Originally from International Arbitration Court Decisions - 3rd Edition

DECISION OF THE SVEA COURT OF APPEAL, 23 DECEMBER 1997, IN FAGEP VS. V/O STANKOIMPORT

Findings:
(1) An arbitral award is not void pursuant to section 20, 1st subs. of the Swedish Arbitration Act 1929 (no valid arbitration agreement).
(2) An arbitral award is not void pursuant to section 20, 2nd subs. of the Act, (absence of arbitrator’s signature on the award).
(3) The award should not be set aside pursuant to section 21, 1st subs., point 1 of the Act (award given after the expiration of the period laid down).
(4) A party was considered as having waived an irregularity of the proceedings according to section 21, 2nd subs. of the Act.

Summary
On the last day of the time period stipulated for the rendering of an award, the Award was signed by two arbitrators whereas award pages signed by the third arbitrator were in the post on their way to the Chairman of the Arbitral Tribunal. The Chairman informed the parties the same day and dispatched the Award signed by him and the second arbitrator. The pages with the third arbitrator’s signature arrived two days later and was then dispatched to the parties by the Chairman of the Arbitral Tribunal who had added his signature to these pages. One of the parties objected, two days after having received the Award, that the procedure was irregular. The courts held that the Arbitral Award was validly rendered.

The following is a non official translation of extracts of the judgments rendered by the Stockholm District Court and the Svea Court of Appeal.

THE STOCKHOLM DISTRICT COURT DECSION 12 NOVEMBER 1996 (Case no. T 6-427-96).

Parties:
Claimant: Fagep (Italy)
Respondents: 1. V/O Stankoimport (Russian Federation)
2. Chairman A (Sweden)
3. Arbitrator B (Russian Federation)
4. Arbitrator C (Sweden)