In a recent decision published on 18 May 2020, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (“SFSC”) upheld an arbitral award in which the arbitral tribunal had declined jurisdiction in the absence of a valid arbitration agreement (case no. 4A_418/2019 (in German)). Factual background The reported dispute stems from a trilateral agreement for the construction of a housing project between a Turkish company, an Iranian state company and an Iranian state bank. The trilateral agreement contained an…
In recent years, corporate arbitration has played only a minor role in Switzerland. One of the main reasons…
In 2017, the Swiss Government released a draft bill aiming at a reform of the Swiss international arbitration…
In 2017, the Swiss Government released a draft bill aiming at a reform of the Swiss international arbitration legislation. In March 2020, the reform has been debated in the Swiss Parliament and a revised draft bill has been approved (available in German, French and Italian). The draft bill is, however, not yet final and may still be subject to amendments. Planned amendments of the Swiss international arbitration legislation Upon initiative of the Government, the Parliament is…
In its decision dated 6 January 2020, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (SFSC) decided that an arbitration clause…
In its decision dated 24 September 2019, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (“SFSC”) held that a State is only…
SWITZERLAND Luca Beffa, Joachim Frick, Gentiana Imeri, Urs Zenhäusern A. LEGISLATION AND RULES A.1 Legislation A.1.1 Revision of the Swiss Arbitration Act Switzerland is currently revising its Swiss Arbitration Act (i.e. chapter 12 of the Swiss Federal Act on Private International Law (PILA)) that governs international arbitral proceedings seated in Switzerland. The draft bill, published by the Swiss Federal Council in October 2018, has been sent to the Swiss Parliament for debate and its entry…
In its decision dated 28 May 2019 (case No. 4A_543/2018 (in German), selected for publication in the official…
In its decision dated 7 May 2019, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (SFSC) clarified the requirements of a…
In its decision dated 17 April 2019, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (SFSC) confirmed for the first time that an arbitration clause may validly bind also a party which had not signed the main contract under the 1958 Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York Convention) (case No. 4A_646/2018 (in German), selected for publication). The reported dispute originates from a distribution relationship maintained over several years between the parties, a…