New Swiss law and rules for arbitration of corporate disputes in force
On 1 January 2023, the new report 697n of the Swiss Code of Obligations and the Supplemental Swiss Procedures for Corporate Legislation Disputes entered into power. These provisions let Swiss companies to post their company disputes to arbitration.
The new write-up 697n of the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO), which entered into force on 1 January 2023, makes it possible for Swiss firms to involve arbitration clauses for corporate disputes in their content of association.
In parallel, the Swiss Arbitration Centre (SAC) set into influence new Supplemental Swiss Procedures for Corporate Legislation Disputes (Supplemental Swiss Principles). The Supplemental Swiss Regulations apply to firms integrated below Swiss legislation that have bundled an arbitration clause referring to the Swiss Regulations in their articles or blog posts of association. Nonetheless, other entities these as associations or cooperatives may possibly also pick out to submit their company disputes to the Supplemental Swiss Policies. Additionally, the Supplemental Swiss Rules go over any company regulation dispute inside of the which means of the new post 697n of the CO, but corporations may well restrict the scope of software to precise types of disputes.
The SAC has also posted a Model Statutory Arbitration Clause which corporations may well choose to incorporate into their articles or blog posts of association. It is dependent on the Model Arbitration Clause of the Swiss Rules and has been adapted to account for the specificities of corporate law disputes. The clause incorporates (optional) changes to the default rule about the appointment of the arbitrators, the allocation of the costs of the arbitration and the exclusion of matters matter to summary proceedings or crisis reduction proceedings.
The Supplemental Swiss Principles make sure that folks who may be specifically affected by the legal results of the arbitral award are notified of the graduation and termination of the arbitration, and are equipped to remark on sure procedural techniques.
Eventually, the Supplemental Swiss Regulations adapt the Swiss Guidelines on interim and unexpected emergency reduction to the specificities of company disputes. In particular, they grant wide discretion to the arbitrators in dealing with requests for this sort of reduction and enable them to defer, or refrain from rendering, a determination on a request for interim reduction in a corporate dispute if they deem it more suitable to go away such a conclusion to judicial authorities which have been seized with a parallel ask for.
