International Construction Law Review
CORRESPONDENTS’ REPORT
SWITZERLAND
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN SWISS CONSTRUCTION LAW
THOMAS SIEGENTHALER1
Dr iur, M Jur, member of the Swiss Bar
AND
HUBERT ST ÖCKLI2
Prof Dr iur, MCL Professor of Civil Law at the University of Fribourg
For quite some time there have been few noteworthy developments to report on. It seemed almost as if construction law was immune to change. After decades of relative calm, however, everything now seems suddenly to have entered a state of commotion. Laws are being amended, a revision of the standard for construction and planning contracts issued by the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects is underway, and a number of parliamentary initiatives have called into question the peculiarities of Swiss construction contract law. Among the new rules are also the far-reaching changes to the Federal Act on the Posting of Workers (SR 823.20), which will impose potentially very extensive liability on prime contractors. This will be the subject of a separate article in the next issue. We summarise here in the next three sections changes to the standard SIA-Norm 118, some legislative developments and some noteworthy decisions of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court.
I. REVISIONS OF INDUSTRY STANDARDS
1. SIA-Norm 118
At their meeting of 10 November 2012, the delegates of the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects (SIA) approved publication of a revised version of
1 Dr iur, M Jur, member of the Swiss Bar; accredited in Construction and Real Estate Law by the Swiss Bar Association; Lecturer in Construction Contract Law at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.
2 Prof Dr iur, MCL, Professor of Civil Law at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, Director of the Institute for Swiss and International Construction Law. You can reach him at hubert.stoeckli@unifr.ch. The authors would like to thank Mr Hal Wyner for the English translation.
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