Swiss Arbitration Decisions

The case involved a final award of 23 November, 2016, issued by an Arbitral Tribunal chaired by Antonio Rigozzi, sitting with arbitrators Pierre-Yves Tschanz and Tetiana Bersheda. The arbitration was under the aegis of the Swiss Chambers' Arbitration Institution, governed by Swiss law and the venue was in Geneva.

This case is mildly interesting and it involves revision of an international arbitral award.

Hearing a dispute between two football clubs with regard to training compensation for a player, the Dispute Resolution Chamber of FIFA(“DRC”) issued a decision in March 2009, pursuant to which one of the club was ordered to pay EUR 480,000 to the other club. An appeal was made to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and a sole arbitrator was appointed.

The case involved a Share Purchase Agreement, between a company in Belize and another governed by Jordanian law, providing for LCIA arbitration in Zurich. The contract contained a clause waving any appeal against the arbitral award.

This case was already the subject of some commentaries, notably by Hans Jörg Stutzer and Michael Bösch in the latest issue of the Thouvenin newsletter (www.thouvenin.com).

This judgment could be characterized as the “sequel” to the Lazutina judgment that was rendered by the Swiss Federal Tribunal 15 years ago (ATF 129 III 445). It is also interesting for other factual – and not necessarily arbitration-related – reasons. It has already been commented in the Thouvenin newsletter, a copy of which is attached for ease of reference.

In this judgment the Federal Tribunal reiterated the strict admissibility conditions in recourses to set aside arbitral awards, and more particularly, the requirement of a legally protected interest (or interest “worthy of protection”). The case involved an appeal against a CAS award rendered shortly before the FIFA World Cup Russia in June 2017, The sole arbitrator was Pierre Müller, a Lausanne judge.