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Federal Act
on Private International Law
(PILA)

of 18 December 1987 (Status as of 1 July 2022)

The Federal Assembly of the Swiss Confederation,

based on the responsibility of the Confederation for foreign relations1
and on Article 64 of the Federal Constitution2,
and having considered the Federal Council Dispatch of 10 November 19823,4

decrees:

1 This wording corresponds to Art. 54 para. 1 of the Federal Constitution of 18 April 1999 (SR 101).

2 [BS 1 3]. This provision corresponds to Art. 122 of the Federal Constitution of 18 April 1999 (SR 101).

3 BBl 1983 I 263

4 Amended by Annex No 1 of the FA of 8 Oct. 1999 on Workers posted to Switzerland, in force since 1 June 2004 (AS 20031370; BBl 1999 6128).

Chapter 1 General Provisions

Section 1 Scope of Application

Art. 1  
 

1This Act gov­erns, in in­ter­na­tion­al mat­ters:

a.
the jur­is­dic­tion of Swiss ju­di­cial or ad­min­is­trat­ive au­thor­it­ies;
b.
the ap­plic­able law;
c.
the re­quire­ments for the re­cog­ni­tion and en­force­ment of for­eign de­cisions;
d.
bank­ruptcy and com­pos­i­tion;
e.
ar­bit­ra­tion.

2In­ter­na­tion­al treat­ies are re­served.

Section 2 Jurisdiction

Art. 2  

I. In gen­er­al

 

Where this Act does not provide for spe­cial jur­is­dic­tion, the Swiss ju­di­cial or ad­min­is­trat­ive au­thor­it­ies at the de­fend­ant’s dom­i­cile have jur­is­dic­tion.

Art. 3  

II. Jur­is­dic­tion by ne­ces­sity

 

Where this Act does not provide for jur­is­dic­tion in Switzer­land and pro­ceed­ings abroad are im­possible or can­not reas­on­ably be re­quired, the Swiss ju­di­cial or ad­min­is­trat­ive au­thor­it­ies at the place with which the case has a suf­fi­cient con­nec­tion have jur­is­dic­tion.

Art. 4  

III. Val­id­a­tion of at­tach­ments

 

Where this Act does not provide for any oth­er for­um in Switzer­land, the ac­tion to val­id­ate an at­tach­ment may be brought at the Swiss for­um of the at­tach­ment.

Art. 5  

IV. Choice of for­um

 

1In mat­ters in­volving an eco­nom­ic in­terest, the parties may agree on the court that will have to de­cide any ex­ist­ing or fu­ture dis­pute arising from a spe­cif­ic leg­al re­la­tion­ship. The agree­ment may be done in writ­ing, by tele­gram, tel­ex, tele­fax or any oth­er means of com­mu­nic­a­tion al­low­ing it to be evid­enced by text. Un­less oth­er­wise agreed, the choice of for­um is ex­clus­ive.

2The choice of for­um has no ef­fect if it res­ults in ab­us­ively de­priving a party from the pro­tec­tion gran­ted to it by a for­um provided by Swiss law.

3 The chosen court may not de­cline jur­is­dic­tion:

a.
if a party is dom­i­ciled or has its ha­bitu­al res­id­ence or an es­tab­lish­ment in the can­ton of the chosen court; or
b.
if, pur­su­ant to this Act, Swiss law is ap­plic­able to the dis­pute.
Art. 6  

V. Im­plied con­sent

 

In mat­ters in­volving an eco­nom­ic in­terest, the court be­fore which the de­fend­ant pro­ceeds on the mer­its without re­ser­va­tion has jur­is­dic­tion, un­less such court de­clines jur­is­dic­tion to the ex­tent per­mit­ted by Art­icle 5 para­graph 3.

Art. 7  

VI. Ar­bit­ra­tion agree­ment

 

If the parties have entered in­to an ar­bit­ra­tion agree­ment with re­spect to an ar­bit­rable dis­pute, any Swiss court be­fore which such dis­pute is brought shall de­cline jur­is­dic­tion, un­less:

a.
the de­fend­ant has pro­ceeded on the mer­its without re­ser­va­tion;
b.
the court finds that the ar­bit­ra­tion agree­ment is null and void, in­op­er­at­ive or in­cap­able of be­ing per­formed; or
c.
the ar­bit­ral tribunal can­not be ap­poin­ted for reas­ons that are clearly at­trib­ut­able to the de­fend­ant in the ar­bit­ra­tion.
Art. 8  

VII. Coun­ter­claim

 

The court be­fore which the main claim is brought also hears any coun­ter­claim, provided there is a fac­tu­al con­nec­tion between the main claim and the coun­ter­claim.

Art. 8a5  

VIII. Co-de­fend­ants and plur­al­ity of ac­tions

 

1 If an ac­tion is brought against sev­er­al co-de­fend­ants who may be sued in Switzer­land pur­su­ant to this Act, the Swiss court that has jur­is­dic­tion over one de­fend­ant has jur­is­dic­tion over all of them.

2If two or more claims hav­ing a fac­tu­al con­nec­tion between them can be brought in Switzer­land pur­su­ant to this Act against the same de­fend­ant, any Swiss court hav­ing jur­is­dic­tion over one of such claims has jur­is­dic­tion over all of them.

5 In­ser­ted by Art. 3 No 3 of the FD of 11 Dec. 2009 (Ap­prov­al and Im­ple­ment­a­tion of the Lugano Con­ven­tion), in force since 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 5601; BBl 2009 1777).

Art. 8b6  

IX. Third party ac­tion

 

A Swiss court hav­ing jur­is­dic­tion for the main ac­tion also has jur­is­dic­tion for a third party ac­tion, provided a court in Switzer­land has jur­is­dic­tion over such third party pur­su­ant to this Act.

6 In­ser­ted by Art. 3 No 3 of the FD of 11 Dec. 2009 (Ap­prov­al and Im­ple­ment­a­tion of the Lugano Con­ven­tion), in force since 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 5601; BBl 2009 1777).

Art. 8c7  

X. Civil claims

 

Where it is ad­miss­ible to pur­sue civil claims in crim­in­al pro­ceed­ings, the Swiss court which is seized of the crim­in­al pro­ceed­ings also has jur­is­dic­tion for the civil claims, provided a court in Switzer­land has jur­is­dic­tion for such claims un­der this Act.

7 In­ser­ted by Art. 3 No 3 of the FD of 11 Dec. 2009 (Ap­prov­al and Im­ple­ment­a­tion of the Lugano Con­ven­tion), in force since 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 5601; BBl 2009 1777).

Art. 9  

XI. Lis pen­dens

 

1 If an ac­tion hav­ing the same sub­ject mat­ter is already pending between the same parties abroad, the Swiss court shall stay the case if it is to be ex­pec­ted that the for­eign court will, with­in a reas­on­able time, render a de­cision cap­able of be­ing re­cog­nised in Switzer­land.

2In or­der to de­term­ine when an ac­tion has been ini­ti­ated in Switzer­land, the con­clus­ive date is that of the first act ne­ces­sary to ini­ti­ate the pro­ceed­ings. A no­tice to ap­pear for con­cili­ation is suf­fi­cient.

3 The Swiss court shall ter­min­ate its pro­ceed­ings as soon as it is presen­ted with a for­eign de­cision cap­able of be­ing re­cog­nised in Switzer­land.

Art. 1010  

XII. In­ter­im meas­ures

 

Jur­is­dic­tion to or­der in­ter­im meas­ures lies with:

a.
the Swiss courts or au­thor­it­ies that have jur­is­dic­tion for the main ac­tion; or
b.
the Swiss courts or au­thor­it­ies at the place where the meas­ure is to be en­forced.

10 Amended by An­nex 1 No II 18 of the Civil Pro­ced­ure Code of 19 Dec. 2008, in force since 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 1739; BBl 2006 7221).

Art. 1112  

XIII. Leg­al as­sist­ance

1. Fa­cil­it­a­tion of re­quests

 

Re­quests for leg­al as­sist­ance between Switzer­land and oth­er states are fa­cil­it­ated by the Fed­er­al Of­fice of Justice.

12 Amended by An­nex 1 No II 18 of the Civil Pro­ced­ure Code of 19 Dec. 2008, in force since 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 1739; BBl 2006 7221).

Art. 11a13  

2. Ap­plic­able law

 

1 Acts of leg­al as­sist­ance are car­ried out in Switzer­land in ac­cord­ance with Swiss law.

2For­eign forms of pro­ced­ure may also be fol­lowed or taken in­to con­sid­er­a­tion on ap­plic­a­tion of the re­quest­ing au­thor­it­ies where this is ne­ces­sary for the re­cog­ni­tion of a right abroad and provided there are no im­port­ant coun­ter­vail­ing reas­ons re­lat­ing to the per­son in­volved.

3 If a form of pro­ced­ure un­der Swiss law is not re­cog­nised abroad and as a res­ult a right deemed worthy of pro­tec­tion would not be up­held there, the Swiss courts or au­thor­it­ies may is­sue doc­u­ments or take a per­son’s oath pur­su­ant to the form re­quired by the for­eign law.

4The Hag­ue Con­ven­tion of 1 March 195414 on Civil Pro­ced­ure ap­plies to re­quests to and from Switzer­land for ser­vice and the tak­ing of evid­ence.

13 In­ser­ted by An­nex 1 No II 18 of the Civil Pro­ced­ure Code of 19 Dec. 2008, in force since 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 1739; BBl 2006 7221).

14 SR 0.274.12

Art. 11b15  

3. Ad­vance of costs and se­cur­ity for party costs

 

Ad­vance of costs and se­cur­ity for party costs are gov­erned by the Civil Pro­ced­ure Code of 19 Decem­ber 200816 (CPC).

15 In­ser­ted by An­nex 1 No II 18 of the Civil Pro­ced­ure Code of 19 Dec. 2008, in force since 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 1739; BBl 2006 7221).

16 SR 272

Art. 11c17  

4. Leg­al aid

 

Leg­al aid is gran­ted to per­sons dom­i­ciled abroad un­der the same con­di­tions as ap­ply to per­sons dom­i­ciled in Switzer­land.

17 In­ser­ted by An­nex 1 No II 18 of the Civil Pro­ced­ure Code of 19 Dec. 2008, in force since 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 1739; BBl 2006 7221).

Art. 1218  
 

18 Re­pealed by An­nex 1 No II 18 of the Civil Pro­ced­ure Code of 19 Dec. 2008, with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 1739; BBl 2006 7221).

Section 3 Applicable Law

Art. 13  

I. Scope of con­flict rules

 

Ref­er­ence to a for­eign law in this Act in­cludes all the pro­vi­sions which un­der that law are ap­plic­able to the case. The ap­plic­a­tion of a for­eign law is not pre­cluded by the mere fact that a pro­vi­sion is con­sidered to have pub­lic law char­ac­ter.

Art. 14  

II. Ren­voi

 

1 If the ap­plic­able law refers back to Swiss law or to an­oth­er for­eign law, such ren­voi shall be taken in­to ac­count only if this Act so provides.

2 In mat­ters of per­son­al or fam­ily status, a ren­voi from the for­eign law to Swiss law is ac­cep­ted.

Art. 15  

III. Ex­cep­tion clause

 

1As an ex­cep­tion, the law re­ferred to by this Act is not ap­plic­able if, con­sid­er­ing all the cir­cum­stances, it is ap­par­ent that the case has only a very loose con­nec­tion with that law and that the case has a much closer con­nec­tion with an­oth­er law.

2This pro­vi­sion does not ap­ply where a choice of law has been made.

Art. 16  

IV. Es­tab­lish­ing for­eign law

 

1 The con­tent of the for­eign law shall be es­tab­lished by the au­thor­it­ies on their own mo­tion. For this pur­pose, the co­oper­a­tion of the parties may be re­ques­ted. In mat­ters in­volving an eco­nom­ic in­terest, the task of es­tab­lish­ing for­eign law may be as­signed to the parties.

2 Swiss law ap­plies if the con­tent of the for­eign law can­not be es­tab­lished.

Art. 17  

V. Re­ser­va­tion of Swiss pub­lic policy

 

The ap­plic­a­tion of pro­vi­sions of for­eign law is ex­cluded if such ap­plic­a­tion leads to a res­ult that is in­com­pat­ible with Swiss pub­lic policy.

Art. 18  

VI. Ap­plic­a­tion of man­dat­ory pro­vi­sions of Swiss law

 

Man­dat­ory pro­vi­sions of Swiss law which, by reas­on of their spe­cial pur­pose, are ap­plic­able re­gard­less of the law re­ferred to by this Act are re­served.

Art. 19  

VII. Tak­ing in­to con­sid­er­a­tion of man­dat­ory pro­vi­sions of for­eign law

 

1 If in­terests that are le­git­im­ate and clearly pre­pon­der­ant ac­cord­ing to the Swiss con­cep­tion of law so re­quire, a man­dat­ory pro­vi­sion of a law oth­er than the one re­ferred to by this Act may be taken in­to con­sid­er­a­tion, provided the situ­ation dealt with has a close con­nec­tion with that oth­er law.

