In February 2014, a parliamentary committee was appointed by the Swedish Government to review and modernize the Swedish Arbitration Act. The committee addressed several issues identified in the directive as requiring attention, including among others the need for specific provisions in the Arbitration Act for multi-party disputes, measures to further enhance efficient court procedures in challenge proceedings, possibility of conducting set-aside proceedings in English and potential new provisions in determining the substantive law for the dispute. The committee also picked up on a number of problems identified by the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC) and active arbitrators, among others, and in legal literature. One of the main objectives in the work has been to further adapt the Swedish Arbitration Act to the international standards within the field.
On 27 April 2015, the committee released its report proposing new provisions on multi-party disputes and applicable substantive law, as well as the introduction of set-aside proceedings in English. The possibility to use English in set-aside proceedings is recommended to be made available to parties who have conducted arbitral proceedings in English. However, the court would continue to issue its decisions in Swedish.
Although the Swedish arbitration community’s reaction to the report has been mainly positive, especially the possibility to use the English language in set-aside proceedings has sparked debate. The extent to which the committees proposals will be incorporated in the new Arbitration Act remains to be seen. The new legislation is expected to enter into force on 1 July 2016.
Link to full report in Swedish: http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c6/25/76/92/946ce119.pdf.
Link to summary in English: http://www.sccinstitute.com/media/65386/summary-oversyn-av-lagen-om-skiljeforfarande-english.pdf.
