Digital lawsuits and powers of attorney
New legislation came into effect on the 1st of January 2021 which expands the possibilities of handing in documents to the courts digitally. Through the introduction of a new paragraph in the Swedish Code of Judicial Procedure (section 33, 1 a §) parties are now allowed to hand in lawsuits and other applications to the court digitally. These documents can now be signed using an “advanced electronic signature” (usually a Swedish BankID) which is considered equivalent to signing the document personally. Furthermore, by changes in section 12 (8-9 §§) in the Swedish Code of Judicial Procedure it is now possible to sign a power of attorney digitally, if certain requirements are met. These changes are good news that will simplify life for many litigation lawyers./ Dennis Engman