Arbitration as a means of resolving disputes arising under international commercial contracts has long been an important alternative to ordinary court proceedings. The increased practice of using arbitration clauses in transnational commercial contracts has developed a need for the establishment and acceptance of a number of new locales for arbitration to serve as suitable alternatives to the well-known and long accepted locales of New York, London and Paris. As a result of this development Sweden in recent years has become a centre of international arbitration. In the past few years, a large number of important contracts have been made between United States, British, French and German firms, on the one hand, and Foreign Trade Organisations of the Soviet Union and of other East European Governments, on the other, providing that arbitration is to take place in Sweden and in many cases also directing that Swedish law shall govern the contracts. Undermost of these contracts, the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC) acts as appointing authority or administrative agency.

Sweden’s neutrality and impartiality and the relatively high quality of Swedish arbitration legislation are the primary reasons for the commercial world to place confidence in Sweden as a convenient location for arbitration proceedings. Another step taken by the SCC to accelerate the expansion of Sweden as an international arbitration centre is the publication of the book under review, written by a young Swedish lawyer (Dr Ulf Holmbäck) under the guidance of a number of eminently qualified Swedish lawyers and Judges who are familiar with national and international arbitrations. The primary aim of the book is to make available the contents of the Swedish arbitration law to English-speaking readers. Although the main focus is on arbitration where both parties are foreign, the reader is also introduced to the arbitration procedure applying in ordinary commercial relationships between a Swedish and a foreign party and to enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in Sweden.

Both ad hoc arbitration and institutional arbitration are described. A full account of the present Swedish arbitration legislation—the Arbitration Act of 1929, as amended, and the Act of 1929 concerning Foreign Arbitration Agreements and Awards, as amended (the Foreign Arbitration Act)—is given. The rules, concepts and attitudes of the Swedish arbitral law are closely analysed and commented upon with frequent references to relevant Swedish cases and supporting statements in the travaux préparatoires of the legislation. The organisation and functions of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (the SCC Institute) are outlined and throughout the book reference is made to the SCC Institute Rules, the UNCITRAL Rules and the Rules of Conciliation and Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris (the ICC Rules). In this way the author explains the interplay between the institutional arbitration rules and Swedish law with regard to each important procedural aspect of an international arbitration. English translations of the full texts of the SCC Institute Rules, the Swedish Arbitration Act and the Foreign Arbitration Act are conveniently reproduced in three appendices and a fourth appendix contains a helpful list of select literature on Swedish arbitration.