SCC Cases 80/1998 and 81/1998 - Chapter 11 - SCC Arbitral Awards - 1999-2003

Author(s):

Sigvard Jarvin

Annette Magnusson

Page Count:

24 pages

Media Description:

PDF from "SCC Arbitral Awards - 1999-2003"

Published:

January, 2006

Jurisdictions:

Russia,

United Kingdom,

International

Practice Areas:

Applicable Law,

Agreement to Arbitrate

Author Detail:

About the Editors:
Sigvard Jarvin has been involved in more than 215 international arbitrations under the arbitration rules of the ICC, the Stockholm Arbitration Institute, the Dutch Arbitration Institute, the American Arbitration Association, LCIA, UNCITRAL, the Cairo Regional Centre, and other arbitration organizations. He was general counsel to the ICC International Court of Arbitration, Paris (1982-1987) and member of the Court (1988-1995). He also chaired the ICC working party revising the ICC/CMI Maritime Arbitration Rules (1997-1998).

Mr. Jarvin was the rapporteur at the 1990 and 1998 ICCA Congresses and was chairman of the foreign section of the Swedish Bar from 1999 to 2000, and he is also a member of the board of the Institute of Arbitration Law at Stockholm University and a member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and the International Arbitration Club, London. He is cited yearly as one of the best arbitration lawyers in France in Chambers Global — The World’s Leading Lawyers , published by Chambers & Partners.

Annette Magnusson, is a Professional Support Lawyer at the firm of Mannheimer Swartling, Stockholm. She was formerly Assistant Secretary General and legal counsel for the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.

Observation Commentary by:

David Goldberg, Partner, Kennedys, London, Member of the Professional Committee of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

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Description:

Originally from SCC Arbitral Awards 1999-2003

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Subject-matters:

(1) Applicable choice-of-law rules to determine the governing law in a sale of goods contract.
(2) Applicable law to the arbitration agreement.

Findings:
(1) A tribunal sitting in Sweden is not obliged to apply Swedish conflict-of-law rules, but it is recommended to do so where the parties have fixed the seat in Sweden. In the present case the parties had not and the tribunal decided to apply the principle of closest connection, inspired by the Rome Convention which had not entered into force in Sweden when the contracts were made. The parties’ choice of the Rules of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce was not evidence that the parties intended Swedish substantive law to govern the dispute. The seller’s country offered the closest connection. The governing law was therefore Russian law, leading to the application of the CISG.
(2) The arbitral tribunal applied lex fori when deciding on the scope of the tribunal’s jurisdiction since it was the “most correct and suitable law” to govern the arbitration agreement.

Parties: Claimant: Alpha Corporation (Russian Federation)
Respondent: Beta Trading Co. (United Kingdom)

Place of arbitration: Stockholm, Sweden

Language of the proceedings: English

Nationality of arbitrators: Chairman: Swedish
Arbitrator: Russian
Arbitrator: English

Table of Contents:

XI. SCC cases 80/1998 and 81/1998

Subject-matters:

(1) Applicable choice-of-law rules to determine the governing law in a sale
of goods contract.

(2) Applicable law to the arbitration agreement.

Observations by David Goldberg