2In de­cid­ing wheth­er such a pro­vi­sion is to be taken in­to con­sid­er­a­tion, con­sid­er­a­tion shall be giv­en to its pur­pose and the con­sequences of its ap­plic­a­tion, in or­der to reach a de­cision that is ap­pro­pri­ate hav­ing re­gard to the Swiss con­cep­tion of law.

Section 4 Domicile, Seat and Citizenship

Art. 20  

I. Dom­i­cile, ha­bitu­al res­id­ence and es­tab­lish­ment of a nat­ur­al per­son

 

1With­in the mean­ing of this Act, a nat­ur­al per­son:

a.
has their dom­i­cile in the state where they reside with the in­tent of es­tab­lish­ing per­man­ent res­id­ence;
b.
has their ha­bitu­al res­id­ence in the state where they live for a cer­tain peri­od of time, even if this peri­od is of lim­ited dur­a­tion from the out­set;
c.
has their es­tab­lish­ment in the state where the centre of their pro­fes­sion­al or com­mer­cial activ­it­ies is loc­ated.

2No per­son may have more than one dom­i­cile at the same time. If a per­son does not have a dom­i­cile any­where, the ha­bitu­al res­id­ence is the rel­ev­ant place. The pro­vi­sions of the Civil Code19 re­lat­ing to dom­i­cile and res­id­ence do not ap­ply.

Art. 2120  

II. Seat and es­tab­lish­ment of com­pan­ies and trusts

 

1 For com­pan­ies and trusts pur­su­ant to Art­icle 149a, the seat is deemed to be the dom­i­cile.

2The seat of a com­pany is deemed to be loc­ated at the place des­ig­nated in the art­icles of in­cor­por­a­tion or in the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation. In the ab­sence of such a des­ig­na­tion, the seat is loc­ated at the place where the com­pany is ad­min­istered in fact.

3 The seat of a trust is deemed to be loc­ated at the place of ad­min­is­tra­tion, as des­ig­nated in the trust terms in writ­ing or in any oth­er form which per­mits evid­ence by text. In the ab­sence of such a des­ig­na­tion, the seat is deemed to be loc­ated at the place where the trust is ad­min­istered in fact.

4 The es­tab­lish­ment of a com­pany or a trust is loc­ated in the state where its seat is loc­ated or in any state where one of its branches is loc­ated.

20 Amended by Art. 2 of the FD of 20 Dec. 2006 on the Ap­prov­al and Im­ple­ment­a­tion of the Hag­ue Con­ven­tion on the Law Ap­plic­able to Trusts and on their Re­cog­ni­tion, in force since 1 Ju­ly 2007 (AS 2007 2849; BBl 2006551).

Art. 22  

III. Cit­izen­ship

 

The cit­izen­ship of a nat­ur­al per­son is de­term­ined ac­cord­ing to the law of the state of the cit­izen­ship in ques­tion.

Art. 23  

IV. Mul­tiple cit­izen­ships

 

1 If a per­son has one or more for­eign cit­izen­ships in ad­di­tion to Swiss cit­izen­ship, jur­is­dic­tion based on cit­izen­ship is de­term­ined by ref­er­ence to Swiss cit­izen­ship only.

2 If a per­son has more than one cit­izen­ship, the cit­izen­ship of the state with which such per­son is most closely con­nec­ted is ex­clus­ively rel­ev­ant in de­term­in­ing the ap­plic­able law, un­less this Act provides oth­er­wise.

3 If re­cog­ni­tion of a for­eign de­cision in Switzer­land de­pends on a per­son’s cit­izen­ship, it is suf­fi­cient to take in­to con­sid­er­a­tion one of such per­son’s cit­izen­ships.

Art. 24  

V. State­less per­sons and refugees

 

1 A per­son is con­sidered to be state­less when they are re­cog­nised as such pur­su­ant to the New York Con­ven­tion of 28 Septem­ber 195421 Re­lat­ing to the Status of State­less Per­sons, or when such per­son’s re­la­tion­ship to their na­tion­al state is severed to such an ex­tent that their situ­ation is equi­val­ent to that of a state­less per­son.

2 A per­son is deemed to be a refugee when they are re­cog­nised as such pur­su­ant to the Asylum Act of 5 Oc­to­ber 197922.

3Where this Act ap­plies to state­less per­sons and to refugees, dom­i­cile re­places cit­izen­ship.

21SR 0.142.40

22[AS 1980 1718; 1986 2062; 1987 1674; 1990 938, 1587Art. 3 para. 1; 1994 1634No I 8.1, 2876; 1995 146No II 1, 4356; 1997 2372, 2394; 1998 1582. AS 1999 2262Art. 120 let. a]. Now: FA of 26 June 1998 (SR 142.31).

Section 5 Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Decisions

Art. 25  

I. Re­cog­ni­tion

1. Prin­ciple

 

A for­eign de­cision is re­cog­nised in Switzer­land:

a.
if the ju­di­cial or ad­min­is­trat­ive au­thor­it­ies of the state where the de­cision was rendered had jur­is­dic­tion;
b.
if the de­cision is no longer sub­ject to any or­din­ary ap­peal or if it is a fi­nal de­cision; and
c.
if there is no ground for deni­al un­der Art­icle 27.
Art. 26  

2. Jur­is­dic­tion of for­eign au­thor­it­ies

 

For­eign au­thor­it­ies have jur­is­dic­tion:

a.
if jur­is­dic­tion de­rives from a pro­vi­sion of this Act or, in the ab­sence of such a pro­vi­sion, if the de­fend­ant was dom­i­ciled in the state in which the de­cision was rendered;
b.
if, in mat­ters in­volving an eco­nom­ic in­terest, the parties sub­mit­ted to the jur­is­dic­tion of the au­thor­ity that rendered the de­cision by means of an agree­ment val­id un­der this Act;
c.
if, in mat­ters in­volving an eco­nom­ic in­terest, the de­fend­ant pro­ceeded on the mer­its without re­ser­va­tion;
d.
if, in the case of a coun­ter­claim, the au­thor­ity that rendered the de­cision had jur­is­dic­tion to hear the main claim and if there is a fac­tu­al con­nec­tion between the claim and coun­ter­claim.
Art. 27  

3. Grounds for non-re­cog­ni­tion

 

1A for­eign de­cision is not re­cog­nized in Switzer­land if re­cog­ni­tion is mani­festly in­com­pat­ible with Swiss pub­lic policy.

2Re­cog­ni­tion of a de­cision shall also be denied if a party es­tab­lishes:

a.
that it did not re­ceive prop­er no­tice un­der either the law of its dom­i­cile or that of its ha­bitu­al res­id­ence, un­less the party pro­ceeded on the mer­its without re­ser­va­tion;
b.
that the de­cision was rendered in vi­ol­a­tion of fun­da­ment­al prin­ciples of Swiss pro­ced­ur­al law, in­clud­ing the fact that the party con­cerned was denied the right to be heard;
c.
that a dis­pute between the same parties and with re­spect to the same sub­ject mat­ter has been ini­ti­ated in Switzer­land first or has already been de­cided there, or that such dis­pute has pre­vi­ously been de­cided in a third state, provided the lat­ter de­cision ful­fils the re­quire­ments for re­cog­ni­tion in Switzer­land.

3Oth­er than that, the for­eign de­cision may not be re­viewed on the mer­its.

Art. 28  

II. En­force­ab­il­ity

 

A de­cision that is re­cog­nised pur­su­ant to Art­icles 25 to 27 is de­clared en­force­able at the re­quest of the in­ter­ested party.

Art. 29  

III. Pro­ced­ure

 

1 The re­quest for re­cog­ni­tion or en­force­ment must be filed with the com­pet­ent au­thor­ity of the can­ton where the for­eign de­cision is re­lied on. The re­quest must be ac­com­pan­ied:

a.
by a com­plete and cer­ti­fied copy of the de­cision;
b.
by a state­ment cer­ti­fy­ing that no or­din­ary ap­peal can be lodged against the de­cision or that it is fi­nal; and
c.
in case of a de­fault judg­ment, by an of­fi­cial doc­u­ment es­tab­lish­ing that the de­fault­ing party was giv­en prop­er no­tice and had the op­por­tun­ity to present its de­fence.

2The party op­pos­ing re­cog­ni­tion and en­force­ment has the right to be heard; such party may present their de­fence.

3 If a for­eign de­cision is re­lied on with re­spect to a pre­lim­in­ary is­sue, the au­thor­ity seized may it­self rule on the re­cog­ni­tion.

Art. 30  

IV. Court-ap­proved set­tle­ments

 

Art­icles 25 to 29 ap­ply to court-ap­proved set­tle­ments that are deemed equi­val­ent to a court de­cision in the state where they have been entered.

Art. 31  

V. Non-con­ten­tious mat­ters

 

Art­icles 25 to 29 ap­ply by ana­logy to the re­cog­ni­tion and en­force­ment of a de­cision or a leg­al doc­u­ment is­sued in non-con­ten­tious mat­ters.

Art. 32  

VI. Entry in the civil status re­gisters

 

1 A for­eign de­cision or leg­al doc­u­ment re­gard­ing civil status shall be re­gistered in the Swiss civil status re­gisters if so ordered by the can­ton­al su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity.

2 The entry is au­thor­ised if the re­quire­ments set out in Art­icles 25 to 27 are met.

3 The per­sons con­cerned shall first be heard if it is not es­tab­lished that the rights of the parties have been suf­fi­ciently re­spec­ted dur­ing the pro­ceed­ings in the for­eign state where the de­cision was rendered.

Chapter 2 Natural Persons

Art. 33  

I. In gen­er­al

 

1 Un­less this Act provides oth­er­wise, the Swiss ju­di­cial or ad­min­is­trat­ive au­thor­it­ies of the dom­i­cile have jur­is­dic­tion over mat­ters per­tain­ing to the status of nat­ur­al per­sons; these au­thor­it­ies shall ap­ply the law of the dom­i­cile.

2 In­fringe­ments of per­son­al­ity rights are gov­erned by the pro­vi­sions of this Act re­lat­ing to torts (Art­icle 129 et seq.).

Art. 34  

II. Leg­al ca­pa­city

 

1 Leg­al ca­pa­city is gov­erned by Swiss law.

2 The be­gin­ning and the end of per­son­al­ity are gov­erned by the law ap­plic­able to the leg­al re­la­tion­ship that pre­sup­poses leg­al ca­pa­city.

Art. 35  

III. Ca­pa­city to act

1. In gen­er­al

 

The ca­pa­city to act is gov­erned by the law of the dom­i­cile. Once ac­quired, the ca­pa­city to act is not af­fected by a change of dom­i­cile.

Art. 36  

2. Pro­tec­tion of trans­ac­tions

 

1 A party to a leg­al trans­ac­tion who lacks ca­pa­city un­der the law of the state of their dom­i­cile may not rely on such in­ca­pa­city if they would have had the ca­pa­city to act un­der the law of the state where the trans­ac­tion was made, un­less the oth­er party knew or should have known of the in­ca­pa­city.

2 This rule does not ap­ply to leg­al trans­ac­tions per­tain­ing to fam­ily law, suc­ces­sion law or rights in rem in im­mov­able prop­erty.

Art. 37  

IV. Name

1. In gen­er­al

 

1 The name of a per­son dom­i­ciled in Switzer­land is gov­erned by Swiss law. The name of a per­son dom­i­ciled abroad is gov­erned by the law re­ferred to by the rules of private in­ter­na­tion­al law of the state of dom­i­cile.

2 However, a per­son may re­quest to have their name gov­erned by the law of the state of their cit­izen­ship.

Art. 38  

2. Change of name

 

1 The Swiss au­thor­it­ies at the dom­i­cile of the ap­plic­ant have jur­is­dic­tion to hear an ap­plic­a­tion for a change of name.

2 Swiss cit­izens who do not have a dom­i­cile in Switzer­land may ap­ply for a change of name to the au­thor­ity of their can­ton of ori­gin.

3 The re­quire­ments for and ef­fects of a change of name are gov­erned by Swiss law.

Art. 39  

3. Change of name oc­curred abroad

 

A change of name oc­curred abroad is re­cog­nised in Switzer­land if it is val­id in the state of dom­i­cile or in the state of cit­izen­ship of the ap­plic­ant.

Art. 40  

4. Entry in the civil status re­gisters

 

The name is entered in the Swiss civil status re­gisters in ac­cord­ance with Swiss re­gis­tra­tion prin­ciples.

Art. 40a23  

IVa. Gender

 

Art­icles 37–40 ap­ply by ana­logy to a per­son's gender.

23 In­ser­ted by No II of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Sex Change in the Civil Re­gister), in force since 1 Jan. 2022 (AS 2021 668; BBl 2020 799).

Art. 41  

V. De­clar­a­tion of pre­sumed death

1. Jur­is­dic­tion and ap­plic­able law

 

1 The Swiss courts at the last known dom­i­cile of a miss­ing per­son have jur­is­dic­tion to is­sue a de­clar­a­tion of pre­sumed death.

2 The Swiss courts also have jur­is­dic­tion to is­sue a de­clar­a­tion of pre­sumed death where jus­ti­fied by a le­git­im­ate in­terest.

