In a French-language decision dated 17 February 2017, but only recently published, the Swiss Supreme Court ruled that set aside applications submitted by two athletes were inadmissible for being unsupported. The applications lacked legal grounding because at the time the applicants filed their set- aside applications, the petitioners had only been notified of the operative part of the awards and could therefore not ground their request on the underlying reasoning of the arbitrators.

Although rendered in summary form, the decision of the Supreme Court is important as it clarifies that the deadline for filing a set-aside application only starts to run once the parties have received a fully reasoned award (as opposed to the operative part of the award only). (Decisions 4A_444/2016 and 4A_446/2016.)

Published in Practical Law Arbitration