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Comment by belltaco | Hacker News Reader

> The only reason they have leverage is the law that gives Postnord a monopoly on delivering license plates

Is that a law or an exclusive contract between the government and PostNord, given after bidding and a tender process as they call it in Europe and Asian countries?

I think it's a contract, and contracts have exclusions in cases of forces majeures like strikes. Since the Transport Agency is required by law to provide plates for properly registered cars, I would think they would be required to let Tesla pick them up, or use a different carrier for Tesla plates.

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> contracts have exclusions in cases of forces majeures like strikes

Tesla can't call force majeure on a contract it isn't party to. If the Swedish government wanted to break the strike, it can--trivially. There is simply zero political will to do so.

> Tesla can't call force majeure on a contract it isn't party to

Yet Scandinavian workers seem to be able to join in on disputes they aren't party to.

> Yet Scandinavian workers seem to be able to join in on disputes they aren't party to

Yes, there is a difference between association and contract. (As well as not doing something versus forcing someone to.)

The Swedish Transport Agency is required by law to provide plates. If it cannot fulfil its duties because of a force majeur event then it would be expected to explore alternatives like allowing plates to be picked up at the factory, which is not forbidden by law. It might be forbidden by the contract with PostNord, but PostNord is undergoing a force majeure so it cannot object to it.

> If the Swedish government wanted to break the strike, it can--trivially. There is simply zero political will to do so.

That won't be breaking the strike if plates are allowed to be picked up. If the government does not want to follow Swedish law and their duties, then the courts should force it to do so.

The Swedish Transport Agency has already done their job. The plates are in transit.

> If it cannot fulfil its duties because of a force majeur event then it would be expected to explore alternatives

I don’t know Swedish law. But this certainly isn’t the case in America.

Yes, Tesla can do exactly that. It's a standard clause in Nordic contracts. They're not liable if they have had even remotely competent council do their contracts.

My Visa card has a clause that the bank isn't liable if it stops working due to industrial action.

> a standard clause in Nordic contracts

What contract is Tesla party to that they would invoke this on? OP suggested Transport Agency invoking force majeure, which makes sense.

> has a clause that the bank isn't liable if it stops working due to industrial action

Who is suggesting liability for Tesla?

Lots of guessing here.

There is an exclusive contract between the Swedish state and the postal company. There is also a contract that forbids the plate manufacturer from sending plates by any other means than post.

Transportstyrelsen does not agree that the current strike counts as a force majeure. This is (essentially) what the court case is about. Lower court agreed with you and allowed them to pick up plates themselves but the appeal court repelled that decision earlier today.

> Transportstyrelsen does not agree that the current strike counts as a force majeure

That's interesting, I wonder what their reasoning is, I thought strikes were included in the definition of force majeure in the law.

> There is an exclusive contract between the Swedish state and the postal company. There is also a contract that forbids the plate manufacturer from sending plates by any other means than post.

Isn't there a law that states the transport agency must provide lawfully registered plates? Usually laws trump contracts.

There is indeed such a law. There’s also a law saying that the state must provide me with a passport after I apply for one, but if their distribution system breaks down for whatever reason I cannot just show up at the passport making factory and demand my passport.

I think it’s obvious that Tesla will be allowed to get their plates sooner or later, and Transportstyrelsen does not seem to be of the view that they shouldn’t be. They are more concerned about the practicality and legality of letting them pick up the plates from the factory.

Its a law

Given that PostNord is jointly owned by the Swedish and Danish governments but is not a government agency, it's strange that there would be a law that exclusively forces the Swedish government to use PostNord.

There's also nothing in the law that states that plates have to be mailed and cannot be picked up, that's a operational decision by the Transport Agency. It's required by law to provide plates so it will be interesting to see how this turns out.

You may well think that, and i agree with you, but that is how the regulation is, afaik. The plates have to be distributed by mail and Postnord has to be used for it.

The deal is that whoever gets the contract has to deliver to all of the nation, not just where it's profitable. UPS, GPS, DPD etc won't commit to that because they don't earn enough money on that. PostNord is the only one who does, and therefore they're the only ones who can win the contract.

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