Federal Act
on the Amendment of the Swiss Civil Code
(Part Five: The Code of Obligations)

¹ The right to claim dam­ages or sat­is­fac­tion pre­scribes three years from the date on which the per­son suf­fer­ing dam­age be­came aware of the loss, dam­age or in­jury and of the iden­tity of the per­son li­able for it but in any event ten years after the date on which the harm­ful con­duct took place or ceased.³⁵

^1bis In cases death or in­jury, the right to claim dam­ages or sat­is­fac­tion pre­scribes three years from the date on which the per­son suf­fer­ing dam­age be­came aware of the dam­age and of the iden­tity of per­son li­able for it, but in any event twenty years after the date on which the harm­ful con­duct took place or ceased.³⁶

² If the per­son li­able has com­mit­ted a crim­in­al of­fence through his or her harm­ful con­duct, then not­with­stand­ing the fore­go­ing para­graphs the right to dam­ages or sat­is­fac­tion pre­scribes at the earli­est when the right to pro­sec­ute the of­fence be­comes time-barred. If the right to pro­sec­ute is no longer li­able to be­come time-barred be­cause a first in­stance crim­in­al judg­ment has been is­sued, the right to claim dam­ages or sat­is­fac­tion pre­scribes at the earli­est three years after no­tice of the judg­ment is giv­en.³⁷

³ Where the tort has giv­en rise to a claim against the per­son suf­fer­ing dam­age, he may re­fuse to sat­is­fy the claim even if his own claim in tort is time-barred.