The Stockholm Chamber of Commerce Arbitration Institute (SCC) has been establish for over 100 years and first began in 1917. It provides a neutral, independent, impartial venue for dispute resolution in commercial business around the world.
Types of Dispute
The SCC hears a range of ad hoc and institutional arbitrations, as well as investor-state disputes. In fact it is the second largest institute for investment disputes, after the ICSID, and it is one of three possible forums for investment disputes in the multilateral protection agreement, the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT).
The SCC is now a prominent forum for energy and climate disputes. Energy disputes are those that arise out of contracts relating to oil, gas, renewable energy, and waste management for example. Increasingly, climate disputes are on the rise. These disputes relate to issues impacted by climate change such as biodiversity and land degradation.
Other areas that refer cases to the SCC are indicated by the 2023 statistics:
- Service agreements (20%)
- Business acquisitions. (20%)
- Delivery agreements (18%)
- Credit/ loan agreements (13%)
- Corporate agreements (7%)
View the full suite of statistics from 2023 on the SCC’s website.(1)
International appeal
Parties from countries all over the world have been involved in SCC arbitrations. Every year, the SCC resolves around 200 disputes between parties from 40-50 different nations.
However, as is the case with most institutions that are based in a particular country, it is favoured by domestic parties. In 2023, 45% of disputes involved parties that were all Swedish. The other 55% were international disputes involving parties from elsewhere. But it is not clear from the statistics how many of those disputes involved at least one party from Sweden.
Sweden’s reputation as a neutral country has given it a special role to play in resolving East / West disputes, and it has often been a favoured forum for disputes between parties from USA and Russia, or USA and China.
SCC Rules
The SCC has its own set of Arbitration Rules.(2)
It also has a set of Expedited Rules(3) that make provisions for shorter deadlines, using only a sole arbitrator, and holding oral hearings only if requested by one of the parties.
The SCC also acts as the appointing authority to administer disputes under UNCITRAL Rules. It will appoint arbitrators, take decisions on challenges to arbitrators, and decide on the costs of the arbitration.
Other services of the SCC
As an institute, the SCC also offers a number of other services to help parties resolve their disputes.
The SCC Express, is an expert determination procedure, where a legal expert assesses the dispute within three weeks, and does it all at a fixed price of €29,000. As with any other expert determination, the decision is not binding or enforceable, but the benefit is that it gives parties an objective view of the merits of their positions. The idea is that parties will be able to move forward with their commercial relationship and speed up the resolution of their dispute.
Parties are able to appoint an emergency arbitrator at the SCC for urgent interim safety measures like injunctions.
The SCC also offers a mediation service, which helps parties find creative solutions to their disputes and could end in a binding settlement agreement.
Costs
Costs of the SCC are based on the value of the claims, taking into account any counterclaims and set off.
There is a cost calculator(4) on the SCC website to estimate costs.
Language
The majority of cases (54%) registered in 2023 used English as the language of the administration of the arbitration. Then 43% of the cases used Swedish.
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