3 The re­quire­ments for and ef­fects of a de­clar­a­tion of pre­sumed death are gov­erned by Swiss law.

Art. 42  

2. De­clar­a­tion of pre­sumed death and of death is­sued abroad

 

A de­clar­a­tion of pre­sumed death or of death is­sued abroad is re­cog­nized in Switzer­land if it is is­sued in the state of the last known dom­i­cile or the state of cit­izen­ship of the miss­ing per­son.

Chapter 3 Marital Law

Section 1 Celebration of Marriage

Art. 43  

I. Jur­is­dic­tion

 

1 The Swiss au­thor­it­ies have jur­is­dic­tion to cel­eb­rate a mar­riage if one of the pro­spect­ive spouses is dom­i­ciled in Switzer­land or has Swiss cit­izen­ship.24

2 For­eign pro­spect­ive spouses without Swiss dom­i­cile may also be au­thor­ised by the com­pet­ent au­thor­ity to marry in Switzer­land, if the mar­riage is re­cog­nised in the state of dom­i­cile or cit­izen­ship of both of the pro­spect­ive spouses.25

3 Such au­thor­isa­tion may not be denied on the sole ground that a di­vorce gran­ted or re­cog­nised in Switzer­land is not re­cog­nised abroad.

24 Amended by An­nex No 2 of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

25 Amended by An­nex No 2 of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

Art. 4426  

II. Ap­plic­able law

 

The cel­eb­ra­tion of mar­riage in Switzer­land is gov­erned by Swiss law.

26 Amended by No I 5 of the FA of 15 June 2012 on Meas­ures against Forced Mar­riages, in force since 1 Ju­ly 2013 (AS 2013 1035; BBl 2011 2185).

Art. 45  

III. Mar­riage cel­eb­rated abroad

 

1 A mar­riage val­idly cel­eb­rated abroad is re­cog­nised in Switzer­land.

2 If either of the pro­spect­ive spouses is a Swiss cit­izen or if both have their dom­i­cile in Switzer­land, a mar­riage cel­eb­rated abroad is re­cog­nised, un­less it was cel­eb­rated with the mani­fest in­tent of cir­cum­vent­ing the Swiss pro­vi­sions on an­nul­ment of mar­riage.27

3 ...28

27 Amended by An­nex No 2 of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

28 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 17 of the Same-Sex Part­ner­ships Act of 18 June 2004 (AS 2005 5685; BBl 20031288). Re­pealed by An­nex No 2 of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), with ef­fect from 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

Art. 45a29  

IV. An­nul­ment of mar­riage

 

1 The Swiss courts at the dom­i­cile or, in the ab­sence of a dom­i­cile in Switzer­land, those at the place of cel­eb­ra­tion of the mar­riage or the place of ori­gin of either spouse have jur­is­dic­tion to hear an ac­tion for an­nul­ment of mar­riage.

2 The ac­tion is gov­erned by Swiss law.

3 Art­icles 62 to 64 ap­ply by ana­logy to in­ter­im meas­ures and to the con­sequences of an an­nul­ment.

4 For­eign de­cisions on an­nul­ment of mar­riage are re­cog­nised in Switzer­land if they were rendered in the state where the mar­riage was cel­eb­rated. Art­icle 65 ap­plies by ana­logy if the ac­tion was brought by one of the spouses.

29In­ser­ted by No II 2 of the FA of 7 Oct. 1994 (AS 1995 1126; BBl 1993 I 1169). Amended by No I 5 of the FA of 15 June 2012 on Meas­ures against Forced Mar­riages, in force since 1 Ju­ly 2013 (AS 2013 1035; BBl 2011 2185).

Section 2 General Effects of Marriage

Art. 46  

I. Jur­is­dic­tion

1. In gen­er­al

 

The Swiss ju­di­cial or ad­min­is­trat­ive au­thor­it­ies at the dom­i­cile or, in the ab­sence of a dom­i­cile, those at the ha­bitu­al res­id­ence of either spouse have jur­is­dic­tion to hear ac­tions or to or­der meas­ures re­lat­ing to the ef­fects of mar­riage.

Art. 47  

2. Jur­is­dic­tion at the place of ori­gin

 

If neither spouse has dom­i­cile or ha­bitu­al res­id­ence in Switzer­land, and if at least one of them is a Swiss cit­izen, the ju­di­cial or ad­min­is­trat­ive au­thor­it­ies at the place of ori­gin have jur­is­dic­tion to hear ac­tions or to or­der meas­ures re­lat­ing to the ef­fects of mar­riage, provided such ac­tion or re­quest can­not be filed or can­not reas­on­ably be ex­pec­ted to be filed at the dom­i­cile or ha­bitu­al res­id­ence of either spouse.

Art. 48  

II. Ap­plic­able law

1. In gen­er­al

 

1 The ef­fects of mar­riage are gov­erned by the law of the state in which the spouses are dom­i­ciled.

2 If the spouses are not dom­i­ciled in the same state, the ef­fects of mar­riage are gov­erned by the law of that state of dom­i­cile with which the case has the closest con­nec­tion.

3 Where the Swiss ju­di­cial or ad­min­is­trat­ive au­thor­it­ies at the place of ori­gin have jur­is­dic­tion pur­su­ant to Art­icle 47, they shall ap­ply Swiss law.

Art. 49  

2. Main­ten­ance ob­lig­a­tions

 

Main­ten­ance ob­lig­a­tions between spouses are gov­erned by the Hag­ue Con­ven­tion of 2 Oc­to­ber 197330 on the Law ap­plic­able to Main­ten­ance Ob­lig­a­tions.

Art. 5031  

III. For­eign de­cisions or meas­ures

 

For­eign de­cisions or meas­ures re­lat­ing to the ef­fects of mar­riage are re­cog­nised in Switzer­land if they were rendered:

a.
in the state of dom­i­cile or ha­bitu­al res­id­ence of either spouse; or
b.
in the state in which the mar­riage was cel­eb­rated and the ac­tion can­not or can­not reas­on­ably be ex­pec­ted to be brought in either of the states men­tioned in let­ter a.

31 Amended by An­nex No 2 of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

Section 3 Marital Property Law

Art. 51  

I. Jur­is­dic­tion

 

The fol­low­ing courts or au­thor­it­ies have jur­is­dic­tion to hear ac­tions and to or­der meas­ures re­lat­ing to mar­it­al prop­erty:

a.
with re­spect to the li­quid­a­tion of the mar­it­al prop­erty re­gime on the death of one of the spouses: the Swiss ju­di­cial or ad­min­is­trat­ive au­thor­it­ies that have jur­is­dic­tion to settle the es­tate (Art. 86 to 89);
b.32
with re­spect to the li­quid­a­tion of the mar­it­al prop­erty re­gime on di­vorce or sep­ar­a­tion: the Swiss ju­di­cial au­thor­it­ies that have jur­is­dic­tion in that re­spect (Art. 59, 60, 60a, 63, 64);
c.
in all oth­er cases: the Swiss ju­di­cial or ad­min­is­trat­ive au­thor­it­ies that have jur­is­dic­tion to rule on the ef­fects of mar­riage (Art. 46, 47).

32 Amended by An­nex No 2 of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

Art. 52  

II. Ap­plic­able law

1. Choice of law

a. In gen­er­al

 

1 Mar­it­al prop­erty re­la­tions are gov­erned by the law chosen by the spouses.

2 The spouses may choose:

a.
the law of the state in which they are both dom­i­ciled or will be dom­i­ciled after the cel­eb­ra­tion of mar­riage;
b.
the law of the place of cel­eb­ra­tion of the mar­riage; or
c.
the law of a state of which either of them is a cit­izen.33

3 Art­icle 23 para­graph 2 does not ap­ply.34

33 Amended by An­nex No 2 of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

34 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 2 of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

Art. 53  

b. Spe­cif­ic con­di­tions

 

1 A choice of law must be agreed in writ­ing or res­ult with cer­tainty from the pro­vi­sions of a mar­it­al agree­ment; in all oth­er re­spects, it is gov­erned by the chosen law.

2 A choice of law may be made or amended at any time. A choice of law made after the cel­eb­ra­tion of mar­riage has ret­ro­act­ive ef­fect as of the cel­eb­ra­tion date, un­less the parties agree oth­er­wise.

3 The chosen law re­mains ap­plic­able as long as the spouses have not amended or re­voked their choice.

Art. 54  

2. Ab­sence of a choice of law

a. In gen­er­al

 

1 In the ab­sence of a choice of law, mar­it­al prop­erty re­la­tions are gov­erned:

a.
by the law of the state in which both spouses are dom­i­ciled at the same time, or, if that is not the case;
b.
by the law of the state in which both spouses were last dom­i­ciled at the same time.

2 If the spouses have nev­er been dom­i­ciled at the same time in the same state, the law of their com­mon cit­izen­ship ap­plies.

3 Spouses who have nev­er been dom­i­ciled in the same state and who do not have a com­mon cit­izen­ship are sub­ject to the Swiss rules on sep­ar­a­tion of prop­erty.

Art. 55  

b. Ad­apt­a­tion and ret­ro­activ­ity in case of change of dom­i­cile

 

1 If the spouses trans­fer their dom­i­cile from one state to an­oth­er, the law of the new dom­i­cile ap­plies with ret­ro­act­ive ef­fect as from the date of the cel­eb­ra­tion of mar­riage. Spouses may ex­clude ret­ro­activ­ity by writ­ten agree­ment.

2 A change of dom­i­cile has no ef­fect on the ap­plic­able law if the spouses have agreed in writ­ing that the former law shall re­main ap­plic­able or if they are bound by a mar­it­al agree­ment.

Art. 56  

3. Form of mar­it­al agree­ments

 

A mar­it­al agree­ment is val­id as to form if it sat­is­fies the re­quire­ments of the law ap­plic­able to the agree­ment or the re­quire­ments of the law of the place where the agree­ment was con­cluded.

Art. 57  

4. Leg­al re­la­tion­ships with third parties

 

1 The ef­fects of the mar­it­al prop­erty re­gime on a leg­al re­la­tion­ship between a spouse and a third party are gov­erned by the law of the state in which that spouse was dom­i­ciled at the time when the leg­al re­la­tion­ship arose.

2 However, these ef­fects are gov­erned by the law ap­plic­able to the mar­it­al prop­erty re­gime if the third party knew or should have known that law at the time when the leg­al re­la­tion­ship arose.

Art. 58  

III. For­eign de­cisions

 

1 For­eign de­cisions re­lat­ing to mar­it­al prop­erty re­la­tions are re­cog­nised in Switzer­land:

a.
if they were rendered, or are re­cog­nised, in the state of dom­i­cile of the de­fend­ant spouse;
b.
if they were rendered, or are re­cog­nised, in the state of dom­i­cile of the plaintiff spouse, provided the de­fend­ant spouse was not dom­i­ciled in Switzer­land;
c.
if they were rendered, or are re­cog­nised, in the state whose law ap­plies to the mar­it­al prop­erty re­la­tions pur­su­ant to this Act; or
d.
to the ex­tent that they re­late to im­mov­able prop­erty, if they were rendered, or are re­cog­nised, in the state in which the re­spect­ive prop­erty is loc­ated.

2 The re­cog­ni­tion of de­cisions re­lat­ing to mar­it­al prop­erty re­la­tions rendered in the con­text of meas­ures pro­tect­ing the mar­it­al uni­on, or on a death, a de­clar­a­tion of nullity of mar­riage, a di­vorce or a sep­ar­a­tion is gov­erned by the pro­vi­sions of this Act re­lat­ing to the gen­er­al ef­fects of mar­riage, di­vorce or suc­ces­sion (Art. 50, 65 and 96).

Section 4 Divorce and Separation

Art. 59  

I. Jur­is­dic­tion

1. In gen­er­al

 

The fol­low­ing courts have jur­is­dic­tion to hear an ac­tion for di­vorce or sep­ar­a­tion:

a.
the Swiss courts at the dom­i­cile of the de­fend­ant spouse;
b.
the Swiss courts at the dom­i­cile of the plaintiff spouse, provided he or she has been resid­ing in Switzer­land for at least a year or is a Swiss cit­izen.
Art. 60  

2. Jur­is­dic­tion at the place of ori­gin

 

If the spouses are not dom­i­ciled in Switzer­land and at least one of them is a Swiss cit­izen, the courts at the place of ori­gin have jur­is­dic­tion to hear an ac­tion for di­vorce or sep­ar­a­tion, provided the ac­tion can­not or can­not reas­on­ably be ex­pec­ted to be brought at the dom­i­cile of either spouse.

Art. 60a35  

3. Jur­is­dic­tion at the place of cel­eb­ra­tion of mar­riage

 

If the spouses are not dom­i­ciled in Switzer­land and if neither of them is a Swiss cit­izen, the Swiss courts at the place of cel­eb­ra­tion of the mar­riage have jur­is­dic­tion to hear an ac­tion for di­vorce or sep­ar­a­tion, provided the ac­tion can­not or can­not reas­on­ably be ex­pec­ted to be brought at the dom­i­cile of either spouse.

