primarily catering for East-West disputes,
i.e. disputes between entities from the East like CIS countries or China, and the west, such as from the US or Western Europe. That is the competitive edge of the SCC. Today, it handles a broader spectrum of international disputes, but still maintains a considerable East-West caseload. Typically, the SCC will have around 200 new cases referred to it per year out which about half are international and half are Swedish domestic disputes. Sweden and the SCC is also the second most popular venue in the world for international investment arbitrations after ICSID.
In many cases before the SCC, a former USSR country or a company from these countries have been involved. That also shows the trust they put in SCC which might be due to the longstanding neutrality of Sweden. In this way, the SCC could serve as an arbitrator between West and East. How could the current war endanger that position?
The SCC’s primary task is to serve as a neutral venue for resolving disputes. That task is particularly relevant in times of armed conflict. The SCC, as an institution, has and will always remain strictly neutral and will cater for parties from anywhere in the world. To this end, the SCC – alongside other leading arbitral institutions in Europe – has, amongst other, lobbied the EU Commission to adopt an express exception to cater for arbitration in the latest version of the EU sanctions regime.
It is of critical importance that sanctions do not prevent parties from using international arbitration to solve their differences.