauses in investment treaties can open the door to SCC arbitra - tion even where the treaty’s own dispute resolution clause points elsewhere. The second is an Advocate General’s Opinion before the CJEU – arising from a challenge to an SCC award – addressing whether disputes involving EU sanctions are arbitrable at all. Both developments, read alongside the SCC’s 2025 statistics, confirm that Sweden remains at the centre and forefront of international arbitration practice. The SCC – international reach and procedural efficiency The SCC operates as a non-profit and independent entity, entirely without commercial or political inter - ests. Proceedings remain focused on the merits of disputes rather than external considerations.
In 2025, a total of 568 parties from 50 different coun - tries resolved their disputes at the SCC, the highest number of party nationalities ever recorded in a single year. In 26% of all cases, no party was Swedish. Over the past decade, parties from more than 90 countries have used the SCC. The disputes spanned a wide range of industries and contract types. Business acquisitions were the most common source of disputes for the third consecutive year, while real estate and construction disputes more than doubled compared to 2024. The total amount in dispute was EUR4.6 billion. Efficiency represents another key advantage of choos - ing Sweden. The SCC consistently demonstrates an ability to conclude arbitrations within commercially reasonable timeframes. Under the SCC Arbitration Rules, the average time from referral to award was 13.6 months. In expedited proceedings the average was 3.7 months, with 94% of cases resolved within six months. In emergency proceedings, arbitrators were appointed within 12 hours of a request and decisions were delivered within an average of five days. The legal developments of 2026 sit against that sta - tistical backdrop. MFN clauses and access to arbitration: Sweden’s Supreme Court sets out a framework On 26 June 2026, the Swedish Supreme Court ruled in case T 9380-24 on a question of significant importance for investment arbitration: whether a most-favoured- nation (MFN) clause in an investment treaty can give an arbitral tribunal jurisdiction to hear a dispute at a
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