In Sweden, there is no direct way to fully identify the complete asset position of another party. However, there are several ways to get a good indication of a company’s or an individual’s assets.

One option is to contact the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) and request the tax returns of the other party, where information regarding declared annual income and deductible expenses could be found. Tax returns submitted to the Swedish Tax Agency are publicly available and can generally be given to anyone upon request. This applies to all legal entities, sole traders and private individuals. However, the tax returns will not include any general listing of assets, since the wealth tax was abolished in 2007.

If the other party is required to keep accounts in accordance with the Swedish Accounting Act, which almost all legal entities are, the annual report can also give a good indication of the company’s asset position. In Sweden, all annual reports are publicly available as soon as they are filed and registered with the Swedish Companies Registration Office (Bolagsverket), which must be done no later than seven months after the conclusion of a financial year. Anyone can obtain annual reports by paying a small fee.

Full information regarding ownership of any real property is publicly available from the Swedish authority responsible for property registration (Lantmäteriet), if the other party has a Swedish registration number or a Swedish social security number. Similarly, by contacting the Swedish Transport Agency (Transportstyrelsen), one could acquire information as to whether the other party owns any vehicles, civil aircraft, trains or boats over 15 metres in length.

Indicative information regarding ownership of shares in companies may be obtained through the public Register of Beneficial Ownership, kept by the Swedish Companies Registration Office.

Furthermore, it is sometimes possible to obtain information regarding assets by reviewing a credit report on the other party from a credit reference agency. Every company and everyone over the age of 15 is registered at the major credit reference agencies, and credit reports include information such as credit scores, debts and previous credits. There are no special requirements for requesting a credit report regarding a legal entity but, according to Swedish law, a report must have a necessary purpose if it contains information about a private individual (eg, the party requesting the report has entered into, or is about to enter into, a credit agreement with the person to whom the credit information pertains, or the requesting party otherwise has grounds to make a financial risk assessment). If a credit report concerning a private individual is made, the individual must receive a copy of said report.

If the enforcement of a judgment proceeds beyond the Swedish Enforcement Authority (Kronofogdemyndigheten) to litigation (civil case), the court can, upon request by a party, order the production of documents if said documents can be assumed to have significance as evidence (editionsföreläggande). The obligation also applies to third parties and is thus not limited to the parties to the proceedings. Consequently, depending on the type of case, information about the asset position of a person or company can be gathered through the court order, if the documents have relevance as evidence. This would normally be the case if the court proceedings concern the enforcement but, conversely, not as a matter of the principal issue in dispute.

Moreover, where there is a risk that the other party could withhold or disappear with the money or property, a claimant can also request that the court issues a freezing order (kvarstad). If ordered by the court, the Swedish Enforcement Authority will temporarily take possession of the money or property until a judgment or final order is issued.

In Sweden, there are seven different types of domestic judgments:

• declaratory judgment (fastställelsedom);
• judgment for specific performance (fullgörelsedom);
• intermediate judgment (mellandom);
• default judgment (tredskodom);
• interim judgment (interimistiskt beslut);
• decision (beslut); and
• confirmed settlement (stadfäst förlikning).

A dispute over money can be resolved in two ways within the framework of the state, either with the assistance of the Swedish Enforcement Authority (Kronofogden) or through a court of law.

If someone undisputedly owes money, the creditor may turn to the Swedish Enforcement Authority and apply for a payment order (betalningsföreläggande). The Swedish Enforcement Authority then contacts the person whom the applicant believes owes them money. If the debtor does not object, the Swedish Enforcement Authority issues a decision which is enforceable in the same manner as a court judgment. If the debtor raises objections, the Swedish Enforcement Authority must forward the case to the district court.

Should the creditor be aware from the outset that the opposing party has objections to their claim, the creditor must not take the matter to the Enforcement Authority but rather directly approach the district court with a summons application.

If the domestic judgment holds that an individual or a company is in debt or finds that the claimant is entitled to a specific asset, it is possible to apply for enforcement at the Enforcement Authority (ansökan om verkställighet). The authority can then compulsorily seize any funds the debtor may have in a Swedish bank, seize and sell the debtor’s other assets and property or seize the specific asset in question and give possession or, where the counterparty is a natural person, force the judgment debtor’s employer to deduct money from the regular salary payments (the same applies for pensions and social benefits). The money obtained goes towards paying the debt.

As a second option where the enforcement from the Enforcement Authority did not result in payment of the debt, an application for compulsory insolvent liquidation of the counterparty could be filed at the district court. An administrator will then handle the bankruptcy estate and decide in what order all the creditors get paid, according to Swedish law. It is commonly the case that other, known or unknown, creditors have claims on the debtor. This means that, even with a domestic judgment, another creditor may get paid before the creditor that filed for bankruptcy. The order of priority depends on several factors, such as the origin and size of the claim, and when the claim first arose.