35 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 2 of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

Art. 6136  

II. Ap­plic­able law

 

Di­vorce and sep­ar­a­tion are gov­erned by Swiss law.

36 Amended by An­nex No 3 of the FA of 19 June 2015 (Equit­able Pen­sion Di­vi­sion on Di­vorce), in force since 1 Jan. 2017 (AS 2016 2313; BBl 2013 4887).

Art. 62  

III. In­ter­im meas­ures

 

1 A Swiss court be­fore which an ac­tion for di­vorce or sep­ar­a­tion is pending has jur­is­dic­tion to or­der in­ter­im meas­ures, ex­cept if such court clearly lacks jur­is­dic­tion to de­cide on the mer­its or if such lack of jur­is­dic­tion is es­tab­lished in a de­cision that has come in­to force.

2 In­ter­im meas­ures are gov­erned by Swiss law.

3 The pro­vi­sions of this Act re­gard­ing main­ten­ance ob­lig­a­tions between spouses (Art. 49), the ef­fects of a par­ent-child re­la­tion­ship (Art. 82 and 83), and the pro­tec­tion of minors (Art. 85) are re­served.

Art. 63  

IV. Sub­sequent ef­fects

 

1 Swiss courts that have jur­is­dic­tion to hear an ac­tion for di­vorce or sep­ar­a­tion also have jur­is­dic­tion to rule on the sub­sequent ef­fects there­of. The pro­vi­sions of this Act re­lat­ing to the pro­tec­tion of minors (Art. 85) are re­served.37

1bis Swiss courts have ex­clus­ive jur­is­dic­tion to rule on claims for the di­vi­sion of oc­cu­pa­tion­al pen­sion en­ti­tle­ments against a Swiss pen­sion fund.38

2 The sub­sequent ef­fects of di­vorce and sep­ar­a­tion are gov­erned by Swiss law.39 The pro­vi­sions of this Act re­lat­ing to the name (Art. 37 to 40), to main­ten­ance ob­lig­a­tions between spouses (Art. 49), to mar­it­al prop­erty re­la­tions (Art. 52 to 57), to the ef­fects of a par­ent-child re­la­tion­ship (Art. 82 and 83), and to the pro­tec­tion of minors (Art. 85) are re­served.

37 Amended by An­nex No 3 of the FA of 21 June 2013 (Par­ent­al Re­spons­ib­il­ity), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2014 (AS 2014 357; BBl 2011 9077).

38 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 3 of the FA of 19 June 2015 (Equit­able Pen­sion Di­vi­sion on Di­vorce), in force since 1 Jan. 2017 (AS 2016 2313; BBl 2013 4887).

39 Amended by An­nex No 3 of the FA of 19 June 2015 (Equit­able Pen­sion Di­vi­sion on Di­vorce), in force since 1 Jan. 2017 (AS 2016 2313; BBl 2013 4887).

Art. 64  

V. Sup­ple­ment­ing or amend­ing de­cisions

 

1 Swiss courts have jur­is­dic­tion to hear an ac­tion to sup­ple­ment or amend a de­cree of di­vorce or sep­ar­a­tion if they have is­sued such a de­cree or if they have jur­is­dic­tion pur­su­ant to Art­icles 59, 60 or 60a.40 The pro­vi­sions of this Act re­gard­ing the pro­tec­tion of minors (Art. 85) are re­served.

1bis Swiss courts have ex­clus­ive jur­is­dic­tion to rule on claims for the di­vi­sion of oc­cu­pa­tion­al pen­sion en­ti­tle­ments against a Swiss pen­sion fund. In the ab­sence of jur­is­dic­tion un­der para­graph 1, the Swiss courts at the seat of the pen­sion fund have jur­is­dic­tion.41

2 Ac­tions for sup­ple­ment­ing or amend­ing a di­vorce or a sep­ar­a­tion de­cree are gov­erned by Swiss law.42 The pro­vi­sions of this Act re­lat­ing to the name (Art. 37 to 40), to main­ten­ance ob­lig­a­tions between spouses (Art. 49), to mar­it­al prop­erty re­la­tions (Art. 52 to 57), to the ef­fects of a par­ent-child re­la­tion­ship (Art. 82 and 83), and to the pro­tec­tion of minors (Art. 85) are re­served.

40 Amended by An­nex No 2 of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

41 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 3 of the FA of 19 June 2015 (Equit­able Pen­sion Di­vi­sion on Di­vorce), in force since 1 Jan. 2017 (AS 2016 2313; BBl 2013 4887).

42 Amended by An­nex No 3 of the FA of 19 June 2015 (Equit­able Pen­sion Di­vi­sion on Di­vorce), in force since 1 Jan. 2017 (AS 2016 2313; BBl 2013 4887).

Art. 65  

VI. For­eign de­cisions

 

1 A for­eign de­cree of di­vorce or sep­ar­a­tion is re­cog­nised in Switzer­land if:

a.
it was is­sued in the state of dom­i­cile or ha­bitu­al res­id­ence, or in the state of cit­izen­ship of either spouse;
b.
it is re­cog­nised in any of the states in­dic­ated in let­ter a; or
c.
it was is­sued in the state where the mar­riage was cel­eb­rated and the ac­tion can­not or can­not reas­on­ably be ex­pec­ted to be brought in either of the states in­dic­ated in let­ter a.43

2 However, a de­cree that was is­sued in a state of which neither spouse or only the plaintiff spouse is a cit­izen is re­cog­nised in Switzer­land only:

a.
if, at the time of fil­ing the ac­tion, at least one of the spouses was dom­i­ciled or had his or her ha­bitu­al res­id­ence in that state and the de­fend­ant spouse was not dom­i­ciled in Switzer­land;
b.
if the de­fend­ant spouse sub­mit­ted to the jur­is­dic­tion of the for­eign court without re­ser­va­tion; or
c.
if the de­fend­ant spouse ex­pressly con­sents to re­cog­ni­tion of the de­cree in Switzer­land.

43 Amended by An­nex No 2 of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

Chapter 3a Registered Partnership 4445

44 Inserted by Annex No 17 of the Same-Sex Partnerships Act of 18 June 2004, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2005 5685; BBl 20031288).

45 Amended by No I 5 of the FA of 15 June 2012 on Measures against Forced Marriages, in force since 1 July 2013 (AS 2013 1035; BBl 2011 2185).

Art. 65a46  

I. Ap­plic­a­tion of Chapter 3

 

The pro­vi­sions of Chapter 3 ap­ply by ana­logy to re­gistered part­ner­ships.

46 Amended by An­nex No 2 of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

Art. 65b47  
 

47 Re­pealed by An­nex No 2 of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), with ef­fect from 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

Art. 65c48  

II. Ap­plic­able law

 

Where the law ap­plic­able pur­su­ant to Chapter 3 con­tains no pro­vi­sions on re­gistered part­ner­ships, its mar­it­al law is ap­plic­able.

48 Amended by An­nex No 2 of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

Art. 65d49  
 

49 Re­pealed by An­nex No 2 of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), with ef­fect from 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

Chapter 4 Parent-Child Relationship

Section 1 Parent-Child Relationship by Birth

Art. 66  

I. Jur­is­dic­tion

1. In gen­er­al

 

The Swiss courts at the child’s ha­bitu­al res­id­ence or at either par­ent’s dom­i­cile have jur­is­dic­tion to hear an ac­tion to de­clare or con­test a par­ent-child re­la­tion­ship.

Art. 67  

2. Jur­is­dic­tion at the place of ori­gin

 

If the par­ents are not dom­i­ciled in Switzer­land and the child does not have his or her ha­bitu­al res­id­ence there, the courts at the Swiss place of ori­gin of either par­ent have jur­is­dic­tion to hear an ac­tion to de­clare or con­test a par­ent-child re­la­tion­ship, provided the ac­tion can­not or can­not reas­on­ably be ex­pec­ted to be brought at either par­ent’s dom­i­cile nor at the child’s ha­bitu­al res­id­ence.

Art. 68  

II. Ap­plic­able law

1. In gen­er­al

 

1 The form­a­tion, de­clar­a­tion and con­test­ing of a par­ent-child re­la­tion­ship are gov­erned by the law of the state of the child’s ha­bitu­al res­id­ence.

2 However, if neither par­ent is dom­i­ciled in the state of the child’s ha­bitu­al res­id­ence and if the par­ents and the child are cit­izens of the same state, the law of that state ap­plies.

Art. 69  

2. Rel­ev­ant time

 

1 For the de­term­in­a­tion of the law ap­plic­able to the form­a­tion, de­clar­a­tion or con­test­ing of a par­ent-child re­la­tion­ship, the date of birth is de­cis­ive.

2 However, in case of a ju­di­cial de­clar­a­tion or con­test­ing of a par­ent-child re­la­tion­ship, the date of the ac­tion is de­cis­ive if a pre­pon­der­ant in­terest of the child so re­quires.

Art. 70  

III. For­eign de­cisions

 

For­eign de­cisions re­lat­ing to the de­clar­a­tion or con­test­ing of a par­ent-child re­la­tion­ship are re­cog­nised in Switzer­land if they were rendered in the state of the child’s ha­bitu­al res­id­ence or in the child’s state of cit­izen­ship, or in the state of dom­i­cile or the state of cit­izen­ship of the moth­er or the fath­er.

Section 2 Acknowledgment

Art. 71  

I. Jur­is­dic­tion

 

1 The Swiss au­thor­it­ies at the child’s place of birth or ha­bitu­al res­id­ence, as well as those of the dom­i­cile or the place of ori­gin of the moth­er or the fath­er, have jur­is­dic­tion to re­ceive the ac­know­ledg­ment of a child.

2 When an ac­know­ledg­ment takes place in ju­di­cial pro­ceed­ings in which the par­ent-child re­la­tion­ship is leg­ally rel­ev­ant, the judge seized with the law­suit may also re­ceive the ac­know­ledg­ment.

3 The courts that have jur­is­dic­tion to hear an ac­tion to de­clare or con­test a par­ent-child re­la­tion­ship (Art. 66 and 67) also have jur­is­dic­tion to rule on a chal­lenge of an ac­know­ledg­ment.

Art. 72  

II. Ap­plic­able law

 

1 An ac­know­ledg­ment in Switzer­land may be made in ac­cord­ance with the law of the state of the child’s ha­bitu­al res­id­ence, the law of the child’s state of cit­izen­ship, or the law of the dom­i­cile or of the state of cit­izen­ship of the moth­er or the fath­er. The date of the ac­know­ledg­ment is de­cis­ive.

2 The form of an ac­know­ledg­ment in Switzer­land is gov­erned by Swiss law.

3 The chal­lenge of an ac­know­ledg­ment is gov­erned by Swiss law.

Art. 73  

III. Ac­know­ledg­ment made or chal­lenged abroad

 

1 The ac­know­ledg­ment made abroad is re­cog­nised in Switzer­land, if it is val­id in the state of the child’s ha­bitu­al res­id­ence, in the child’s state of cit­izen­ship, or in the state of dom­i­cile or the state of cit­izen­ship of the moth­er or the fath­er.

2 For­eign de­cisions on the chal­lenge of an ac­know­ledg­ment are re­cog­nised in Switzer­land if they were rendered in one of the states men­tioned in para­graph 1.

Art. 74  

IV. Le­git­im­a­tion

 

Art­icle 73 ap­plies by ana­logy to the re­cog­ni­tion of a for­eign le­git­im­a­tion.

Section 3 Adoption

Art. 75  

I. Jur­is­dic­tion

1. In gen­er­al

 

1 The Swiss ju­di­cial or ad­min­is­trat­ive au­thor­it­ies at the dom­i­cile of the ad­opt­ing per­son or ad­opt­ing spouses have jur­is­dic­tion to pro­nounce the ad­op­tion.

2 Courts that have jur­is­dic­tion to hear ac­tions to de­clare or con­test a par­ent-child re­la­tion­ship (Art. 66 and 67) also have jur­is­dic­tion to de­cide on chal­lenges of ad­op­tions.

Art. 76  

2. Jur­is­dic­tion at the place of ori­gin

 

The Swiss ju­di­cial or ad­min­is­trat­ive au­thor­it­ies at the place of ori­gin have jur­is­dic­tion to pro­nounce an ad­op­tion, if the ad­opt­ing per­son or ad­opt­ing spouses are not dom­i­ciled in Switzer­land and at least one of them is a Swiss cit­izen and if they can­not or can­not reas­on­ably be ex­pec­ted to ad­opt at the place of their for­eign dom­i­cile.

Art. 77  

II. Ap­plic­able law

 

1 The re­quire­ments for an ad­op­tion in Switzer­land are gov­erned by Swiss law.

2 Where it ap­pears that an ad­op­tion would not be re­cog­nised in the state of dom­i­cile or the state of cit­izen­ship of the ad­opt­ing per­son or ad­opt­ing spouses and that ser­i­ous pre­ju­dice would res­ult for the child, the au­thor­ity shall also take ac­count of the re­quire­ments un­der the law of the re­spect­ive state. If, even then, re­cog­ni­tion does not ap­pear to be as­sured, the ad­op­tion shall not be pro­nounced.

