Litigation and arbitration translation. What a judge or an arbitrator will read

Swiss proceedings are argued in the language of the court, but the exhibits arrive in every language. You need to understand fast, then produce translations that can be cited. Corrext does both, in Switzerland.

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Each term, in the official text

Highlight a procedural term: CHnell shows its German version in the same official text, with its source.

sentence arbitraleFrenchGerman283 results

2. La Partie plaignante ne peut demander un arbitrage en vertu du paragraphe précédent avant l’expiration d’un délai de douze mois à compter de la sentence arbitrale rendue en vertu du par. 6 de l’art. 29. La sentence du tribunal arbitral mentionnée au paragraphe précédent est normalement rendue dans les trois mois suivant la demande d’arbitrage.

2. Die beschwerdeführende Partei kann innerhalb von zwölf Monaten nach Verkündung des Schiedsspruchs gemäss Artikel 29 Absatz 6, keine Schiedsverhandlung nach dem vorangehendem Absatz beantragen. Der Schiedsgerichtsspruch nach dem vorangehenden Absatz wird in der Regel innerhalb von drei Monaten nach Beantragung des Schiedsverfahrens gefällt.

SR-0.632.312.32 Accord-de-libre-échange-du-26-janvier-2008-entre-les-Etats-de-lAELE-et-le- - Source: fedlex.admin.ch - Data Set: Neur.on

k) Comme prévu par l’art. 25, par. 7, let. e, la décision du tribunal arbitral constitue un accord amiable au sens de l’art. 25. Dans les 30 jours après réception de la sentence arbitrale, toutes les personnes concernées doivent indiquer à l’autorité compétente auprès de laquelle le cas a été soumis en premier lieu et qui leur a communiqué la sentence arbitrale si elles acceptent cette sentence.

k) Wie in Artikel 25 Absatz 7 Buchstabe e) vorgesehen, stellt die Entscheidung des Schiedsgerichts eine Verständigungslösung im Sinne von Artikel 25 dar. Jede betroffene Person muss innert 30 Tagen seit dem Erhalt des Schiedsspruchs durch die zuständige Behörde, bei der der Fall zuerst eingereicht wurde, dieser mitteilen, ob sie den Schiedsspruch annimmt.

SR-0.672.933.61 Abkommen-vom-2.-Oktober-1996-zwischen-der-Schweizerischen-Eidgenossenschaf - Source: fedlex.admin.ch - Data Set: Neur.on

L’attestation que la sentence arbitrale ou la transaction conclue devant des arbitres est passée en force de chose jugée et qu’elle est devenue exécutoire est délivrée en Suisse par l’autorité compétente du canton où la sentence arbitrale a été rendue ou la transaction conclue, en Autriche par le tribunal de district (Bezirksgericht) dans le ressort duquel la sentence arbitrale a été rendue ou la transaction conclue.

Die Bescheinigung über die Rechtskraft und über die Vollstreckbarkeit des Schiedsspruches oder des vor einem Schiedsgericht abgeschlossenen Vergleiches wird in der Schweiz durch die zuständige Behörde des Kantons, wo der Schiedsspruch gefällt oder der Vergleich geschlossen wurde, in Österreich durch das Bezirksgericht, in dessen Sprengel das Schiedsgericht seine Entscheidung gefällt hat oder der Vergleich geschlossen wurde, ausgestellt.

SR-0.276.191.632 Convention-du-16-décembre-1960-entre-la-Confédération-suisse-et-la-Républ - Source: fedlex.admin.ch - Data Set: Neur.on

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Procedural vocabulary, in all four languages

Appellate remedies change name with the court. A cantonal appeal (Berufung, appel) and an appeal to the Federal Supreme Court (Beschwerde, recours) have different names, and the three official versions keep the distinction. The English column uses the translation published by the Confederation on Fedlex where there is one, which has no legal force, and common usage otherwise.

German	French	Italian	English	Reference
Schiedsgericht	tribunal arbitral	tribunale arbitrale	arbitral tribunal	art. 186 LDIP
Schiedsspruch	sentence arbitrale	lodo arbitrale	arbitral award	art. 189 LDIP
Anerkennung und Vollstreckung	reconnaissance et exécution	riconoscimento ed esecuzione	recognition and enforcement	art. 194 LDIP
Rechtsbegehren	conclusions	conclusioni	prayers for relief	art. 221 CPC
Klageantwort	réponse	risposta	statement of defence	art. 222 CPC
Berufung	appel	appello	appeal	art. 308 CPC
Beschwerde in Zivilsachen	recours en matière civile	ricorso in materia civile	appeal in civil matters	art. 72 LTF
Bundesgericht	Tribunal fédéral	Tribunale federale	Federal Supreme Court	art. 188 Cst.

