La competencia de los Tribunales arbitrales bajo el prisma del Tribunal Federal suizo: análisis de tres decisiones recientes - Iurgium [previously Spain Arbitration Review] View La competencia de los Tribunales arbitrales bajo el prisma del Tribunal Federal suizo: análisis de tres decisiones recientes by - Iurgium [previously Spain Arbitration Review] La competencia de los Tribunales arbitrales bajo el prisma del Tribunal Federal suizo: análisis de tres decisiones recientes 2009 6

In Switzerland, an application to set aside an international arbitral award must be submitted directly before the Swiss Federal Tribunal, the highest court in the country, and may only be based on extremely narrow grounds, one of them relating to the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal (1).

This article will analyse three recent decisions of the Federal Tribunal which show its willingness to proceed with a detailed examination of questions necessary to decide upon the jurisdiction ratione personae and ratione materiae of an arbitral tribunal. The Federal Tribunal decided, in the first decision analysed, to extend the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal to third parties, contrary to the decision of the ICC Court of International Arbitration and to the decision of the Sole Arbitrator. In the second decision, it examined a factual issue not raised by the parties. In the third decision, it limited the scope of the jurisdiction ratione materiae of the arbitral tribunal. These decisions demonstrate that the Federal Tribunal exercises a real control over international arbitral awards on grounds of jurisdiction.

Iurgium [previously Spain Arbitration Review]