3 An ac­tion to chal­lenge an ad­op­tion pro­nounced in Switzer­land is gov­erned by Swiss law. An ad­op­tion pro­nounced abroad may be chal­lenged in Switzer­land only if a ground for chal­lenge also ex­ists un­der Swiss law.

Art. 78  

III. Ad­op­tions and sim­il­ar in­sti­tu­tions of for­eign law

 

1 Ad­op­tions pro­nounced abroad are re­cog­nised in Switzer­land if they were pro­nounced in the state of dom­i­cile or the state of cit­izen­ship of the ad­opt­ing per­son or ad­opt­ing spouses.

2 Ad­op­tions and sim­il­ar acts pro­nounced abroad that have ef­fects sub­stan­tially dif­fer­ent from a par­ent-child re­la­tion­ship un­der Swiss law are re­cog­nised in Switzer­land only with the ef­fects that are at­tached to them in the state where they were pro­nounced.

Section 4 Effects of the Parent-Child Relationship

Art. 79  

I. Jur­is­dic­tion

1. In gen­er­al

 

1 Swiss courts at the child’s ha­bitu­al res­id­ence or those of the dom­i­cile or, in the ab­sence of a dom­i­cile, of the ha­bitu­al res­id­ence of the re­spond­ent par­ent have jur­is­dic­tion to hear an ac­tion re­lat­ing to the re­la­tions between par­ents and child, in­clud­ing an ac­tion re­lat­ing to child sup­port.

2 The pro­vi­sions of this Act re­lat­ing to the name (Art. 33, 37 to 40), the pro­tec­tion of minors (Art. 85) and suc­ces­sion (Art. 86 to 89) are re­served.

Art. 80  

2. Jur­is­dic­tion at the place of ori­gin

 

If neither the child nor the re­spond­ent par­ent have their dom­i­cile or ha­bitu­al res­id­ence in Switzer­land and one of them is a Swiss cit­izen, the courts at the place of ori­gin have jur­is­dic­tion.

Art. 81  

3. Third-party claims

 

The Swiss courts re­ferred to in Art­icles 79 and 80 also have jur­is­dic­tion to hear:

a.
claims by au­thor­it­ies which have made ad­vances for main­ten­ance pay­ments;
b.
claims of the moth­er for main­ten­ance pay­ments and re­im­burse­ment of ex­penses in­curred in re­la­tion to the birth.
Art. 82  

II. Ap­plic­able law

1. In gen­er­al

 

1 The re­la­tions between par­ents and child are gov­erned by the law of the state of the child’s ha­bitu­al res­id­ence.

2 However, if neither par­ent is dom­i­ciled in the state of the child’s ha­bitu­al res­id­ence and if the par­ents and the child are cit­izens of the same state, the law of that state ap­plies.

3 The pro­vi­sions of this Act re­lat­ing to the name (Art. 33, 37 to 40), the pro­tec­tion of minors (Art. 85) and suc­ces­sion (Art. 90 to 95) are re­served.

Art. 83  

2. Main­ten­ance ob­lig­a­tions

 

1 Main­ten­ance ob­lig­a­tions between par­ents and child are gov­erned by the Hag­ue Con­ven­tion of 2 Oc­to­ber 197350 on the Law Ap­plic­able to Main­ten­ance Ob­lig­a­tions.

2 To the ex­tent that the moth­er’s rights to main­ten­ance and to re­im­burse­ment of ex­penses oc­ca­sioned by the birth are not dealt with in the said Con­ven­tion, its pro­vi­sions ap­ply by ana­logy.

Art. 84  

III. For­eign de­cisions

 

1 For­eign de­cisions re­lat­ing to the re­la­tions between par­ents and child are re­cog­nised in Switzer­land if they were rendered in the state of the child’s ha­bitu­al res­id­ence or in the state of dom­i­cile or ha­bitu­al res­id­ence of the re­spond­ent par­ent.

2 The pro­vi­sions of this Act re­lat­ing to the name (Art. 39), the pro­tec­tion of minors (Art. 85) and suc­ces­sion (Art. 96) are re­served.

Chapter 5 Guardianship, Protection of Adults and Other Protective Measures 51

51Amended by Annex No 13 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2008 (Adult Protection, Law of Persons and Law of Children), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2011 725; BBl 20067001).

Art. 8552  
 

1 In re­spect of pro­tec­tion of chil­dren, the jur­is­dic­tion of the Swiss ju­di­cial or ad­min­is­trat­ive au­thor­it­ies, the ap­plic­able law and the re­cog­ni­tion and en­force­ment of for­eign de­cisions or meas­ures are gov­erned by the Hag­ue Con­ven­tion of 19 Oc­to­ber 199653 on Jur­is­dic­tion, Ap­plic­able Law, Re­cog­ni­tion, En­force­ment and Co-op­er­a­tion in Re­spect of Par­ent­al Re­spons­ib­il­ity and Meas­ures for the Pro­tec­tion of Chil­dren.

2 In re­spect of pro­tec­tion of adults, the jur­is­dic­tion of the Swiss ju­di­cial or ad­min­is­trat­ive au­thor­it­ies, the ap­plic­able law and the re­cog­ni­tion and en­force­ment of for­eign de­cisions or meas­ures are gov­erned by the Hag­ue Con­ven­tion of 13 Janu­ary 200054 on the In­ter­na­tion­al Pro­tec­tion of Adults.

3 Moreover, the Swiss ju­di­cial or ad­min­is­trat­ive au­thor­it­ies have jur­is­dic­tion if this is ne­ces­sary for the pro­tec­tion of a per­son or of their prop­erty.

4 Meas­ures taken in a State which is not party to the Con­ven­tions re­ferred to in para­graphs 1 and 2 are re­cog­nised if they were taken or are re­cog­nised in the State of ha­bitu­al res­id­ence of the child or the adult.

52 Amended by Art. 15 of the FA of 21 Dec. 2007 on In­ter­na­tion­al Child Ab­duc­tion and the Hag­ue Con­ven­tions on the Pro­tec­tion of Chil­dren and Adults, in force since 1 Ju­ly 2009 (AS 2009 3077; BBl 20072595).

53 SR 0.211.231.011

54 SR 0.211.232.1

Chapter 6 Succession Law

Art. 86  

I. Jur­is­dic­tion

1. In gen­er­al

 

1 The Swiss ju­di­cial or ad­min­is­trat­ive au­thor­it­ies at the last dom­i­cile of the de­ceased have jur­is­dic­tion to take the meas­ures ne­ces­sary to settle the es­tate and to hear dis­putes re­lat­ing thereto.

2 Ex­clus­ive jur­is­dic­tion claimed by a state where im­mov­able prop­erty is loc­ated is re­served.

Art. 87  

2. Jur­is­dic­tion at the place of ori­gin

 

1 If the de­ceased was a Swiss cit­izen dom­i­ciled abroad, the Swiss ju­di­cial or ad­min­is­trat­ive au­thor­it­ies at the de­ceased’s place of ori­gin have jur­is­dic­tion for the es­tate to the ex­tent that the for­eign au­thor­it­ies do not deal with the es­tate.

2 The au­thor­it­ies at the place of ori­gin al­ways have jur­is­dic­tion when a Swiss cit­izen hav­ing their last dom­i­cile abroad sub­mits, in a will or a con­tract of suc­ces­sion, their en­tire es­tate or the por­tion there­of loc­ated in Switzer­land to Swiss jur­is­dic­tion or Swiss law. Art­icle 86 para­graph 2 is re­served.

Art. 88  

3. Jur­is­dic­tion at the loc­a­tion of as­sets

 

1 If the de­ceased was a for­eign cit­izen dom­i­ciled abroad, the Swiss ju­di­cial or ad­min­is­trat­ive au­thor­it­ies have jur­is­dic­tion to deal with those parts of the es­tate that are loc­ated in Switzer­land to the ex­tent that the for­eign au­thor­it­ies do not deal with them.

2 If there are as­sets loc­ated in dif­fer­ent places, the Swiss au­thor­ity be­fore which the mat­ter was first brought has jur­is­dic­tion.

Art. 89  

4. Con­ser­vat­ory meas­ures

 

If the de­ceased had their last dom­i­cile abroad and leaves as­sets in Switzer­land, the Swiss au­thor­it­ies at the place where the as­sets are loc­ated shall take the meas­ures ne­ces­sary for their in­ter­im pro­tec­tion.

Art. 90  

II. Ap­plic­able law

1. Last dom­i­cile in Switzer­land

 

1 The es­tate of a per­son who had their last dom­i­cile in Switzer­land is gov­erned by Swiss law.

2 A for­eign cit­izen may, however, sub­mit their es­tate by will or con­tract of suc­ces­sion to the law of one of their states of cit­izen­ship. Such sub­mis­sion lapses if, at the time of death, the de­ceased no longer had such cit­izen­ship or had ac­quired Swiss cit­izen­ship.

Art. 91  

2. Last dom­i­cile abroad

 

1 The es­tate of a per­son who had their last dom­i­cile abroad is gov­erned by the law re­ferred to by the private in­ter­na­tion­al law rules of the state of dom­i­cile.

2 To the ex­tent that Swiss ju­di­cial or ad­min­is­trat­ive au­thor­it­ies have jur­is­dic­tion pur­su­ant to Art­icle 87, the es­tate of a Swiss de­ceased who had their last dom­i­cile abroad is gov­erned by Swiss law, un­less the de­ceased ex­pressly provided by will or con­tract of suc­ces­sion for the ap­plic­a­tion of the law of their last dom­i­cile.

Art. 92  

3. Scope of the law gov­ern­ing the es­tate and ad­min­is­tra­tion of the es­tate

 

1 The law ap­plic­able to the es­tate de­term­ines what be­longs to the es­tate, who is en­titled thereto and to what ex­tent, who is li­able for the debts of the es­tate, which leg­al rem­ed­ies may be re­lied on, and which meas­ures may be ordered and sub­ject to which re­quire­ments.

2 The im­ple­ment­a­tion of the meas­ures is gov­erned by the law of the state whose au­thor­ity has jur­is­dic­tion. Such law gov­erns inter aliacon­ser­vat­ory meas­ures and the ad­min­is­tra­tion of the es­tate, in­clud­ing the ad­min­is­tra­tion by an ex­ecut­or.

Art. 93  

4. Form

 

1 The valid­ity of wills as to form is gov­erned by the Hag­ue Con­ven­tion of 5 Oc­to­ber 196155 on the Con­flict of Laws Re­lat­ing to the Form of Test­a­ment­ary Dis­pos­i­tions.

2 This Con­ven­tion ap­plies by ana­logy to the form re­quire­ments in re­spect of oth­er dis­pos­i­tions upon death.

Art. 94  

5. Test­a­ment­ary ca­pa­city

 

A per­son is cap­able of dis­pos­ing upon death if, at the time of mak­ing the dis­pos­i­tion, they have the ca­pa­city to do so un­der the law of the state of their dom­i­cile or ha­bitu­al res­id­ence, or un­der the law of one of the states of which they are a cit­izen.

Art. 95  

6. Con­tracts of suc­ces­sion and oth­er re­cip­roc­al dis­pos­i­tions upon death

 

1 Con­tracts of suc­ces­sion are gov­erned by the law of the state in which the dis­pos­ing party is dom­i­ciled at the time of their con­clu­sion.

2 If a dis­pos­ing party sub­mits, in the con­tract, their en­tire es­tate to the law of the state of which they are a cit­izen, such law ap­plies in lieu of the law of the dom­i­cile.

3 Re­cip­roc­al dis­pos­i­tions upon death are val­id if they are con­sist­ent with the law of the dom­i­cile of each dis­pos­ing party or with the law of the coun­try of com­mon cit­izen­ship chosen by them.

4 The pro­vi­sions of this Act re­gard­ing form re­quire­ments and test­a­ment­ary ca­pa­city (Art. 93 and 94) are re­served.

Art. 96  

III. For­eign de­cisions, meas­ures, doc­u­ments and rights

 

1 For­eign de­cisions, meas­ures and doc­u­ments re­lat­ing to the es­tate, as well as rights de­riv­ing from an es­tate pro­bated abroad shall be re­cog­nised in Switzer­land:

a.
if they are rendered, taken, drawn up or de­clared in the state of the de­ceased’s last dom­i­cile or in the state to the law of which the de­ceased sub­mit­ted his or her es­tate, or if they are re­cog­nised in one of these states; or
b.
if they re­late to im­mov­able prop­erty and were rendered, taken, drawn up or de­clared in the state in which such prop­erty is loc­ated, or if they are re­cog­nised in that state.

2 With re­spect to im­mov­able prop­erty loc­ated in a state which claims ex­clus­ive jur­is­dic­tion, only the de­cisions, meas­ures or doc­u­ments ori­gin­at­ing from that state shall be re­cog­nised.

3 Con­ser­vat­ory meas­ures ordered in the state where as­sets of the de­ceased are loc­ated shall be re­cog­nised in Switzer­land.

Chapter 7 Property Law

Art. 97  

I. Jur­is­dic­tion

1. Im­mov­able prop­erty

 

The courts at the place where im­mov­able prop­erty in Switzer­land is loc­ated have ex­clus­ive jur­is­dic­tion to hear ac­tions re­lat­ing to rights in rem in such prop­erty.