An advantage of applying for insolvent liquidation is that an administrator has significantly greater opportunities to investigate and locate hidden assets. Moreover, the administrator has the opportunity to apply for recovery to the estate of funds or other assets which have been transferred by the company during a certain period of time before the liquidation order.

The party petitioning for compulsory liquidation must show that the other party is insolvent. An application for bankruptcy is therefore often the second alternative to an application for enforcement at the Swedish Enforcement Authority.

A victim of crime, on the other hand, will always be entitled to the damages awarded by the court. If the perpetrator is not able to pay the full damages and the incident is not covered by insurance, it is possible for the victim to receive criminal injuries compensation for the remaining part from the Swedish state. An application can be sent to the Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority (Brottsoffermyndigheten). The perpetrator will then be in debt to the authority, and not the victim.

An application for enforcement at the Swedish Enforcement Authority costs SEK600 (approximately EUR53) per year. It is the debtor’s duty to pay this fee, but the creditor will receive the invoice instead if the debtor cannot pay. If the enforcement is successful, the creditor will be reimbursed.

Provided that the debtor has cash or cash equivalents, the time from the day of the application to the day the creditor is fully repaid is approximately 20 working days. However, the processing time may vary depending on the subject of the enforcement, how quickly documents may be served on the debtor, the debtor’s solvency and the kind of assets seized.

The application fee for applying at the district court to place another party in bankruptcy is SEK2,800 (approximately EUR247), not including legal fees. This process is, if the debtor does not admit the application, both time-consuming and more expensive than an application at the Swedish Enforcement Authority.

As part of the execution process, the Swedish Enforcement Authority investigates whether the debtor has assets the Swedish Enforcement Authority can seize and the location thereof. This is normally done through contacting all Swedish banks, checking the publicly available records of income and real property and vehicle ownership, as well as visiting the premises/home of the debtor to search for saleable assets. Moreover, the Swedish Enforcement Authority is willing to follow up on tips of assets provided by the applicant.

A respondent may challenge enforcement on the basis of a failure to validly serve proceedings on them, seeking to set aside the judgment or appeal the judgment.

A court judgment in Sweden if enforceable even if the judgment has not yet become final (eg, the appeal period is still running). However, the Swedish Enforcement Authority will in such case hold funds and assets and not pay the applicant before the judgment becomes final. After the judgment becomes final, the obligation itself as stated in the judgment cannot be challenged during enforcement proceedings, other than for procedural irregularities.

However, a higher court can also rule to stay the enforcement until the judgment is delivered. The inhibition can only be ruled at the request of a party. For the person/company filing the appeal, it is therefore important to remember to request a stay of enforcement.

The counterparty may challenge the Swedish Enforcement Authority’s decision to seize and sell assets. The appeal shall be sent to the authority within three weeks from the date of service (delgivning) of the decision by the authority. If the decision relates to the enforcement of a person’s regular salary, there is no time limit for the appeal. The appeal is tried by a district court.

An appeal is not generally an obstacle to enforcement. Thus, the Swedish Enforcement Agency can still execute the enforcement until the court has made its decision on the appeal. If the court rules in the debtor’s favour, the property, or the equivalent amount, is given back to the respondent. Moreover, the court can also rule to stay the enforcement until the appeal has been tried.

In Sweden, all types of court judgments can be enforced, in principle.

Although there is no official searchable register of all judgments, all court judgments are official in Sweden. To request a judgment regarding a specific company or person, it is possible to call or email each of the 48 district courts in Sweden and ask for judgments or pending cases involving a certain company or individual. A less time-consuming way can be to contact only the district court in the jurisdiction of the party’s registered office or residence, since cases against the party likely will be tried in that court. The courts usually answers during the same day as the contact. The information obtained includes all criminal and civil cases as well as insolvency proceedings. The information does not include other authority decisions, such as decisions from the Swedish Enforcement Authority, unless appealed and brought before a district court.

Furthermore, a credit report of a person or a company can easily be obtained by contacting a credit reference agency. Unpaid debts, granted credits and credit scores will be shown. Payment defaults are usually visible in the report for three years.

Only judgments from foreign courts in areas that are covered by relevant international conventions to which Sweden has acceded – or by agreements that Sweden has entered into with other countries ‒ or judgments from foreign courts in areas that are covered by certain EU regulations can be enforced in Sweden. In special situations, a foreign judgment may also be enforced and recognised based on case law.

