Revised Swedish Arbitration Act in 2019
On 21 November 2018, the Swedish legislature passed a revised Arbitration Act, intended to make the arbitration process more efficient. The revision aims at making Swedish arbitration law more easily accessible, especially for non-Swedish parties, and to ensure that Stockholm continues to be an attractive venue for international dispute resolution. The changes will enter into effect on 1 March 2019.
The following provisions are among those revised or added in the new Act:
- Applicable substantive law. The new Act gives arbitrators explicit mandate to determine the applicable substantive law in the absence of party agreement, but does not specify the basis of that determination.
- Challenge grounds. The grounds for challenging an arbitral award are revised to require that an excess of mandate must have affected the outcome of the case in order for the award to be set aside.
- Challenge procedure. The timeline for applications to set aside an arbitral award is reduced to 2 months from the date when the party received the award. Parts of the challenge procedure can be undertaken in English, without interpretation into Swedish.
- Leave to appeal. The revised Act introduces a leave to appeal requirement, which enables the Supreme Court to limit its examination to issue(s) of precedential value.
“The revised Arbitration Act ensures that Sweden maintains its role as a jurisdiction with a strong, modern legal framework for international dispute resolution. The new legislation is in line with international trends, and will foster growth and development of international arbitration in Stockholm”, says SCC Secretary General Annette Magnusson in a comment.
The new legislation enters into force on 1 March 2019, and will apply to arbitrations seated in Sweden initiated after that date.
The SCC will publish English and Russian translations of the revised Arbitration Act in early 2019.
Read more about the new legislation here (Swedish only)