Art. 98  

2. Mov­able prop­erty

 

1 The Swiss courts at the dom­i­cile or, in the ab­sence of a dom­i­cile, at the ha­bitu­al res­id­ence of the de­fend­ant have jur­is­dic­tion to hear ac­tions re­lat­ing to rights in rem in mov­able prop­erty.

2 The Swiss courts at the place where the prop­erty is loc­ated also have jur­is­dic­tion.56

56 Amended by Art. 3 No 3 of the FD of 11 Dec. 2009 (Ap­prov­al and Im­ple­ment­a­tion of the Lugano Con­ven­tion), in force since 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 5601; BBl 2009 1777).

Art. 98a57  

3. Cul­tur­al prop­erty

 

The court at the dom­i­cile or at the seat of the de­fend­ant or the court at the place where the cul­tur­al prop­erty is loc­ated has jur­is­dic­tion to hear ac­tions for re­pat­ri­ation in the sense of Art­icle 9 of the Cul­tur­al Prop­erty Trans­fer Act of 20 June 200358.

57 In­ser­ted by Art. 32 No 3 of the Cul­tur­al Prop­erty Trans­fer Act of 20 June 2003, in force since 1 June 2005 (AS 2005 1869; BBl 2002535).

58 SR 444.1

Art. 99  

II. Ap­plic­able law

1. Im­mov­able prop­erty

 

1 Rights in rem in im­mov­able prop­erty are gov­erned by the law of the place where the prop­erty is loc­ated.

2 Claims arising out of nuis­ances ori­gin­at­ing from im­mov­able prop­erty are gov­erned by the pro­vi­sions of this Act re­lat­ing to torts (Art. 138).

Art. 100  

2. Mov­able prop­erty

a. In gen­er­al

 

1 The ac­quis­i­tion and loss of rights in rem in mov­able prop­erty are gov­erned by the law of the place where the prop­erty is loc­ated at the time of the event from which the ac­quis­i­tion or loss is de­rived.

2 The scope and ex­er­cise of rights in rem in mov­able prop­erty are gov­erned by the law of the place where the prop­erty is loc­ated.

Art. 101  

b. Goods in trans­it

 

The ac­quis­i­tion and loss, through leg­al trans­ac­tions, of rights in rem in goods in trans­it are gov­erned by the law of the state of des­tin­a­tion.

Art. 102  

c. Goods ar­riv­ing in Switzer­land

 

1 When mov­able prop­erty ar­rives in Switzer­land and the ac­quis­i­tion or loss of a right in rem has not yet taken place abroad, the events that have oc­curred abroad are deemed to have oc­curred in Switzer­land.

2 When mov­able prop­erty ar­riv­ing in Switzer­land is sub­ject to a re­ser­va­tion of own­er­ship val­idly cre­ated abroad but which does not meet the re­quire­ments of Swiss law, such re­ser­va­tion of own­er­ship non­ethe­less re­mains val­id for three months.

3 Such a re­ser­va­tion of own­er­ship cre­ated abroad can­not be as­ser­ted against a third party act­ing in good faith.

Art. 103  

d. Re­ser­va­tion of own­er­ship of goods in­ten­ded for ex­port

 

The re­ser­va­tion of own­er­ship of mov­able prop­erty in­ten­ded for ex­port is gov­erned by the law of the state of des­tin­a­tion.

Art. 104  

e. Choice of law

 

1 Parties may sub­mit the ac­quis­i­tion and loss of rights in rem in mov­able prop­erty to the law of the state of ship­ment or of des­tin­a­tion, or to the law which gov­erns the un­der­ly­ing leg­al trans­ac­tion.

2 Such choice of law can­not be as­ser­ted against third parties.

Art. 105  

3. Spe­cial rules

a. Pledging of claims, se­cur­it­ies and oth­er rights

 

1 The pledging of claims, se­cur­it­ies or oth­er rights is gov­erned by the law chosen by the parties. This choice of law can­not be as­ser­ted against third parties.

2 In the ab­sence of a choice of law, the pledging of claims is gov­erned by the law of the state of the pledgee’s ha­bitu­al res­id­ence. The same ap­plies to the pledging of oth­er rights, provided they are rep­res­en­ted by an un­cer­ti­fic­ated se­cur­ity, a cer­ti­fic­ated se­cur­ity or an equi­val­ent in­stru­ment; oth­er­wise, the pledging of such rights is gov­erned by the law ap­plic­able to them.59

3 A law oth­er than the one gov­ern­ing the pledged right can­not be as­ser­ted against the debt­or.

59 Amended by No I 3 of the FA of 25 Sept. 2020 on the Ad­apt­a­tion of Fed­er­al Law to De­vel­op­ments in Dis­trib­uted Ledger Tech­no­logy, in force since 1 Feb. 2021 (AS 2021 33; BBl 2020233).

Art. 10660  

b. Doc­u­ments of title and equi­val­ent in­stru­ments

 

1 The law des­ig­nated in Art­icle 145a para­graph 1 de­term­ines wheth­er an in­stru­ment rep­res­ents goods.

2 If the goods are rep­res­en­ted by a phys­ic­al in­stru­ment, the rights in rem to both the in­stru­ment and the goods are gov­erned by the law ap­plic­able to the in­stru­ment as mov­able prop­erty.

3 If sev­er­al per­sons as­sert rights in rem re­lat­ing to the goods, some dir­ectly, oth­ers on the basis of an in­stru­ment, the law ap­plic­able to the goods them­selves de­term­ines which one of these rights pre­vails.

60 Amended by No I 3 of the FA of 25 Sept. 2020 on the Ad­apt­a­tion of Fed­er­al Law to De­vel­op­ments in Dis­trib­uted Ledger Tech­no­logy, in force since 1 Feb. 2021 (AS 2021 33; BBl 2020233).

Art. 107  

c. Means of trans­port

 

The pro­vi­sions in oth­er acts re­lat­ing to rights in rem in ships, air­craft or oth­er means of trans­port are re­served.

Art. 108  

III. For­eign de­cisions

 

1 For­eign de­cisions on rights in rem in im­mov­able prop­erty are re­cog­nised in Switzer­land if they were rendered in the state in which the prop­erty is loc­ated or if they are re­cog­nised in such state.

2 For­eign de­cisions on rights in rem in mov­able prop­erty are re­cog­nised in Switzer­land:

a.
if they were rendered in the state of dom­i­cile of the de­fend­ant; or
b.
if they were rendered in the state in which the prop­erty is loc­ated, provided the de­fend­ant had their ha­bitu­al res­id­ence there.
c.61
...

61 Re­pealed by Art. 2 of the FD of 3 Oct. 2008 on the Ap­prov­al and Im­ple­ment­a­tion of the Con­ven­tion on the Law Ap­plic­able to Cer­tain Rights in Re­spect of Se­cur­it­ies held with an In­ter­me­di­ary, with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2010 (AS 2009 6579; BBl 2006 9315).

Chapter 7a Intermediated securities62

62 Inserted by Art. 2 of the FD of 3 Oct. 2008 on the Approval and Implementation of the Convention on the Law Applicable to Certain Rights in Respect of Securities held with an Intermediary, in force since 1 Jan. 2010 (AS 2009 6579; BBl 2006 9315).

Art. 108a63  

I. Defin­i­tion

 

In­ter­me­di­ated se­cur­it­ies are se­cur­it­ies held with an in­ter­me­di­ary as defined in the Hag­ue Con­ven­tion of 5 Ju­ly 200664 on the Law Ap­plic­able to Cer­tain Rights in Re­spect of Se­cur­it­ies held with an In­ter­me­di­ary.

63 Amended by No I 3 of the FA of 25 Sept. 2020 on the Ad­apt­a­tion of Fed­er­al Law to De­vel­op­ments in Dis­trib­uted Ledger Tech­no­logy, in force since 1 Feb. 2021 (AS 2021 33; BBl 2020233).

64 SR 0.221.556.1

Art. 108b  

II. Jur­is­dic­tion

 

1 The Swiss courts at the dom­i­cile or, in the ab­sence of a dom­i­cile, at the ha­bitu­al res­id­ence of the de­fend­ant have jur­is­dic­tion to hear ac­tions re­gard­ing in­ter­me­di­ated se­cur­it­ies.

2 Where ac­tions re­gard­ing in­ter­me­di­ated se­cur­it­ies re­late to the op­er­a­tions of a Swiss es­tab­lish­ment of the de­fend­ant, the courts at the place of that es­tab­lish­ment also have jur­is­dic­tion.

Art. 108c  

III. Ap­plic­able Law

 

The law ap­plic­able to in­ter­me­di­ated se­cur­it­ies is gov­erned by the Hag­ue Con­ven­tion of 5 Ju­ly 200665 on the Law Ap­plic­able to Cer­tain Rights in Re­spect of Se­cur­it­ies held with an In­ter­me­di­ary.

Art. 108d  

IV. For­eign de­cisions

 

For­eign de­cisions re­gard­ing in­ter­me­di­ated se­cur­it­ies are re­cog­nised in Switzer­land:

a.
if they were rendered in the state of the de­fend­ant’s dom­i­cile or ha­bitu­al res­id­ence; or
b.
if they were rendered in the state of the de­fend­ant’s es­tab­lish­ment and they con­cern claims re­lated to the op­er­a­tions of this es­tab­lish­ment.

Chapter 8 Intellectual Property

Art. 10966  

I. Jur­is­dic­tion

 

1 The Swiss courts of the de­fend­ant’s dom­i­cile have jur­is­dic­tion to hear ac­tions per­tain­ing to the valid­ity or re­gis­tra­tion in Switzer­land of in­tel­lec­tu­al prop­erty rights. If a de­fend­ant does not have a dom­i­cile in Switzer­land, these ac­tions may be brought be­fore the Swiss courts at the place of busi­ness of the rep­res­ent­at­ive re­cor­ded in the re­gister or, in the ab­sence of such rep­res­ent­at­ive, be­fore the courts at the place where the au­thor­ity keep­ing the re­gister has its of­fice.

2 Ac­tions per­tain­ing to the vi­ol­a­tion of in­tel­lec­tu­al prop­erty rights may be brought be­fore the Swiss courts at the de­fend­ant’s dom­i­cile or, in the ab­sence of a dom­i­cile, at the de­fend­ant’s ha­bitu­al res­id­ence. Moreover, the Swiss courts at the place where the act or the res­ult oc­curred and, in ac­tions per­tain­ing to the op­er­a­tion of an es­tab­lish­ment in Switzer­land, the courts at the place of that es­tab­lish­ment have jur­is­dic­tion.

2bis Para­graph 2 ap­plies by ana­logy to ac­tions per­tain­ing to claims for re­mu­ner­a­tion provided for by law for the leg­al use of in­tel­lec­tu­al prop­erty.67

3 ...68

66 Amended by An­nex No 5 of the FA of 22 June 2007, in force since 1 Ju­ly 2008 (AS 2008 2551; BBl 2006 1).

67 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 2 of the FA of 27 Sept. 2019, in force since 1 April 2020 (AS 2020 1003; BBl 2018 591).

68 Re­pealed by Art. 3 No 3 of the FD of 11 Dec. 2009 (Ap­prov­al and Im­ple­ment­a­tion of the Lugano Con­ven­tion), with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 5601; BBl 2009 1777).

Art. 110  

II. Ap­plic­able law

 

1 In­tel­lec­tu­al prop­erty rights are gov­erned by the law of the state for which pro­tec­tion of the in­tel­lec­tu­al prop­erty is sought.

2 With re­spect to claims arising out of the in­fringe­ment of in­tel­lec­tu­al prop­erty rights, the parties may agree, at any time after the event caus­ing dam­age, to ap­ply the law of the for­um.

3 Agree­ments per­tain­ing to in­tel­lec­tu­al prop­erty are gov­erned by the pro­vi­sions of this Act re­lat­ing to con­tracts (Art. 122).

Art. 111  

III. For­eign de­cisions

 

1 For­eign de­cisions re­lat­ing to the in­fringe­ment of in­tel­lec­tu­al prop­erty rights are re­cog­nised in Switzer­land:

a.
if the de­cision was rendered in the state of the de­fend­ant’s dom­i­cile; or
b.
if the de­cision was rendered at the place where the act or the res­ult oc­curred and the de­fend­ant was not dom­i­ciled in Switzer­land.69

2 For­eign de­cisions per­tain­ing to the ex­ist­ence, valid­ity or re­gis­tra­tion of in­tel­lec­tu­al prop­erty rights shall be re­cog­nised only if they were rendered in a state for the ter­rit­ory of which the pro­tec­tion of the in­tel­lec­tu­al prop­erty is sought or if such de­cisions are re­cog­nised there.

69 Amended by An­nex No 5 of the FA of 22 June 2007, in force since 1 Ju­ly 2008 (AS 2008 2551; BBl 2006 1).

Chapter 9 Law of Obligations

Section 1 Contracts

Art. 112  

I. Jur­is­dic­tion

1. Dom­i­cile and es­tab­lish­ment

 

1 The Swiss courts at the dom­i­cile or, in the ab­sence of a dom­i­cile, at the ha­bitu­al res­id­ence of the de­fend­ant have jur­is­dic­tion to hear ac­tions arising out of a con­tract.

