Legal Update - Litigation - January 2026

4 February 2026 Pahud_Joel-637new.jpg AVJ-2.jpg DAI-3.jpg

New rules aimed at facilitating the taking of evidence in Switzerland for the purposes of foreign civil proceedings came into effect on 1 January 2026. The main changes include:

  1. Simplified conditions for videoconferencing in foreign civil proceedings.
  2. A new provision in the Federal Act on Private International Law (PILA) that expressly permits a party to foreign civil proceedings to voluntarily provide evidence, provided certain conditions are met.

These positive developments mean that the ‘Swiss Blocking Statute’ (Article 271 of the Swiss Criminal Code) is no longer as relevant in cross-border civil matters.

Read more here: 2026 02 03 – Legal update – janvier 2026

Authors: Joël Pahud, Anne Valérie Julen Berthod and David Aigner

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