Originally from International Arbitration Court Decisions - 3rd Edition

DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT, 15 OCTOBER 1997, IN THE EMJA CASE

Subject Matter:
Assignment of an arbitration agreement.

Finding:
In case of assignment of rights under a contract containing an arbitration clause, the assignee is bound to arbitrate.

Parties:
Claimant: MS Emja Braack Schiffahrts KG (Germany)
Respondent: Wärtsilä Diesel AB (Sweden) 

The Emja case was reported and commented in Swedish and International Arbitration 1997 – Yearbook of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, p. 65. 

The case has been commented as follows:

Hansson-Lecoanet, Anne-Cècile and Jarvin, Sigvard: Note in Revue de l’-Arbitrage, 1998, No. 2, p. 431;

Jarvin, Sigvard and Günther, Klaus: Zur Abtretung von Rechten aus einen Vertrag mit Schiedsklausel, 54 Betriebsberater 12 et seq. (Supplement 9, 1999);

Weinacht, Felix: Party Succession in Agreements to Arbitrate; Sweden backs down over Practical Considerations, Mealey Publications, Vol. 14, September 1999, p. 55.

The following is a non official translation of the Supreme Court’s decision as published in Nytt Juridiskt Arkiv (NJA), 1997, p. 866.

Background
By means of shipbuilding contract signed on 22 February 1989, a Dutch shipyard, Scheepswerf Ferus Smit BV (Ferus), undertook to build a ship, which came later to be called MS Emja. On 30 January 1990, a German shipping company, Emja, acquired by means of an agreement called Transfer Agreement the rights and obligations in relation to Ferus stipulated by the shipbuilding contract. Emja bought, in other words, the ship under construction. Ferus employed as a sub-contractor another shipyard, Scheepswerf Bijlsma BV (Bijlsma), for the ship construction. In a written contract of 8 February 1990 with Bijlsma, Wärtsilä undertook to deliver a diesel machine to MS Emja.