SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Simon Arvmyren, Christopher Stridh and Mikaela Tysk, Delphi
institution, and it handles several hundred arbitrations, and some mediations, every year.
The invalidity of an award is limited to awards that violate Swedish public policy and awards that are not rendered in written form or signed by a majority of the arbitrators. An award is also invalid if it decides a mat- ter that was not arbitrable. Invalidity may be invoked without any time limit (see Section 33 in the Arbitra- tion Act). 13.4 Procedure for Enforcing Domestic and Foreign Arbitration Arbitral awards are enforceable according to Chap- ter 3, Section 1, paragraph 1, point 4 of the Swed- ish Enforcement Act. In order to be enforceable, the award must be made in writing and signed by a major- ity of the arbitrators. The enforcement agency needs to verify that the opposing party is allowed an oppor- tunity to comment on the enforcement application before taking any action. In relation to foreign arbitration awards, it is required that the court of appeal declares the award to be enforceable before it can be enforced in Sweden. As soon as the declaration of enforceability has been obtained, the applicant can turn to the Swed- ish enforcement agency in the same way as regards a domestic award. The court only reviews that the award meets the formal requirements and not the merits or substance of the award (which is largely the same as set out in the New York Convention). 14. Outlook 14.1 Proposals for Dispute Resolution Reform There are no overall proposals to modify or reform the Acts dealing with dispute resolution, but the Swedish Arbitration Act was recently revised. As mentioned in 2.5 Types of Cost Considered Under Third-Party Funding , the influence from the UK mar- ket is significant as regards the development of the third-party funded market in Sweden. In the relatively new released judgment regarding litigation funding agreements, Paccar Inc v Road Haulage Association Ltd [2023] UKSC 28 the Supreme Court in the UK held that an agreement with third parties who play no part in the conduct of a litigation process, but are to be paid a share of any damages recovered by the
13. Arbitration 13.1 Laws Regarding the Conduct of Arbitration
The conduct of arbitration is regulated in the Arbitra- tion Act of 1999, which is applicable to all arbitra- tions where the seat of arbitration is in Sweden. It provides the primary legislative framework relating to arbitration. The act regulates, among other things, the arbitration agreement, the award, the procedure, the arbitrators, enforcement of arbitral awards and some international issues. The Swedish Arbitration Act implements the New York Convention regarding awards rendered outside of Sweden. The Swedish Arbitration Act is not officially based on the UNICITRAL Model Law but is nevertheless inspired by and draws much of its content from the Model Law. 13.2 Subject Matters Not Referred to Arbitration Disputes that are not arbitrable are disputes that the parties may not settle by way of agreement. Gener- ally, this is the case when the case concerns a public interest or a third-party interest – eg, security rights in property. In relation to consumer disputes, they are arbitrable if the agreement is entered into after the dispute arose. 13.3 Circumstances to Challenge an Arbitral Award In the Arbitration Act, a distinction is made between challenging an award and seeking to invalidate an award. A challenge of an award must be filed within three months from the receipt of the award. The grounds for challenge are exclusively related to procedural errors. Errors related to the merits of the case cannot be challenged. The procedural grounds that may be subject to challenge are stated in Section 34 of the Arbitration Act.
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