SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Michele Fara, Ninos Aho, Paula Bäckdén and Anders Leissner, Advokatfirman Vinge KB
4. Maritime Liens and Ship Arrests 4.1 Ship Arrests Sweden is a party to the 1952 International Con - vention Relating to the Arrest of Sea-Going Ships (the 1952 Arrest Convention). The provisions of the Convention are incorporated into Chapter 4 of the Swedish Maritime Code (1994:1009). These rules are applicable to the arrest of a ves - sel with some international aspect (international arrest) and to vessels entered into the Swedish ship registry or an equivalent foreign ship reg - istry. Domestic arrests (ie, arrest of Swedish-flagged vessels where the applicant has its habitual residence or principal place of business in Swe - den) are regulated by the provisions in Chapter 15 of the Swedish Code of Judicial Procedure (1942:740). 4.2 Maritime Liens Maritime liens are recognised in Sweden (Chap - ter 3 of the Swedish Maritime Code (1994:1009)) A maritime lien upon a vessel secures any claim against the operator concerning: • wages and other sums due to the Master or other person employed on board on account of their employment on the vessel; • port, canal and other waterway dues and pilotage dues; • compensation for personal injury that has occurred in direct connection with the opera - tion of the vessel; • compensation for property damage that has occurred in direct connection with the opera - tion of the vessel, provided the claim is not based on contract; and • salvage, remuneration, compensation for removal of wreck and contribution in general
3.4 Misdeclaration of Cargo The shipper has a strict liability towards the car - rier regarding the correctness of the statements relating to the goods inserted in the bill of lad - ing. Regarding carriage of dangerous goods, the shipper is not only liable towards the carrier, but also towards any subcarrier. The shipper is obliged to inform the carrier about the danger - ous nature of the goods and any necessary safe - ty measures. Failure to do so may give the carrier the right to discharge or destroy the goods with - out liability for paying any compensation. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, shippers’ misdeclaration of cargo has not been tried in any recent case law of material significance. 3.5 Time Bar for Filing Claims for Damaged or Lost Cargo In the event of loss or damage to cargo that the cargo owner has observed or ought to have observed, the cargo owner must provide the carrier with a notice of claim immediately upon delivery. If the damage or loss is not apparent, a notice of claim must be given within three days from delivery. Claims for compensation regarding loss or dam - age of cargo become time-barred within one year from the date of delivery. There are possibilities to extend the time limit (for a maximum of ten years), for example through a mutual agreement between the parties, provided that such agreement has been concluded after the claim arose.
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