Originally from The Swedish Arbitration Act of 1999, Five Years On: A Critical Review of Strengths and Weaknesses

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I. INTRODUCTION

In accordance with the instructions of the Symposium Chairs, this contribution is to comment upon the report prepared by Mr. D. St. John Sutton and/or to supplement that report by observations based upon personal experiences with arbitrations in Sweden under the 1999 Act and/or information from other jurisdictions. 

In his seminal work Arbitration published in the International Encyclopedia of Comparative Law, Pieter Sanders has outlined two conditions for international arbitration to occur in optimal conditions: 1) a modern arbitration statute; and 2) a favourable attitude of courts towards international arbitration.  

Other legal and non-legal factors may be added as conditions facilitating international commercial arbitration. One such important other factor is for instance a sophisticated legal community that can produce arbitrators and counsel capable of handling complex international commercial arbitrations and their related supportive or challenging actions before the domestic courts at the place of arbitration. One element of these capabilities is that the legal community at the place of arbitration should be familiar with the international procedural and substantive rules and traditions in which international commercial arbitrations are embedded. I have no doubts and my experience has taught me that these conditions are generally fulfilled in international arbitrations taking place in Sweden. Thus, this contribution will focus primarily on the two conditions set forth by Sanders.