Decision of the Stockholm District Court, 30 April 2004, Case No. Ä 860-04
Summary: The claimant requested the Stockholm District Court to overturn a decision of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce and disqualify an arbitrator due to lack of independence and impartiality under Section 10 of the Swedish Arbitration Act (SAA). The District Court explained that under Section 10 of the SAA if a party is discontented with a decision rejecting or dismissing a motion, that party is entitled to apply to the District Court and move for the arbitrator’s dismissal. The Court emphasized, however, that Section 11 of the SAA allows the parties to agree that a challenge to an arbitrator shall be finally tried by an arbitration institute instead by a public court. In this case the parties agreed to conduct the arbitration proceedings under the Arbitration Rules of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC Rules). The SCC Rules provide that a decision with respect to an arbitrator’s independence and impartiality is finally established by the SCC Institute. The District Court thus found that the decision of the SCC Institute on the independence and impartiality of the arbitrator was final and thereby it lacked jurisdiction to review the issue of the disqualification of the arbitrator.