The Authority to Interpret Awards Without Support in Statutory Provisions or Arbitration Rules: Where Does the Tribunal’s Jurisdiction End, and the Court’s Begin?

Abstract

The finality of the award is often described as one of the advantages of arbitration. However, unfortunately, awards occasionally contain shortcomings or imperfections. For example, it is sometimes the case that the operative part of the award, also called the award’s dispositif, by itself or in combination with the award’s reasoning, is phrased in an unclear manner, thereby creating doubt as to the proper interpretation of the award.
As a means to address this issue, the Swedish Arbitration Act of 1999 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Arbitration Act’ or simply the ‘Act’), like many national arbitration laws, allows the arbitrators to interpret the award at the request of either party within thirty days of the date when the award was rendered. This follows from section 32(1), which states that (emphasis added):

If the arbitrators find that an award contains any obvious inaccuracy as a consequence of a typographical, computational, or other similar mistake by the arbitrators or any another person, or if the arbitrators by oversight have failed todecide an issue which should have been dealt with in the award, they may, within thirty days of the date of the announcement of the award, decide to correct or supplement the award. They may also correct or supplement an award, or interpret the decision in an award, where any of the parties so requests within thirty days of receipt of the award by that party.