SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Michele Fara, Ninos Aho, Paula Bäckdén and Anders Leissner, Advokatfirman Vinge KB
that are not in conflict with the Hague-Visby Rules have been implemented. As for the Rotterdam Rules, Sweden has signed but not yet ratified the Convention. Sweden is also a party to the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road, 1956 (the “CMR Convention”), which may be applicable to transport by sea. 3.2 Title to Sue on a Bill of Lading Under Swedish maritime law, the lawful holder of the bill of lading has title to sue under the bill of lading. Apart from the original shipper or consignee, a third party, to whom the bill of lad - ing has been endorsed, is also considered the lawful holder. An insurer, insofar as the damage is covered by the insurance and has been compensated by the insurer, becomes subrogated to the insured’s right to compensation for damages arising from the damage. The insurer will, in such case, be entitled to sue under the bill of lading. Moreover, according to general principles of Swedish law, a party is free to assign its claim for damages to any other person, and the title to sue will essentially follow the rightful holder of the assigned claim. In this context, it may be noted that under Swedish law, unlike some other jurisdictions, the question of title to sue is not a procedural issue, but a substantive one. 3.3 Ship-Owners’ Liability and Limitation of Liability for Cargo Damages The ship-owner is liable for loss or damage that the Master, members of the crew or a pilot cause through fault or neglect in the performance of their duties. Further, the ship-owner is liable if the loss or damage is caused by any other person
while performing work in the vessel’s service on the direction of the ship-owner or Master (Chap - ter 7 of the Swedish Maritime Code (1994:1009)). Provisions on the carrier’s liability for damaged goods are found in Chapter 13 of the Swedish Maritime Code. The code defines the carrier as the person who enters into a contract with a sender for the carriage of general cargo by sea – ie, the contractual carrier. The ship-owner may, however, also incur liability as the actual carrier of the goods without having entered into any contract with the cargo interests (eg, in its capacity as a subcarrier). The mandatory liability will in general not differ depending on whether ship-owners cause damage in their capacity as contractual or actual carriers. The main rule regarding liability for cargo damage is that the carrier is liable for damage resulting from the goods being lost or damaged while in its cus - tody. The carrier may, however, be exempt from liability if it proves that the loss or damage is caused by navigational errors or fire not caused by personal fault or neglect. The carrier’s liability can be limited to 667 Spe - cial Drawing Rights (SDR) per unit or, if the liabil - ity thereby is higher, 2 SDR per kilo of the gross weight of the goods (the SDR is an international reserve asset created by the International Mon - etary Fund (IMF) based on the value of a basket of currencies). The right of limitation is lost if the carrier is proven to have caused the damage or loss with intent, or recklessly with knowledge that such damage or loss would probably occur. The ship-owner can further limit its liability regarding claims on account of damage to prop - erty if the damage occurred on board the vessel or in immediate connection with her operation or with salvage operations (global limitation).
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