Sport arbitration and interim measures – a Swiss glance

This article highlights selected characteristics of Swiss international arbitration law focussing on interim measures in sports-related disputes. The key academic concern of the article is to indentify whether under Swiss law the parties may waive the state courts’ jurisdiction to grant interim relief in international arbitral proceedings and declare the arbitral tribunal as exclusively competent. The view held in this article favours the admissibility of the waiver based on mainly two arguments: the parties’ autonomy and the lack of statutory limitations to the waiver. Further, this article deems that in ad hoc arbitral proceedings the waiver is not enforceable (but not null and void) as long as the tribunal has not been yet established. In such a case, the parties may exceptionally request interim relief with state courts. Seeking for a arbitral alternative to the said solution the article scrutinises whether in sports-related disputes the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne could be competent until the constitution of the ad hoc tribunal. Finally, the article examines the formal requirements for the waiver.