The canton of Zurich is moving closer to setting up an international commercial court. The Zurich Cantonal Council (Kantonsrat) voted in favour of the project, according to a Keystone-ATS news agency dispatch carried on 19 October by SWI swissinfo.ch. The text has not yet been definitively adopted, however: it now goes to the drafting committee, ahead of a final vote expected in a few weeks. The court therefore does not exist yet, and no start date has been mentioned.

Where the process stands

The debate first focused on whether to consider the bill at all. The SVP did not want the text to be examined; the parliament rejected this motion by 122 votes to 45. The project is now in the hands of the drafting committee, which is responsible for finalising its wording.

Given this clear majority, the agency considers that the final vote should be a mere formality. This is an assessment, not a decision: until this second vote has taken place, the project remains a text supported by the parliament. Nor does the source specify whether other steps, such as a possible referendum or the adoption of implementing provisions, will have to follow before the new court can handle its first cases.

A chamber of the existing Commercial Court

The project does not create an entirely new institution. The international commercial court is to be integrated into the Zurich Commercial Court (Handelsgericht), which is itself attached to the canton's High Court (Obergericht). The stated aim is to build on existing structures and on the specialist knowledge of the commercial judges.

The canton does not plan to hire additional staff. It expects a low caseload at the outset, which it puts at just a handful of cases. Should this volume increase one day, any additional costs would be fully covered by court fees, in other words by the fees paid by the parties.

The dispatch does not detail the exact scope of the disputes concerned: the criteria defining an "international" case, a minimum amount in dispute or whether an agreement between the parties is needed to bring a case before this chamber are not specified.

English as the language of proceedings

The question of language featured in the debates. Several speakers considered it sensible for proceedings to be conducted in English, a common language in international business relations. The source reports these positions, but does not indicate to what extent the use of English will be formally written into the text, nor whether it will extend to the judgments themselves.

A federal basis in force since January 2025

The idea is not new. As early as 2019, the Cantonal Council had called for the creation of such a chamber. At the time, this was not legally possible: the Civil Procedure Code, which falls under federal law, first had to be amended.

These amendments came into force in January 2025. Since then, cantons can designate their commercial court as the competent authority for international disputes. Zurich intends to make use of this option; the Zurich project is therefore not an isolated initiative, but the cantonal implementation of a possibility opened up by the Confederation. The source does not say whether other cantons have taken similar steps.

A trend already followed in Europe

With this project, Zurich, as a business location, is joining an international trend. Other countries, including Germany, France, England and the Netherlands, already have judicial chambers specialising in commercial cases with an international dimension.

The dispatch confines itself to this observation. It does not compare what Zurich offers with these foreign courts, whether in terms of timeframes, costs or caseloads, and gives no quantified target for the disputes the canton hopes to attract.

A state court, not international arbitration

This project should be distinguished from international arbitration, to which companies frequently turn for their cross-border disputes. The future Zurich court will be a state court, integrated into the cantonal judicial system, and not an arbitral tribunal chosen and constituted by the parties. How this new offering will fit alongside arbitration, and whether it aims to compete with part of it, is not specified by the source.

Reservations on the left, opposition from the SVP

Politically, the SVP sought to dismiss the text from the outset, without success. The left-wing parties expressed specific concerns, the nature of which is not detailed, while broadly coming out in favour of the project. It is this broad support that leads the agency to anticipate a final vote without surprises.

What to watch

  • the date of the Cantonal Council's final vote;
  • the final text produced by the drafting committee, particularly on the language of proceedings;
  • the date from which cases can be brought before the chamber;
  • the number of cases actually brought before it, compared with the canton's cautious forecast.

Sources