Arbitration in Switzerland
ASA is not an arbitral institution and has no specific Arbitration Rules. Arbitration in Switzerland is offered by many institutions in Switzerland and abroad.
In particular, the Chambers of Commerce in Basel, Berne, Geneva, Lausanne, Lugano and Zurich offer international arbitration under the Swiss Rules.
Other international arbitration institutions also conduct arbitrations in Switzerland. For the proceedings under the Arbitration Rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) locations in Switzerland are among the most frequently selected places. The Arbitration Centre of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) is one of the leading fora for domain name disputes but also handles other intellectual property cases. The Court of Arbitration for Sports settles sport related disputes from all over the world and its ad hoc Division is present at all Olympic Games. Further international arbitration proceedings are held under the UNCITRAL Rules or under the Rules of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
In the field of inter-State arbitration, Switzerland also has a leading role in the world. Since the Alabama arbitration held in Geneva in a dispute between the United Kingdom and the United States (award of 1872), which marks the beginning of modern inter-State arbitration, many disputes have been subject to arbitration in Switzerland, such as the Beagle Channel (Chile v. Argentina), Taba (Egypt v. Israel) and some of the most famous State contract arbitration, including Aramco v. Saudi Arabia, Texaco/Calasiatic v. Libya, Aminoil v. Kuwait.
International trade disputes are resolved under the Dispute Settlement Mechanism of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva. Other large scale dispute settlement mechanisms are the Claims Resolution Tribunal for Dormant Accounts (CRT) in Zurich and the United Nations Compensation Commission in Geneva (dealing with reparation claims against Iraq after the 1990/91 Gulf War).
Swiss International Arbitration Law: Chapter 12 of the Private International Law Act 1987
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