No Immediate Review of Arbitral Interim Measures (June 2010)

Swiss arbitration law and practice have defined a fairly clear line as to what type of decisions issued by arbitral tribunals in Switzerland can be challenged before the Swiss Supreme Court, and on what grounds. In a nutshell:

• final awards and partial awards (i.e. awards disposing of whole or part of the parties' claims or counterclaims) must be challenged within 30 days upon their notification on all the (exhaustive) grounds listed in the law (Private International Law Act (PILA) Art. 190.2)¹;
• interlocutory awards (that is any decision, whether substantive or procedural, which is one step towards disposing of a claim or counterclaim) can (and must) be challenged immediately only if and to the extent that they relate to jurisdiction or to the appointment of the arbitral tribunal (PILA 190.2(a) and (b)). For instance, interlocutory awards usually include decisions admitting liability but reserving the damage issue for a later stage of the proceeding. Otherwise,