Equivalents taken from official Swiss texts, published in German, French and Italian. In Corrext, each term opens in context in Fast lookup CHnell, with its source.

The acts cited in proceedings every day

Since 2011, Swiss civil procedure has been codified in a single code that applies in every canton. International arbitration has a chapter of its own, and the enforcement of monetary claims falls under yet another act.

CPC

Swiss Civil Procedure Code

DEZPOFR · ITCPC

It governs written submissions, evidence, time limits and cantonal avenues of appeal

PILA

Federal Act on Private International Law (PILA)

DEIPRGFR · ITLDIP

Its Chapter 12 is the core of international arbitration law in Switzerland

BGG

Federal Supreme Court Act

FR · ITLTF

It sets the requirements for an appeal to the highest Swiss court and the form of written submissions

DEBA

Federal Act on Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy

DESchKGFRLP

It governs the enforcement of monetary claims, from the setting aside of the objection (Rechtsöffnung) to bankruptcy

Translating proceedings, in practice

Translating for litigation and arbitration means producing two kinds of text: exhibits to understand in order to build a strategy, and written submissions or awards meant to be read, cited and enforced. The vocabulary comes from the Civil Procedure Code (CPC), the Federal Act on Private International Law (PILA) and the case law of the Federal Supreme Court.

Written submissions and exhibits

List of exhibits
The whole batch goes into File translation and comes back in its original format, with exhibit numbering intact, ready for the team to read.
Written submission and prayers for relief
The prayers for relief bind the party. They go through a Full review by a legal translator, or Double review & certified translation when the court requires an attested translation.
Arbitral award
An award is quoted word for word. The Alternatives panel shows up to four competing wordings, each labelled with its engine, and the legal expert decides.
Enforcement in Switzerland
Recognition of a foreign decision requires a faithful translation of its operative part. The vocabulary of the PILA and of the Federal Act on Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy (DEBA) is decisive here.

What Corrext brings to this area

Scanned exhibits

Annexes often arrive as scanned PDFs. The PDF to Word tab turns them into editable documents before translation or highlighting.

Procedural terminology

CPC and PILA terms exist in three official versions. CHnell shows them in context, next to the article. Domains in the concordancer: Litigation & Enforcement and Arbitration.

International arbitration

German, French, Italian and English are native in every pair, and the platform covers 30 languages for foreign exhibits.

Case file secrecy

Highly sensitive content mode requires storage and processing in Switzerland only, with no reuse of the content in a translation memory.

Three stages of proceedings where translation carries weight

Preparation

Four hundred pages of exhibits before the hearing

The batch goes into File translation in Highly sensitive content mode and comes back in its original format. The team reads, annotates and flags the useful passages, then sends for human review only the exhibits that will be filed.

Written submissions

Prayers for relief in the language of the court

The written submission is drafted in English and must be filed in German. A Full review by a legal translator checks the prayers for relief line by line, and Double review & certified translation covers cases where the court requires a certificate.

Arbitration

An award to be recognised in Switzerland

Recognition turns on a faithful operative part. The alternatives per engine show the possible wordings, CHnell gives the official usage of the term in the PILA, and the partner makes an informed choice.

Frequently asked questions on translation for proceedings

Will a Swiss court accept a machine translation?

An exhibit filed with a court must be reliable and, depending on the case, attested. Machine translation helps you understand the case file. What you file goes through a Full review by a legal translator, or Double review & certified translation when an attestation is required.

Which language do exhibits have to be translated into?

Into the official language of the court, which depends on the canton and on the authority hearing the case. German, French and Italian are native in every pair, and so is English. That also covers international arbitrations conducted in English with exhibits in German.

How do I keep the case file secret?

Storage is on Swiss servers in every case. Highly sensitive content mode also requires processing in Switzerland only, with no reuse of the content in a translation memory. Before anything is sent, engines hosted abroad display the Attorney-Client privilege notice, which reminds users of your organisation's policy.

Can I compare several translations of the same passage?

Yes. The Alternatives panel offers up to four wordings, each labelled with the engine that produced it. This helps when quoting an award or case law, where two acceptable wordings may not carry the same weight before the next court. The wording you choose can then be fixed in your terminology resources for the whole case file.

How can I check a procedural term?

Highlight it: Fast lookup CHnell opens it in context with its official source, in the Litigation & Enforcement and Arbitration domains. The concordancer accepts quotation marks, the minus sign and the ‘or’ operator to target a precise occurrence.

What about poor-quality scanned exhibits?

The PDF to Word tab in Text and document translation converts a scan into an editable Word document before translation or annotation. This is often the first step for a list of exhibits, where some annexes exist only as images. The resulting Word document is then translated like any native file.