Although there are also judgments that can be enforced in Sweden according to bilateral treaties that Sweden has entered into with other countries (eg, Nordic conventions), the most important treaties are:

• Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (recast) (the Brussels I Regulation);
• the Convention of 30 October 2007 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (the Lugano Convention 2007);
• Council Regulation (EC) No 4/2009 of 18 December 2008 on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions and co-operation in matters relating to maintenance obligations (the Maintenance Regulation);
• the Hague Convention of 30 June 2005 on Choice of Court Agreements (the 2005 Hague Convention);
• Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters (the 2019 Hague Convention); and
• Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 of 27 November 2003 concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility, repealing Regulation (EC) No 1347/2000 (the Brussels II Regulation).

Some judgments from other EU member states or other Nordic countries are directly enforceable. For other judgments, it might be necessary to apply to a specific district court to have the judgment declared enforceable, which is called exequatur.

Normally all judgments can be enforced, such as default judgments, interim judgments, and summary judgments. Judgments that do not conform with the basic principles of the Swedish legal system might be declared unenforceable with reference to ordre public, but this is not common.

In the case of directly enforceable foreign judgments, the process is the same as for domestic court judgments.

In the event an exequatur is needed, an application must be made to a Swedish district court. Anyone who can demand that a judgment is enforced in the country of origin may also make an application for exequatur in Sweden. Which documents must be submitted in connection thereto depends on which regulation or convention the application is based. As a general rule, the following documents need to be submitted:

• a certified copy of the judgment and, in some cases, documents proving that the judgment is enforceable in the state in which it was given, such as proof of legality;
• an address or information about a representative in Sweden or within the European Economic Area for service of process;
• authorisation documents in their original for a possible representative; and
• a certificate pursuant to a regulation or convention from the court that delivered the judgment.

The court may request the applicant to submit an authorised translation of the documents. If the application is not complete, the district court will order the applicant to complete the application.

The district court does not reconsider the substantive aspect of the foreign judgment, although it does perform formal checks and thereafter declares the judgment enforceable, whereupon it can be enforced in the same way as a Swedish judgment.

The application to the court itself is free of charge, but there may be costs when hiring a representative and translating documents. For the further processing of enforcement, costs arise in the same way as for the enforcement of a domestic judgment.

However, in Sweden, the “loser pays” principle applies as a general rule, meaning that the losing party must pay all costs (eg, costs for the counterparties’ legal counsel). Simple cases take a couple of weeks to enforce, but more complicated cases can take several months or even years to enforce.

In cases where the district court has approved an application for a declaration of enforceability, the counterparty shall be notified of the decision and given the opportunity to apply for an amendment thereof. If the counterparty is resident in Sweden, the application for change must be made within one month of receiving the decision. If the counterparty is resident in another state, the application must be made within two months of receiving the decision.

After an application for amendment has been made, the court must consider whether enforcement should be refused. The court shall refuse enforcement if there are obstacles to enforcement, such as:

• the judgment is contrary to the grounds of the Swedish legal system (ordre public);
• the respondent in a third-party judgment or equivalent has not been served with the summons in the right way or in sufficient time to prepare their defence; or
• the judgment is contrary to a judgment between the same parties in Sweden.

Arbitral awards made in arbitrations seated in Sweden are enforced in the same manner as domestic court judgments. Further and as a general rule, a foreign arbitration award based on an arbitration agreement is recognised and enforced in Sweden. However, there are some exceptions, corresponding to the exceptions in the New York Convention. A foreign award shall not be recognised and enforced in Sweden if the party against whom the award is invoked proves that:

• the parties to the arbitration agreement, pursuant to the law applicable to them, lacked capacity to enter into the agreement or were not properly represented, or the arbitration agreement was not valid under the law to which the parties have subjected it or, failing any indication thereon, under the law of the country where the award was rendered;
• the party against whom the award is invoked was not given proper notice of the appointment of the arbitrator or of the arbitral proceedings, or was otherwise unable to present its case;
• the award deals with a dispute not contemplated by, or not falling within, the terms of the submission to arbitration, or contains decisions on matters that are beyond the scope of the arbitration agreement, provided that, if the decision on a matter that falls within the mandate can be separated from those which fall outside the mandate, the part of the award that contains decisions on matters falling within the mandate may be recognised and enforced;
• the composition of the arbitral tribunal, or the arbitral procedure, was not in accordance with the agreement of the parties or, failing such agreement, was not in accordance with the law of the country where the arbitration was seated; or
• the award has not yet become binding on the parties, or has been set aside or suspended by a competent authority of the country in which, or under the law of which, the award was rendered.

The recognition and enforcement of a foreign award shall also be refused if a court finds that:

• the award includes determination of an issue which, in accordance with Swedish law, may not be decided by arbitrators; or
• it would clearly be incompatible with the basic principles of the Swedish legal system to recognise and enforce the award (ordre public).

