Federal Act
on Private International Law
(PILA)

¹ In mat­ters con­cern­ing trust law, the choice of for­um con­tained in the trust deed shall pre­vail. The choice of for­um or the au­thor­isa­tion con­tained in the trust deed to choose the for­um only has to be fol­lowed if it is made in writ­ing or in any oth­er form which per­mits it to be evid­enced by text. Un­less oth­er­wise provided, a choice of for­um is ex­clus­ive. Art­icle 5 para­graph 2 ap­plies by ana­logy.

² The chosen court may not de­cline jur­is­dic­tion:

a.

if one of the parties, the trust or one of the trust­ees is dom­i­ciled, ha­bitu­ally res­id­ent or has an es­tab­lish­ment in the can­ton where the court is loc­ated, or

b.

if a ma­jor share of the as­sets of the trust are loc­ated in Switzer­land.

³ Where there is no val­id choice of for­um, or if the choice of for­um is not ex­clus­ive, jur­is­dic­tion shall lie with the Swiss courts:

a.

at the dom­i­cile or, in the ab­sence of a dom­i­cile, at the ha­bitu­al res­id­ence of the de­fend­ant;

b.

at the seat of the trust; or

c.

for claims arising out of the op­er­a­tions of an es­tab­lish­ment in Switzer­land, at the loc­a­tion of that es­tab­lish­ment.

⁴ Dis­putes re­gard­ing li­ab­il­ity arising out of the pub­lic is­sue of equity or debt se­cur­it­ies may also be brought be­fore the Swiss courts at the place of is­sue. This jur­is­dic­tion may not be ex­cluded by a choice of for­um.