In 2020, Sweden took a decision, through the Post and Telecom Authority (Post- och telestyrelsen) (PTS), to exclude Huawei Technologies from, inter alia, contributing hardware to the 5G roll-out in the state.
At first in Sweden, Huawei challenged this decision of PTS in the national courts of, first before the Administrative Court in Stockholm (Förvaltningsrätten i Stockholm) in Cases 24231-20, 2378-21, and then second at the Administrative Court of Appeal in Stockholm (Kammarrätten i Stockholm) in Cases 5222-21 and 5223-21, but was unsuccessful both times.
Now, after trying the ordinary route through the national courts, Huawei is trying the international route to remedies by instituting arbitration proceedings under the World Bank Group’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). This avenue is available to investors through a bilateral investment treaty (BIT), which in the case at hand, is the Sweden-China BIT of 1982.
Huawei is claiming Sweden has breached a number of provisions of the BIT, including prohibition of expropriation, as well as fair and equitable treatment. It is seeking 5.2 billion Swedish kroner (SEK) (approximately €43 billion as of August 2023). Sweden, in defence, argues there is a public security issue.
The case is progressing through the ICSID system, and is ongoing.
More on the Huawei v Sweden (ICSID Case No. ARB/22/2) proceedings can be followed on the ICSID website here.