Originally from: Stockholm International Arbitration Review

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THE SWEDISH RULES LIMITING THE RIGHT TO APPEAL AGAINST A COURT JUDGMENT IN A CHALLENGE OR AVOIDANCE ACTION - A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Martin Wallin and Katarina Mild

1. Introduction

An arbitral award is not subject to appeal under Swedish Arbitration Law and cannot be reviewed on the merits by a court. This means that an arbitral award is, in principle, final and binding. However, under the Swedish Arbitration Act 1999 there are two actions by which an arbitral award can be set aside due to procedural irregularities; i.e. avoidance and challenge proceedings. Avoidance or challenge actions are filed with the relevant Court of Appeal. The judgement of the Court of Appeal is - as a main rule - not subject to appeal. However, the Court of Appeal may grant permission or a leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. The two actions for setting aside an arbitral award and the prerequisites that must be fulfilled in order to do so will not be dealt with in this article. The purpose of this article is to describe in more detail the Swedish rules on fora and appeal in a challenge or avoidance action against an arbitral award, comparing the rules with corresponding rules in five other jurisdictions1 and discussing whether there is call for a change in the Swedish rules limiting the right to appeal against the judgement of the Court of Appeal in a challenge or avoidance action.

2. The Swedish Rules on Fora and Appeal in a Challenge or Avoidance Action

A challenge or avoidance action shall be filed with the Court of Appeal, i.e. the second instance, in whose district the arbitral proceedings were held (there are in total six Courts of Appeal in Sweden). Where the place or seat of the arbitration is not stated in the award the parties may always file a challenge or avoidance action with the Svea Court of Appeal (located in Stockholm). As mentioned above, the judgement of the Court of Appeal may not - as a main rule - be appealed.