During the proceedings in the Svea Court of Appeal in Stockholm (as described in 4.4 Process of Enforcing Arbitral Awards) for recognition and enforcement of the foreign arbitral award, documents that are filed will become public, as a general rule. However, certain information in submitted documents may be subject to limitations on publicity under the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act. For example, information about a party’s business or management conditions will be kept confidential if it can be assumed that its disclosure would cause that party considerable harm. It is common for arbitral awards to be considered largely confidential, at least if requested by one of the parties to the enforcement proceedings.

Furthermore, there are normally no hearings on recognition and enforcement. If a hearing takes place, general Swedish rules on judicial procedure would apply. As a general rule, court hearings are open to the public, but a party may request that the hearing be held in camera and thus not be public. The court may grant such a request insofar as it relates to the information qualifying for protection under the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act and the court deems it to be of extraordinary importance that such information should not be disclosed.

Generally, Sweden’s approach to enforcement does not vary for different types of arbitral awards, as long as they are enforceable according to the requirements described in 4.1 Legal Issues Concerning Enforcement of Arbitral Awards.

Through the implementation of the Washington Convention of 1965 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitration Judgments in Certain International Investment Disputes, an arbitration award in certain such disputes can, under certain conditions, be enforced directly as a Swedish court’s final judgment. However, the ECJ’s Achmea decision from 2018 might pose an obstacle to enforcement in such cases.

Under Swedish law, an arbitral award is considered to have been rendered in the country where the proceedings have their seat of arbitration. Swedish law recognises an award as either domestic or foreign, and therefore does not recognise the concept of a non-domestic award. The Swedish court will try to establish a country, but in the event that this is not possible, it will not be possible to enforce the arbitral award.

The recognition and enforcement of a foreign award shall also be refused if a court finds non-compliance with the requirements referred to above. Furthermore, certain interim decisions are not considered judgments under the New York Convention and are therefore not enforceable.

Arbitral awards made in arbitrations seated in Sweden are enforced in the same manner as domestic court judgments.

For foreign awards, an application must be made for recognition and enforcement to the Svea Court of Appeal in Stockholm. This court’s examination of the application only covers the status of the arbitral award, and does not include such objections to the judgment that can be made in the actual enforcement.

The arbitral award must be attached to the application in an original or certified copy. The judgment must also be certified and translated in its entirety into Swedish, unless the Svea Court of Appeal decides otherwise. It is rarely necessary to translate documents in Danish or Norwegian into Swedish, as there is a language convention between the Nordic countries which prescribes that, as far as possible, they shall be entitled to communicate in their own language when in contact with Swedish authorities. Further, documents in English are sometimes accepted without translation, but the practice in this regard varies.

The court of appeal must give the opposing party opportunity to comment before the court can approve the application.

If the opposing party objects to the existence of an arbitration agreement, the agreement shall also be submitted in an original or certified copy to the appellate court. The same translation rules apply as for the award in relation hereto. In this context, it should be noted that there is no requirement within the framework of Swedish law for the arbitration agreement to be in writing.

If the opposing party objects and submits a request for annulment of the arbitral award or suspension of its enforcement, the appellate court may postpone the decision and, if the applicant so requests, order the other party to provide reasonable security if a decision on enforcement may otherwise be issued.

When the Svea Court of Appeal grants an application for recognition and enforcement of a foreign award, the award is enforceable as a final Swedish court judgment, unless the Supreme Court orders a stay of execution. Decisions by the Svea Court of Appeal can be appealed to the Supreme Court.

After the decision, the enforcement of the arbitral award may be made on the same terms as a domestic judgment.

The time it takes to enforce an arbitral award depends on a number of different factors, such as the number of parties, whether communication is needed before a decision, case type, etc. The time may vary from a couple of months to over a year.

The application to the Svea Court of Appeal itself is free of charge, but there may be costs when hiring a representative and translating documents.

For the further processing of enforcement, costs arise in the same way as for the enforcement of a domestic judgment. However, in Sweden, the “loser pays” principle applies as a general rule, meaning that the losing party must pay all costs (eg, costs for the counterparties’ legal counsel).

An arbitral award that is not final will not be recognised and enforced in Sweden. The party against whom the award is invoked has the burden of proof in relation thereto. Pending appeal or setting-aside proceedings in another country will not generally mean that an award is not considered as final, but Swedish courts will as a general rule not enforce an arbitral award which is subject to an enforcement stay issued by a competent court at the seat of arbitration.

Questions in the arbitral award, regarding limitation and other substantive objections, for example, are not reconsidered in the context of the enforcement procedure.

For other grounds for challenging enforcement, see 4.1 Legal Issues Concerning Enforcement of Arbitral Awards.