Originally from: Stockholm International Arbitration Review

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SCC PRACTICE: CHALLENGES TO ARBITRATORS SCC Board decisions 2005-2007

Helena Jung

Introduction

Under the Swedish Arbitration Act ("SAA") and the Arbitration Rules of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce ("SCC Rules"), the arbitrators must be impartial and independent. If the parties to the arbitration have grounds on which to question the independence and/or impartiality of appointed arbitrators, they may initiate a challenge to one or more arbitrators. When an arbitration is conducted pursuant to the SCC Rules, any challenge to an arbitrator is brought to the SCC Board for final determination. This article will review the recent challenges which have been made in SCC arbitrations.

The grounds for a challenge vary from case to case. In the past three years the challenges under the SCC Rules have often addressed the contacts between an arbitrator and his or her law firm with one of the parties to the arbitration. Other notable grounds have included the following situations: a party not receiving proper notice for appointing an arbitrator; an arbitrator giving an expert opinion in a previous case involving one of the parties; an arbitrator participated in the decision on a challenge of an arbitrator in another arbitration involving one of the parties.

Although the potential grounds for challenging an arbitrator are numerous, the actual number of challenges to arbitrators has been low in comparison to the number of arbitrations. From January 2005 through December 2007, there were 411 arbitral proceedings initiated at the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce ("SCC"). In those proceedings, there were a total of 22 challenges to arbitrators. Ten of those challenges led to the removal of an arbitrator.2 The challenges were made under the SCC Rules, the SCC Rules for Expedited Arbitrations and in ad hoc proceedings under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules where the SCC acted as appointing authority.