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Litigating in Ticino and in Lombardy: two codes of civil procedure

The federal Code of Civil Procedure and its revision of 2025

Until 2010 every Swiss canton had its own code of civil procedure, and Ticino's code of 1971 was the procedural home of generations of Lugano lawyers. The Swiss Civil Procedure Code of 19 December 2008 (CPC) unified the law with effect from 1 January 2011, leaving to the cantons the organization of the courts.1 The first comprehensive revision of the CPC entered into force on 1 January 2025, fourteen years after the Code itself. Its stated aims were to increase the efficiency of litigation, to facilitate access to justice and to reduce costs.2 Several of its changes matter in cross-border cases. Advances on court costs were reduced by half (Article 98 CPC), and Article 111 CPC now spares the winning party the risk of collecting the advance from the loser. Article 160a CPC introduced a privilege for in-house counsel, which protects the work product of legal departments in Swiss civil proceedings. Hearings may be held by video or audio transmission (Articles 141a and 141b CPC), and private expert opinions now count as documentary evidence (Article 177 CPC).

Two further changes aimed at international business disputes. Under Article 6(4)(c) CPC, the cantons may give their commercial courts jurisdiction over international commercial disputes with a value of at least CHF 100,000 if the parties agree and at least one of them has its domicile or seat abroad. Under Article 129 CPC, the cantons may allow proceedings to be conducted in English, and commercial courts may issue their judgments in English.3 The provisions have a direct effect in Zurich, Bern, Aargau and St. Gallen, the cantons that maintain commercial courts. Ticino has no commercial court. Its civil courts conduct proceedings in Italian, the official language of the canton. For an Italian party this is an advantage that no other Swiss financial centre offers: it can litigate in Lugano in its own language, with lawyers trained in a legal culture that shares much of its terminology with Italian law, a theme Chapter J.III develops.4

The Ticino courts

In Ticino, small claims up to CHF 5,000 are heard by the justices of the peace (Giudici di pace). Claims above that amount go to the Pretura of the district, which sits as a singlejudge court of first instance. The canton has ten Preture: Bellinzona, Blenio, Leventina, Locarno Città, Locarno Campagna, Lugano, Mendrisio Nord, Mendrisio Sud, Riviera and Vallemaggia.5 Appeals lie to the Tribunale d'appello in Lugano. Its civil section comprises three civil chambers, a chamber for complaints, a protection chamber and the Camera di esecuzione e fallimenti (CEF, enforcement and bankruptcy chamber), which supervises debt enforcement and hears appeals in enforcement, attachment and bankruptcy matters. The Federal Supreme Court in Lausanne is the final instance for civil appeals with a value in dispute of at least CHF 30,000 (CHF 15,000 in employment and tenancy cases) and, whatever the value, where a legal question of fundamental importance arises.6 Before an ordinary action, the CPC requires a conciliation attempt before a conciliation authority (Article 197 CPC), a function that in Ticino the Pretura or another conciliation authority performs. The claimant may dispense with conciliation unilaterally where the defendant's domicile or seat is abroad (Article 199(2)(a) CPC), and in disputes with a value of at least CHF 100,000 the parties may agree to dispense with it (Article 199(1) CPC).7

Italian lawyers can appear before Ticino courts under the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons between Switzerland and the European Union and the Federal Act on the Free Movement of Lawyers. A national of an EU or EFTA state who is entitled to practise as a lawyer in Italy may represent parties before Swiss courts in the free provision of services, without entry in a cantonal register of lawyers. The Act subjects such a lawyer to the Swiss professional rules and, where representation by a lawyer is compulsory, obliges him to act in agreement with a lawyer entered in a cantonal register.8 In practice, Italian parties usually instruct Ticino lawyers, because the procedural rules, the culture of written submissions and the enforcement law differ substantially from those of Italy.

Notes

  1. Lukas Müller (above), on the simultaneous entry into force of the CPC and the revised Lugano Convention on 1 January 2011; CPC, SR 272, Fedlex (above). ↩
  2. Vischer, "Civil Procedure Code (CPC) revision: background and overview", https://www.vischer.com/en/knowledge/blog/civil-procedure-code-cpc-revision-background-and-overview; Vischer, "CPC revision: background and overview" (above). ↩
  3. Selim Marasco-Keller, "Civil Procedure Code (CPC) revision: improving international commercial jurisdiction", Vischer, 19 November 2024, https://www.vischer.com/en/knowledge/blog/civil-procedure-code-cpc-revision-improving-international-commercial-jurisdiction. ↩
  4. Source as cited in the printed edition. ↩
  5. Republic and Canton of Ticino, judiciary, "Preture", https://www4.ti.ch/poteri/giudiziario/giustizia-civile/preture (list of the ten Preture; competence of the Giudici di pace up to CHF 5,000); Republic and Canton of Ticino, judiciary, form "Domanda di sequestro", https://www4.ti.ch/fileadmin/POTERI/GIUDIZIARIO/GiudiciPace/MOD20110104-Domanda-sequestro.pdf (competence of the Giudice di pace up to CHF 5,000 and of the Pretura above that amount). ↩
  6. Republic and Canton of Ticino, judiciary, "Tribunale d'appello", https://www4.ti.ch/poteri/giudiziario/tribunale-dappello (seat at Via Pretorio 16, Lugano, and composition of the civil section); Federal Supreme Court Act of 17 June 2005 (SCA), SR 173.110, Art. 74(1) and (2)(a), at droit-bilingue.ch, https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/de-it/1/17/173.110-74-79.html. ↩
  7. CPC, Art. 197 and 199, at droit-bilingue.ch, https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/it-en/2/27/272-197-201.html and https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/it-en/2/27/272-199-203.html. ↩
  8. Federal Act on the Free Movement of Lawyers of 23 June 2000 (Lawyers Act, BGFA), SR 935.61, Art. 21 and 23, at droit-bilingue.ch, https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/de-it/9/93/935.61-21-25.html and https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/de-it/9/93/935.61-23-27.html. ↩

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.

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