Switzerland / 11 December 1997 / Switzerland, Cour de Justice de Genève / X v. Y / C/20312/1997
| Country | Switzerland |
| Court | Switzerland, Cour de Justice de Genève (Geneva Court of Justice) |
| Date | 11 December 1997 |
| Parties | X v. Y |
| Case number | C/20312/1997 |
| Applicable NYC Provisions | IV | IV(1) | IV(1)(b) | V | V(2) | V(2)(b) |
| Source |
Original decision obtained from the registry of the Cour de Justice de Genève |
| Languages | English |
| Summary | X, a Swiss company, and Y, a Chinese company, entered into three contracts in 1994 for the sale of Chinese peanuts (the “1994 Contracts”). The general conditions were printed on the reverse side of the first two contracts and included an arbitration agreement providing for arbitration in the State of the respondent. The arbitration clause was completed by typing machine and stated “if any, shall be in Beijing, China”. A previous contract had been entered into by the parties in 1993 providing for arbitration at the place of the registered office of the respondent. A dispute arose between the parties. Pursuant to the arbitration agreement contained in the 1994 Contracts, Y seized the Chinese Commission for Arbitration on 4 July 1995. A month later, Y sought to provisionally attach assets belonging to X in the Netherlands. X brought this matter before the Chinese Commission for Arbitration which held that the Holland Court had jurisdiction to rule on such conservatory measures. On 5 March 1996, the arbitral tribunal rendered an award in Beijing in favor of Y which was not subject to any appeal. On 9 May 1997, Y served X with a debt collection order directing X to pay sums due under the award. X opposed the debt collection order. Y brought a request for final dismissal of the objection to pay (mainlevée) and for enforcement of the arbitral award before the Tribunal de Première instance (First Instance Tribunal). On 17 September 1997, the Tribunal de Première instance, based on the 1994 Contracts, ordered the provisional dismissal of the objection to pay. Both X and Y appealed. X argued that certain amounts due to X should be set-off against the award and, in the alternative, that the award violated the NYC and Swiss public order. The Cour de Justice de Genève (Court of Justice of Geneva) annulled the decision of the Tribunal de Première Instance, ordered the definitive dismissal of the objection to pay, thus granting enforcement of the award. The Cour de Justice de Genève held that pursuant to Article 194 of the Swiss Private International Law (“SPIL”) the NYC was applicable, as Y’s request was based on an arbitral award rendered abroad. The Cour de Justice found that the award was final because the arbitration rules did not provide for an appeal against the award. The Cour de Justice de Genève rejected X’s argument under Article IV(1)(b) NYC that Y had not filed the arbitration agreement contained in the third contract. It noted that X had not objected to the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal, nor had it filed the contracts in the arbitration proceedings, which had been made in two copies. It held that the third contract referred to the same general conditions as the first two contracts, and that there, as a consequence, an arbitration agreement providing for arbitration under the Chinese Commission for Arbitration existed. Turning to the allegation that enforcement would violate Swiss public policy, the Cour de Justice de Genève held that a violation of Article V(2)(b) NYC could be examined sua ponte by the Court, but the requirements for such a violation would only be satisfied where there was a violation of fundamental principles of Swiss legal order, which was not the case in the matter at hand. It therefore dismissed the argument. |
Attachment (1)
 Original Language Adobe Acrobat PDF |
