Italian in arbitration

The legal framework

Much of the commercial litigation of a financial and trading centre never reaches the state courts. Disputes between trading companies, between shareholders of family holdings and between banks and institutional counterparties are often decided by arbitration. In Switzerland international arbitration is governed by Chapter 12 of the Federal Act on Private International Law (PILA), revised with effect from 1 January 2021, and domestic arbitration by Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Arts. 353 ff. CPC).¹ Both regimes leave the language of the proceedings to the parties. If the parties do not agree, the arbitral tribunal determines it. Nothing in Swiss law requires an arbitration seated in Lugano to be conducted in Italian, nor one seated in Zurich to be conducted in German.

The state courts support and control arbitration in their own languages. Challenges against international awards go directly to the Federal Supreme Court, which since the revision of 2021 accepts submissions in English in such proceedings, although it continues to write its judgments in an official language.² For arbitrations seated in Ticino the civil chambers of the Court of Appeal in Lugano decide challenges against domestic awards where the parties have chosen the cantonal court under Article 390 CPC, applications for the revision of domestic awards and the cases that the PILA assigns to the state courts in international arbitration, and they work in Italian.³ A party that chooses Lugano as the seat of an arbitration thus chooses a judicial environment in which Italian-language documents, witnesses and counsel are at home.

The Swiss Rules and the Ticino chamber

The Swiss Rules of International Arbitration were first adopted by the chambers of commerce of several Swiss cantons, among them the Ticino chamber of commerce, and entered into force on 1 January 2004. They were revised with effect from 1 June 2012 and again, in a light revision, from 1 June 2021.⁴ Since 2021 they have been administered by the Swiss Arbitration Centre, which grew out of the former Swiss Chambers' Arbitration Institution.⁵ The 2021 Rules are published in English, French, German and Italian, and the earlier version of 2012 was translated into some twenty languages.⁶ The Centre has added supplemental rules for corporate law disputes (2023) and for trust, estate and foundation disputes (2025), both available in the four languages.⁷ The latter are of particular interest for Lugano, where trusts and foundations for Italian families are part of everyday practice, as Chapter E.V explained.

The Swiss Rules allow the parties to choose the language of the arbitration. In the absence of agreement the arbitral tribunal determines it, having regard to all relevant circumstances, including the language of the contract and of the correspondence between the parties.⁸ A notice of arbitration may be submitted in English, German, French or Italian, so that an Italian claimant can initiate proceedings in his own language without first commissioning a translation.⁹ The Ticino chamber of commerce has historically maintained its own arbitration and mediation services alongside its role in the Swiss Rules institution.¹⁰

Notes

1. Federal Act on Private International Law of 18 December 1987 (PILA), SR 291, Art. 176(1), as amended by the Federal Act of 19 June 2020 (AS 2020 4179), in force since 1 January 2021, https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/de-it/2/29/291-176-214.html; CPC, Arts. 353–399, of which Art. 356 at https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/de-it/2/27/272-356-364.html. ↩
2. BGG, Art. 77(2bis), inserted by the Federal Act of 19 June 2020, in force since 1 January 2021, https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/de-it/1/17/173.110-77-82.html; on the language of judgments BGG, Art. 54(1) (above). ↩
3. CPC, Art. 356(1) and (2), https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/de-it/2/27/272-356-364.html; LOG (above), Art. 48(a)(7) and (13) and (b)(4) and (9) (challenges under Art. 390 CPC, revision under Arts. 396 ff. CPC and cases under the PILA in international arbitration). ↩
4. Swiss Arbitration Centre, "Arbitration Rules", https://www.swissarbitration.org/centre/arbitration/arbitration-rules/ (2004, 1 June 2012 and 1 June 2021). Participation of the Ticino chamber of commerce among the founding chambers. ↩
5. Swiss Arbitration, "History", https://www.swissarbitration.org/swiss-arbitration/history/ (creation of the Swiss Chambers' Arbitration Institution by seven chambers of commerce in 2008; transformation into the Swiss Arbitration Centre Ltd., with ASA as main shareholder, in 2021). ↩
6. Swiss Arbitration Centre, "Arbitration Rules" (above). ↩
7. Swiss Arbitration Centre, "Arbitration Rules" (above). ↩
8. Swiss Rules of International Arbitration (2021), Art. 20 (language). ↩
9. Swiss Rules (2021), Art. 3 (notice of arbitration) and the provisions on the languages of submissions to the Secretariat. ↩
10. Camera di commercio, dell'industria, dell'artigianato e dei servizi del Cantone Ticino, arbitration and mediation services. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of August 2025.