2 Moreover, the Swiss courts at the place of the de­fend­ant’s es­tab­lish­ment have jur­is­dic­tion to hear ac­tions re­lat­ing to an ob­lig­a­tion arising out of the op­er­a­tion of that es­tab­lish­ment.

Art. 11371  

2. Place of per­form­ance

 

If the char­ac­ter­ist­ic ob­lig­a­tion of the con­tract is to be per­formed in Switzer­land, the ac­tion may also be brought be­fore the Swiss court at the place of per­form­ance.

71 Amended by Art. 3 No 3 of the FD of 11 Dec. 2009 (Ap­prov­al and Im­ple­ment­a­tion of the Lugano Con­ven­tion), in force since 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 5601; BBl 2009 1777).

Art. 114  

3. Con­sumer con­tracts

 

1 An ac­tion by a con­sumer re­lat­ing to a con­tract which meets the re­quire­ments stated in Art­icle 120 para­graph 1 may be brought at the con­sumer’s choice be­fore the Swiss courts:

a.
at their dom­i­cile or ha­bitu­al res­id­ence; or
b.
at the dom­i­cile or, in the ab­sence of a dom­i­cile, at the ha­bitu­al res­id­ence of the sup­pli­er.

2 A con­sumer can­not waive in ad­vance jur­is­dic­tion at their dom­i­cile or ha­bitu­al res­id­ence.

Art. 115  

4. Em­ploy­ment con­tracts

 

1 The Swiss courts at the de­fend­ant’s dom­i­cile or at the place where the em­ploy­ee ha­bitu­ally per­forms their work have jur­is­dic­tion to hear ac­tions re­lat­ing to an em­ploy­ment con­tract.

2 An ac­tion ini­ti­ated by an em­ploy­ee may also be brought be­fore the courts at their dom­i­cile or ha­bitu­al res­id­ence in Switzer­land.

3 Moreover, the Swiss courts at the place where an em­ploy­ee is pos­ted from abroad for a lim­ited peri­od of time to carry out all or part of their work have jur­is­dic­tion to hear ac­tions per­tain­ing to the terms of em­ploy­ment and the salary con­di­tions ap­plic­able to such work.72

72 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 8 Oct. 1999 on Work­ers pos­ted to Switzer­land, in force since 1 June 2004 (AS 20031370; BBl19996128).

Art. 116  

II. Ap­plic­able law

1. In gen­er­al

a. Choice of law

 

1 Con­tracts are gov­erned by the law chosen by the parties.

2 The choice of law must be ex­press or res­ult with cer­tainty from the pro­vi­sions of the con­tract or from the cir­cum­stances; apart from that, it is gov­erned by the chosen law.

3 The choice of law may be made or changed at any time. If a choice of law is made after the con­clu­sion of the con­tract, it has ret­ro­act­ive ef­fect as of the time of con­clu­sion of the con­tract. The rights of third parties are re­served.

Art. 117  

b. Ab­sence of a choice of law

 

1 In the ab­sence of a choice of law, con­tracts are gov­erned by the law of the state with which they have the closest con­nec­tion.

2 Such a con­nec­tion is pre­sumed to ex­ist with the state of ha­bitu­al res­id­ence of the party that has to per­form the char­ac­ter­ist­ic ob­lig­a­tion or, if that party has con­cluded the con­tract in the ex­er­cise of a pro­fes­sion­al or busi­ness activ­ity, with the state where such party has its es­tab­lish­ment.

3 Char­ac­ter­ist­ic ob­lig­a­tion means in par­tic­u­lar:

a.
in con­tracts for the trans­fer of title: the trans­fer­or’s ob­lig­a­tion;
b.
in con­tracts per­tain­ing to the use of prop­erty or of a right: the ob­lig­a­tion of the party con­fer­ring such use;
c.
in agency con­tracts, con­tracts for work and oth­er con­tracts to per­form ser­vices: the ser­vice ob­lig­a­tion;
d.
in con­tracts of de­pos­it: the ob­lig­a­tion of the de­pos­it­ary;
e.
in guar­an­tee or surety­ship con­tracts: the ob­lig­a­tion of the guar­ant­or or surety.
Art. 118  

2. In par­tic­u­lar

a. Sale of mov­able prop­erty

 

1 Sales of tan­gible mov­able prop­erty are gov­erned by the Hag­ue Con­ven­tion of 15 June 195573 on the Law Ap­plic­able to In­ter­na­tion­al Sales of Goods.

2 Art­icle 120 is re­served.

Art. 119  

b. Im­mov­able prop­erty

 

1 Con­tracts re­lat­ing to im­mov­able prop­erty or to the use of im­mov­able prop­erty are gov­erned by the law of the state where the prop­erty is loc­ated.

2 A choice of law is al­lowed.

3 However, the form of the con­tract is gov­erned by the law of the state in which the im­mov­able prop­erty is loc­ated, un­less such state al­lows the ap­plic­a­tion of an­oth­er law. For im­mov­able prop­erty loc­ated in Switzer­land, the form of the con­tract is gov­erned by Swiss law.

Art. 120  

c. Con­sumer con­tracts

 

1 Con­tracts per­tain­ing to goods or ser­vices of or­din­ary con­sump­tion in­ten­ded for a con­sumer’s per­son­al or fam­ily use and not con­nec­ted with the con­sumer’s pro­fes­sion­al or busi­ness activ­ity are gov­erned by the law of the state of the con­sumer’s ha­bitu­al res­id­ence:

a.
if the sup­pli­er re­ceived the or­der in that state;
b.
if the con­tract was con­cluded after an of­fer or ad­vert­ising in that state and if the con­sumer per­formed in that state the acts re­quired to con­clude the con­tract; or
c.
if the con­sumer was in­duced by the sup­pli­er to go abroad for the pur­pose of pla­cing the or­der.

2 No choice of law is al­lowed.

Art. 121  

d. Em­ploy­ment con­tracts

 

1 Em­ploy­ment con­tracts are gov­erned by the law of the state in which the em­ploy­ee ha­bitu­ally per­forms their work.

2 If the em­ploy­ee ha­bitu­ally per­forms their work in sev­er­al states, the em­ploy­ment con­tract is gov­erned by the law of the state of the es­tab­lish­ment or, in the ab­sence of an es­tab­lish­ment, of the dom­i­cile or ha­bitu­al res­id­ence of the em­ploy­er.

3 The parties may sub­mit the em­ploy­ment con­tract to the law of the state in which the em­ploy­ee has their ha­bitu­al res­id­ence or in which the em­ploy­er has their es­tab­lish­ment, dom­i­cile or ha­bitu­al res­id­ence.

Art. 122  

e. Con­tracts per­tain­ing to in­tel­lec­tu­al prop­erty

 

1 Con­tracts per­tain­ing to in­tel­lec­tu­al prop­erty are gov­erned by the law of the state in which the trans­fer­or or li­censor of the in­tel­lec­tu­al prop­erty right has their ha­bitu­al res­id­ence.

2 A choice of law is al­lowed.

3 Con­tracts con­cluded between an em­ploy­er and an em­ploy­ee con­cern­ing rights to in­tel­lec­tu­al prop­erty cre­ated by the em­ploy­ee in the course of per­form­ing their work are gov­erned by the law ap­plic­able to the em­ploy­ment con­tract.

Art. 123  

3. Com­mon pro­vi­sions

a. Si­lence upon re­ceipt of an of­fer

 

A party who does not re­spond to an of­fer to con­clude a con­tract may in­voke the law of the state in which such party has its ha­bitu­al res­id­ence to gov­ern the ef­fects of the si­lence.

Art. 124  

b. Form

 

1 As to form, con­tracts are val­id if they meet the re­quire­ments set out in the law ap­plic­able to them or in the law of the place where they were con­cluded.

2 The form of a con­tract con­cluded between per­sons who are loc­ated in dif­fer­ent states is val­id if it meets the re­quire­ments set out in the law of one of those states.

3 The form of a con­tract is gov­erned ex­clus­ively by the law ap­plic­able to the con­tract it­self when, in or­der to pro­tect a party, such law re­quires com­pli­ance with a spe­cif­ic form, un­less that law al­lows the ap­plic­a­tion of an­oth­er law.

Art. 125  

c. Per­form­ance and in­spec­tion mod­al­it­ies

 

Per­form­ance and in­spec­tion mod­al­it­ies are gov­erned by the law of the state in which they are ac­tu­ally car­ried out.

Art. 126  

d. Power of rep­res­ent­a­tion

 

1 If power of rep­res­ent­a­tion is based on a con­tract, the re­la­tion­ship between the prin­cip­al and the agent is gov­erned by the law ap­plic­able to their con­tract.

2 The con­di­tions un­der which acts of the agent bind the prin­cip­al and the third party are gov­erned by the law of the state of the agent’s es­tab­lish­ment or, in the ab­sence of such es­tab­lish­ment or if the lat­ter was not dis­cern­ible by the third party, by the law of the state in which the agent car­ries out their main activ­ity in the case at hand.

3 If the agent is bound to the prin­cip­al by an em­ploy­ment con­tract and does not have their own es­tab­lish­ment, their es­tab­lish­ment is deemed to be at the seat of the prin­cip­al.

4 The law re­ferred to in para­graph 2 also gov­erns the re­la­tion­ship between an un­au­thor­ised agent and the third party.

Section 2 Unjust Enrichment

Art. 12774  

I. Jur­is­dic­tion

 

The Swiss courts at the dom­i­cile or, in the ab­sence of a dom­i­cile, at the ha­bitu­al res­id­ence of the de­fend­ant have jur­is­dic­tion to hear ac­tions for un­just en­rich­ment. Moreover, the courts at the place of an es­tab­lish­ment in Switzer­land have jur­is­dic­tion to hear ac­tions per­tain­ing to the op­er­a­tion of the es­tab­lish­ment.

74 Amended by An­nex No 5 of the FA of 22 June 2007, in force since 1 Ju­ly 2008 (AS 2008 2551; BBl 2006 1).

Art. 128  

II. Ap­plic­able law

 

1 Claims for un­just en­rich­ment are gov­erned by the law which gov­erns the ex­ist­ing or as­sumed leg­al re­la­tion­ship on the basis of which the en­rich­ment oc­curred.

2 In the ab­sence of such a re­la­tion­ship, the claims are gov­erned by the law of the state in which the en­rich­ment oc­curred; the parties may agree to the ap­plic­a­tion of the law of the for­um.

Section 3 Torts

Art. 12975  

I. Jur­is­dic­tion

1. In gen­er­al

 

1 The Swiss courts at the dom­i­cile or, in the ab­sence of a dom­i­cile, at the ha­bitu­al res­id­ence of the de­fend­ant have jur­is­dic­tion to hear ac­tions in tort. Moreover, the Swiss courts at the place where the act or the res­ult oc­curred and, for ac­tions per­tain­ing to the op­er­a­tion of an es­tab­lish­ment in Switzer­land, the courts at the place of the es­tab­lish­ment have jur­is­dic­tion.

2 ...76

75 Amended by An­nex No 5 of the FA of 22 June 2007, in force since 1 Ju­ly 2008 (AS 2008 2551; BBl 2006 1).

76 Re­pealed by Art. 3 No 3 of the FD of 11 Dec. 2009 (Ap­prov­al and Im­ple­ment­a­tion of the Lugano Con­ven­tion), with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 5601; BBl 2009 1777).

Art. 13077  

2. In par­tic­u­lar:

a. Nuc­le­ar in­cid­ents

 

1 Jur­is­dic­tion to hear ac­tions re­lat­ing to nuc­le­ar in­cid­ents is gov­erned by the Con­ven­tion of 29 Ju­ly 196078 on Third Party Li­ab­il­ity in the Field of Nuc­le­ar En­ergy as amended by the Ad­di­tion­al Pro­tocol of 28 Janu­ary 1964, the Pro­tocol of 16 Novem­ber 1982 and the Pro­tocol of 12 Feb­ru­ary 2004 (the Par­is Con­ven­tion).

2 If the Swiss courts have jur­is­dic­tion un­der this Con­ven­tion, the ac­tion shall be brought in the can­ton in whose ter­rit­ory the in­cid­ent oc­curred, or, where the place of the in­cid­ent lies out­side the sov­er­eign ter­rit­ory of the con­tract­ing parties or can­not be de­term­ined with cer­tainty, in the can­ton in whose ter­rit­ory the nuc­le­ar in­stall­a­tion of the op­er­at­or li­able is loc­ated. If sev­er­al courts have jur­is­dic­tion in ac­cord­ance with these rules, the ac­tion shall be brought in the can­ton that in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 13 para­graph (f) num­ber (ii) of the Con­ven­tion is most closely re­lated to the in­cid­ent and is the most af­fected by its ef­fects.

