Originally from International Arbitration Court Decisions - 3rd Edition

DECISION BY THE COURT OF APPEAL FOR WESTERN SWEDEN RENDERED ON 29 DECEMBER 2003 IN CASE T 4366-02

Subject-Matter
Non-compliance with mandatory European telecommunications law – does it constitute a violation of Swedish ordre public?

Finding:
European Council Directive 98/13/EC and European Council Decision 98/482/EC do not have direct effect against private entities, and may therefore not constitute grounds for declaring an award invalid for reasons of ordre public.

Parties:
Claimant: Dirland Télécom S.A. (France)
Respondents: Viking Telecom AB (Sweden)
Place of Court Proceedings:
Gothenburg, Sweden

Applicable Law:
Swedish Arbitration Act
Excerpts below are an unofficial translation of the proceedings in the Court of
Appeal for Western Sweden.

Summary
The dispute in the case arose as a result of the sale of call routers; a type of telephone equipment. The call router is a device installed by telephone subscribers to route the call through a certain operator’s network in order to achieve lower costs.

Viking Telecom AB (“Viking”) is a Swedish corporation with its principal place of business in Gothenburg, Sweden. Viking develops and markets products for access to telecommunication networks, including call routers.

Dirland Télécom S.A. (“Dirland”) is a French corporation with its principal place of business in St Dizier, France. It carries out wholesale business of GSM telephones and supplies a number of different communications services.