SWEDEN Trends and Developments Contributed by: Jerker Kjellander, Matilda Kronqvist and Selma Beganovic, Vinge
judgment could be appealed to the Supreme Court, something which a court of appeal may do if a case hinges on an issue of precedential value that has not been definitively settled by leading cases. Unfortu - nately, the losing party did not appeal against the judgment, meaning that this case will not provide fur - ther guidance on the matter. Regardless of the lack of precedence from the Supreme Court, the judgment must be regarded as the leading case in Sweden. It is, in the opinion of the authors of this article, very unlikely that the Supreme Court would reach a con - flicting conclusion in any future case. Mediation In 2011, Sweden adopted the Mediation Act (2011:860), which is based on EU Directive 2008/52/ EC on certain aspects of mediation in civil and com - mercial matters. The purpose of the Mediation Act is to promote mediation as a dispute resolution method. By virtue of the Mediation Act, the parties to a medi - ation agreement can apply for enforceability of the agreement at court. The Mediation Act applies to both domestic and cer - tain foreign mediation procedures. Domestic media - tion is mediation carried out in Sweden. The Mediation Act does not cover mediation that takes place within the framework of a case or matter before a court, another authority or an arbitral tribunal. Only certain foreign mediation agreements can be declared enforceable in accordance with the Media - tion Act. A mediation agreement is referred to as a foreign mediation agreement if it has been entered into outside Sweden. Foreign mediation agreements can only be declared enforceable in cases where the par - ties had their domicile or habitual residence in Sweden at the time of commencement of mediation, or if one of the parties had its domicile or habitual residence in another EU member state (with the exception of Denmark). In order to be able to enforce a mediation agreement in accordance with the Mediation Act, the parties must reach a mediation agreement, but must also agree to the application for a declaration of enforceability. The requirement for consent is a prerequisite for the application for a declaration of enforceability. In cases
where a party has agreed to a declaration of enforce - ability in connection with the mediation agreement but does not agree in connection with the application for a declaration of enforceability, it may also be a question of a breach of contract. An application for a declaration of enforceability is made to the district court where one of the parties is domiciled. In cases where the parties are not domi - ciled in Sweden, Värmland District Court is the com - petent forum. Although the rise of mediation as a dispute resolution tool has been discussed in Sweden since the adop - tion of the Mediation Act in 2011, mediation has in the authors’ experience remained a very peripheral phenomenon in the Swedish dispute resolution land - scape. This applies in particular compared to Anglo- Saxon countries. However, the last couple of years seems to suggest a slight uptick in the number of mediations conducted in Sweden, possibly in light of extended handling times for litigation in the general courts. While it is still too early to tell, mediation may now finally become the commonly used tool it has long been hailed as. 2019 Hague Convention On 2 July 2019, the Hague Convention on the Rec - ognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters (the “2019 Hague Con - vention”) was adopted at the Hague Conference on Private International Law. The EU acceded to the 2019 Hague Convention on 29 August 2022. For the EU member states (with the exception of Den - mark), including Sweden, the 2019 Hague Convention entered into force on 1 September 2023. The 2019 Hague Convention governs one of the three main issues in international private and procedural law: recognition and enforcement of foreign judg - ments. The other two main issues, choice of law and jurisdiction of courts, are not addressed. However, the 2019 Hague Convention does contain so-called indi - rect jurisdictional rules, against which the jurisdiction of the originating court is assessed in a requested convention state. In order for a judgment to be recog - nized or enforced under the 2019 Hague Convention, the court that issued the judgment must have based
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