3 The rules on jur­is­dic­tion in para­graph 2 also ap­ply by ana­logy to ac­tions arising from nuc­le­ar in­cid­ents to which the Con­ven­tion does not ap­ply. If in the case of such an ac­tion, neither the place of the in­cid­ent nor that of the nuc­le­ar in­stall­a­tion lies in Switzer­land, the ac­tion may also be filed in the can­ton in whose ter­rit­ory the al­leged dam­age oc­curred. If dam­age oc­curred in two or more can­tons, the can­ton that is most af­fected by the in­cid­ent shall have jur­is­dic­tion.

77 Amended by An­nex No II 3 of the Nuc­le­ar En­ergy Li­ab­il­ity Act of 13 June 2008, in force since 1 Jan. 2022, pub­lished 27 Jan. 2022 (AS 2022 43; BBl 2007 5397).

78 SR 0.732.44

Art. 130a79  

b. Right of ac­cess in con­nec­tion with data­bases

 

Ac­tions to en­force the right of ac­cess dir­ec­ted against the con­trol­ler of a data­base may be brought be­fore the courts men­tioned in Art­icle 129 or be­fore the Swiss courts at the place where the data­base is man­aged or used.

79 In­ser­ted by An­nex No II 3 of the Nuc­le­ar En­ergy Li­ab­il­ity Act of 13 June 2008, in force since 1 Jan. 2022, pub­lished 27 Jan. 2022 (AS 2022 43; BBl 2007 5397).

Art. 131  

3. Dir­ect ac­tion against an in­surer

 

A dir­ect ac­tion against a civil li­ab­il­ity in­surer may be brought be­fore the Swiss courts either at the place of the in­surer’s es­tab­lish­ment or at the place where the act or the res­ult oc­curred.

Art. 132  

II. Ap­plic­able law

1. In gen­er­al

a. Choice of law

 

The parties may, at any time after the dam­aging event, agree to ap­ply the law of the for­um.

Art. 133  

b. Ab­sence of a choice of law

 

1 If the tort­feas­or and the in­jured party have their ha­bitu­al res­id­ence in the same state, claims in tort are gov­erned by the law of that state.

2 If the tort­feas­or and the in­jured party do not have their ha­bitu­al res­id­ence in the same state, these claims are gov­erned by the law of the state in which the tort was com­mit­ted. However, if the res­ult oc­curred in an­oth­er state, the law of that state ap­plies if the tort­feas­or should have fore­seen that the res­ult would oc­cur there.

3 Not­with­stand­ing the pre­ced­ing para­graphs, if a tort vi­ol­ates a leg­al re­la­tion­ship ex­ist­ing between the tort­feas­or and the in­jured party, claims based on that tort are gov­erned by the law ap­plic­able to such leg­al re­la­tion­ship.

Art. 134  

2. In par­tic­u­lar

a. Road traffic ac­ci­dents

 

Claims arising from road traffic ac­ci­dents are gov­erned by the Hag­ue Con­ven­tion of 4 May 197180 on the Law Ap­plic­able to Traffic Ac­ci­dents.

Art. 135  

b. Product li­ab­il­ity

 

1 Claims based on a de­fect or de­fect­ive de­scrip­tion of a product are gov­erned at the op­tion of the in­jured party:

a.
by the law of the state in which the tort­feas­or has their es­tab­lish­ment or, in the ab­sence of such es­tab­lish­ment, their ha­bitu­al res­id­ence; or
b.
by the law of the state in which the product was ac­quired, un­less the tort­feas­or proves that the product was in­tro­duced in the mar­ket of that state without their con­sent.

2 If claims based on a de­fect or de­fect­ive de­scrip­tion of a product are gov­erned by a for­eign law, no com­pens­a­tion may be awar­ded in Switzer­land bey­ond that which would be awar­ded for such kind of loss or dam­age pur­su­ant to Swiss law.

Art. 136  

c. Un­fair com­pet­i­tion

 

1 Claims based on un­fair com­pet­i­tion are gov­erned by the law of the state in whose mar­ket the res­ult oc­curred.

2 If the tort af­fects ex­clus­ively the busi­ness in­terests of a spe­cif­ic com­pet­it­or, the ap­plic­able law is that of the state where the re­spect­ive es­tab­lish­ment is loc­ated.

3 Art­icle 133, para­graph 3, is re­served.

Art. 137  

d. Re­straint of com­pet­i­tion

 

1 Claims based on a re­straint of com­pet­i­tion are gov­erned by the law of the state in whose mar­ket the re­straint has dir­ect ef­fects on the in­jured party.

2 If claims based on a re­straint of com­pet­i­tion are gov­erned by a for­eign law, no com­pens­a­tion may be awar­ded in Switzer­land bey­ond that which would be awar­ded for a re­straint of com­pet­i­tion pur­su­ant to Swiss law.

Art. 138  

e. Nuis­ances

 

Claims arising out of dam­aging nuis­ances ori­gin­at­ing from im­mov­able prop­erty are gov­erned at the op­tion of the in­jured party by the law of the state in which the prop­erty is loc­ated or by the law of the state in which the res­ult oc­curred.

Art. 138a81  

ebis. Nuc­le­ar in­cid­ents

 

1 Claims arising from nuc­le­ar in­cid­ents are gov­erned by Swiss law.

2 If the nuc­le­ar in­stall­a­tion of the op­er­at­or li­able is loc­ated in a con­tract­ing state to the Par­is Con­ven­tion82, the law of that con­tract­ing state de­term­ines:

a.
wheth­er the li­ab­il­ity of the op­er­at­or for nuc­le­ar dam­age ex­tends bey­ond the scope spe­cified in Art­icle 2 para­graph (b) of the Con­ven­tion;
b.
wheth­er and to what ex­tent com­pens­a­tion is giv­en for nuc­le­ar dam­age in the cases men­tioned in Art­icle 9 of the Con­ven­tion.

3 Para­graph 2 ap­plies by ana­logy to the op­er­at­or of a nuc­le­ar in­stall­a­tion that is not loc­ated in a con­tract­ing state to the Par­is Con­ven­tion provided this state provides at least equi­val­ent rules in re­la­tion to Switzer­land.

81 In­ser­ted by An­nex No II 3 of the Nuc­le­ar En­ergy Li­ab­il­ity Act of 13 June 2008, in force since 1 Jan. 2022, pub­lished 27 Jan. 2022 (AS 2022 43; BBl 2007 5397).

82 SR 0.732.44

Art. 139  

f. In­fringe­ment of per­son­al­ity rights

 

1 Claims based on the in­fringe­ment of per­son­al­ity rights by the me­dia, in par­tic­u­lar by press, ra­dio, tele­vi­sion or any oth­er means of pub­lic in­form­a­tion, are gov­erned at the op­tion of the in­jured party:

a.
by the law of the state in which the in­jured party has their ha­bitu­al res­id­ence, provided the tort­feas­or should have ex­pec­ted that the res­ult would oc­cur in that state;
b.
by the law of the state in which the tort­feas­or has their es­tab­lish­ment or ha­bitu­al res­id­ence; or
c.
by the law of the state in which the res­ult of the in­fringe­ment oc­curs, provided the tort­feas­or should have ex­pec­ted that the res­ult would oc­cur in that state.

2 The right of reply against me­dia ap­pear­ing peri­od­ic­ally is ex­clus­ively gov­erned by the law of the state in which the pub­lic­a­tion ap­peared or the pro­gram was broad­cas­ted.

3 Para­graph 1 also ap­plies to in­fringe­ments of per­son­al­ity rights res­ult­ing from the pro­cessing of per­son­al data, as well as to impair­ments of the right of ac­cess to per­son­al data.83

83In­ser­ted by An­nex No 3 of the FA of 19 June 1992 on Data Pro­tec­tion, in force since 1 Ju­ly 1993 (AS 1993 1945; BBl 1988 II 413).

Art. 140  

3. Spe­cial rules

a. Mul­tiple tort­feas­ors

 

If two or more per­sons have taken part in the com­mis­sion of a tort, the ap­plic­able law shall be de­term­ined sep­ar­ately for each one of them, re­gard­less of their role.

Art. 141  

b. Dir­ect ac­tion against an in­surer

 

The in­jured party may bring the ac­tion dir­ectly against the in­surer of the per­son li­able if the law ap­plic­able to the tort or the law ap­plic­able to the in­sur­ance con­tract so provides.

Art. 142  

4. Scope of the ap­plic­able law

 

1 The law ap­plic­able to a tort de­term­ines in par­tic­u­lar the ca­pa­city to be li­able in tort, the con­di­tions and the ex­tent of li­ab­il­ity, as well as the per­son li­able.

2 Rules of con­duct and safety in force at the place of the act are taken in­to con­sid­er­a­tion.

Section 4 Common Provisions

Art. 143  

I. Mul­tiple debt­ors

1. Claims against sev­er­al debt­ors

 

Where a cred­it­or is en­titled to as­sert their claim against two or more debt­ors, the leg­al con­sequences are de­term­ined un­der the law gov­ern­ing the re­la­tion­ship between the cred­it­or and the debt­or against whom the claim is ac­tu­ally as­ser­ted.

Art. 144  

2. Re­course among co-debt­ors

 

1 A debt­or has a right of re­course against a co-debt­or, either dir­ectly or by sub­rog­a­tion, only to the ex­tent that the laws gov­ern­ing the two ob­lig­a­tions al­low for it.

2 The ex­er­cise of re­course against a co-debt­or is gov­erned by the law ap­plic­able to the ob­lig­a­tion of the co-debt­or to­wards the cred­it­or. Is­sues per­tain­ing ex­clus­ively to the re­la­tion­ship between the cred­it­or and the debt­or seek­ing re­course are gov­erned by the law ap­plic­able to the ob­lig­a­tion of the lat­ter.

3 The ques­tion of wheth­er an in­sti­tu­tion en­trus­ted with a pub­lic func­tion may seek re­course is de­term­ined by the law ap­plic­able to the in­sti­tu­tion. The ex­ist­ence and ex­er­cise of a right of re­course are gov­erned by the two pre­ced­ing para­graphs.

Art. 145  

II. Trans­fer of claims

1. As­sign­ment by con­tract

 

1 The as­sign­ment of a claim by con­tract is gov­erned by the law chosen by the parties or, in the ab­sence of such choice, by the law ap­plic­able to the as­signed claim. A choice of law can­not be as­ser­ted against the debt­or without the lat­ter’s as­sent.

2 A choice of law re­lat­ing to the as­sign­ment of an em­ploy­ee’s claim is val­id only to the ex­tent that Art­icle 121 para­graph 3 al­lows it for the em­ploy­ment con­tract.

3 The form of an as­sign­ment is gov­erned ex­clus­ively by the law ap­plic­able to the as­sign­ment con­tract.

4 Is­sues con­cern­ing ex­clus­ively the re­la­tion­ship between the parties to the as­sign­ment con­tract are gov­erned by the law ap­plic­able to the leg­al re­la­tion­ship un­der­ly­ing the as­sign­ment.

Art. 145a84  

1a. Trans­fer by means of an in­stru­ment

 

1 Wheth­er a claim is rep­res­en­ted by an in­stru­ment in pa­per or equi­val­ent form and trans­ferred by means of such in­stru­ment is de­term­ined by the law des­ig­nated therein. If no law is des­ig­nated in the in­stru­ment, the law of the state in which the is­suer has its seat or, fail­ing such, its ha­bitu­al res­id­ence ap­plies.

2 As re­gards rights in rem to a phys­ic­al in­stru­ment, the pro­vi­sions of Chapter 7 are re­served.

84 In­ser­ted by No I 3 of the FA of 25 Sept. 2020 on the Ad­apt­a­tion of Fed­er­al Law to De­vel­op­ments in Dis­trib­uted Ledger Tech­no­logy, in force since 1 Feb. 2021 (AS 2021 33; BBl 2020233).

Art. 146  

2. As­sign­ment by op­er­a­tion of law

 

1 The as­sign­ment of a claim by op­er­a­tion of law is gov­erned by the law ap­plic­able to the un­der­ly­ing re­la­tion­ship between the former and the new cred­it­or or, in the ab­sence of such a re­la­tion­ship, by the law gov­ern­ing the claim.

2 The pro­vi­sions of the law gov­ern­ing the claim that are in­ten­ded to pro­tect the debt­or are re­served.

Art. 147  

III. Cur­rency

 

1 A cur­rency is defined by the law of the is­su­ing state.

2 The ef­fects of a cur­rency on the ex­tent of an ob­lig­a­tion are gov­erned by the law ap­plic­able to such ob­lig­a­tion.

3 The law of the state in which pay­ment must be made de­term­ines the cur­rency in which the pay­ment must be ef­fected.

Art. 148  

IV. Stat­ute of lim­it­a­tions and ex­tinc­tion of a claim

 

1 The stat­ute of lim­it­a­tions for and the ex­tinc­tion of a claim are gov­erned by the law ap­plic­able to the claim.

2 In the event of ex­tinc­tion by set-off, the ap­plic­able law is that gov­ern­ing the claim against which set-off is as­ser­ted.

3 Nova­tion, re­lease and set-off agree­ments are gov­erned by the pro­vi­sions of this Act re­lat­ing to the law ap­plic­able to con­tracts (Art. 116 et seq.).

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