(PILA)

1 This 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.

2 In­ter­na­tion­al treat­ies are re­served.

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

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.

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.

1 In 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.

2 The 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

2 If 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.

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.

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.

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.

2 In 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.

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.

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

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

2 For­eign 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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

1 As 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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

2 In 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.

1 With­in 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.

2 No 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.

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

2 The 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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

2 Re­cog­ni­tion 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.

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

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

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.

2 The 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.

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.

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

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.

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.).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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 them.

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

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

1 A mar­riage val­idly cel­eb­rated abroad is re­cog­nised in Switzer­land.

2 If either pro­spect­ive spouse is a Swiss cit­izen or if both have their dom­i­cile in Switzer­land, a mar­riage cel­eb­rated abroad is re­cog­nized, un­less it was cel­eb­rated with the mani­fest in­tent of cir­cum­vent­ing the Swiss pro­vi­sions on an­nul­ment of mar­riage.²⁴

3 A mar­riage val­idly cel­eb­rated abroad between per­sons of the same sex is re­cog­nised in Switzer­land as a re­gistered part­ner­ship.²⁵

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.

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.

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.

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.

Main­ten­ance ob­lig­a­tions between spouses are gov­erned by the Hag­ue Con­ven­tion of 2 Oc­to­ber 1973²⁷ on the Law ap­plic­able to Main­ten­ance Ob­lig­a­tions.

For­eign de­cisions or meas­ures re­lat­ing to the ef­fects of mar­riage are re­cog­nised in Switzer­land if they were rendered in the state of dom­i­cile or ha­bitu­al res­id­ence of either spouse.

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.

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, 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).

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

2 The spouses may choose the law of the state in which they are both dom­i­ciled or will be dom­i­ciled after the cel­eb­ra­tion of mar­riage, or the law of a state of which either of them is a cit­izen. Art­icle 23 para­graph 2 does not ap­ply.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

Di­vorce and sep­ar­a­tion are gov­erned by Swiss law.

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.

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.²⁹

1bis Swiss courts have ex­clus­ive jur­is­dic­tion to rule on claims for the di­vi­sion of oc­cu­pa­tion­al pen­sion en­ti­tle­ments against a Swiss pen­sion fund.³⁰

2 The sub­sequent ef­fects of di­vorce and sep­ar­a­tion are gov­erned by Swiss law.³¹ 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.

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 or 60. 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.³²

2 Ac­tions for sup­ple­ment­ing or amend­ing a di­vorce or a sep­ar­a­tion de­cree are gov­erned by Swiss law.³³ 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.

1 For­eign de­crees of di­vorce or sep­ar­a­tion are re­cog­nised in Switzer­land if they were is­sued in the state of dom­i­cile or ha­bitu­al res­id­ence, or in the state of cit­izen­ship of either spouse, or if they are re­cog­nised in one of these states.

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.

The pro­vi­sions of Chapter 3 ap­ply by ana­logy to re­gistered part­ner­ships, ex­cept for Art­icle 43 para­graph 2.

If the part­ners are not dom­i­ciled in Switzer­land and neither of them is Swiss, the Swiss courts at the place of re­gis­tra­tion have jur­is­dic­tion to hear ac­tions or re­quests re­lat­ing to the dis­sol­u­tion of a re­gistered part­ner­ship, provided the ac­tion or re­quest can­not or can­not reas­on­ably be ex­pec­ted to be brought at the dom­i­cile of either part­ner.

1 Where the law ap­plic­able pur­su­ant to Chapter 3 con­tains no pro­vi­sions on re­gistered part­ner­ships, Swiss law is ap­plic­able; Art­icle 49 is re­served.

2 In ad­di­tion to the laws des­ig­nated by Art­icle 52 para­graph 2, the part­ners may choose the law of the State in which the part­ner­ship was re­gistered.

For­eign de­cisions and meas­ures are re­cog­nised in Switzer­land:

a.

if they were rendered in the state in which the part­ner­ship was re­gistered, and

b.

if the ac­tion or re­quest could not or could not reas­on­ably have been ex­pec­ted to be brought in a for­eign state whose jur­is­dic­tion is re­cog­nised in Switzer­land in ac­cord­ance with the pro­vi­sions of Chapter 3.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

1 Main­ten­ance ob­lig­a­tions between par­ents and child are gov­erned by the Hag­ue Con­ven­tion of 2 Oc­to­ber 1973³⁷ 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.

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.

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 1996⁴⁰ 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 2000⁴¹ 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

1 The valid­ity of wills as to form is gov­erned by the Hag­ue Con­ven­tion of 5 Oc­to­ber 1961⁴² 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.⁴³

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 2003⁴⁵.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.⁴⁶

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

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.

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

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.⁴⁸

…

In­ter­me­di­ated se­cur­it­ies are se­cur­it­ies held with an in­ter­me­di­ary as defined in the Hag­ue Con­ven­tion of 5 Ju­ly 2006⁵¹ on the Law Ap­plic­able to Cer­tain Rights in Re­spect of Se­cur­it­ies held with an In­ter­me­di­ary.

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.

The law ap­plic­able to in­ter­me­di­ated se­cur­it­ies is gov­erned by the Hag­ue Con­ven­tion of 5 Ju­ly 2006⁵² on the Law Ap­plic­able to Cer­tain Rights in Re­spect of Se­cur­it­ies held with an In­ter­me­di­ary.

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.

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.⁵⁴

³ …⁵⁵

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).

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.⁵⁶

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.⁵⁹

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.

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.

1 Sales of tan­gible mov­able prop­erty are gov­erned by the Hag­ue Con­ven­tion of 15 June 1955⁶⁰ on the Law Ap­plic­able to In­ter­na­tion­al Sales of Goods.

2 Art­icle 120 is re­served.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 dis­cern­able 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.

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.

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.

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 …⁶³

1 The Swiss courts at the place where the event caus­ing the dam­age oc­curred have jur­is­dic­tion to hear ac­tions re­lat­ing to dam­age caused by a nuc­le­ar in­stall­a­tion or by the trans­port­a­tion of nuc­le­ar sub­stan­ces.

2 If such place can­not be as­cer­tained, the ac­tion may be brought:

a.

if li­ab­il­ity lies with the op­er­at­or of a nuc­le­ar in­stall­a­tion, be­fore the Swiss courts where such in­stall­a­tion is loc­ated;

b.

if li­ab­il­ity lies with the hold­er of a trans­port­a­tion per­mit, be­fore the Swiss courts at the place where such per­mit hold­er is dom­i­ciled or elec­ted dom­i­cile.

3 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.⁶⁴

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.

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

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.

Claims arising from road traffic ac­ci­dents are gov­erned by the Hag­ue Con­ven­tion of 4 May 1971⁶⁵ on the Law Ap­plic­able to Traffic Ac­ci­dents.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.⁶⁶

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.).