Supreme Court rules on contractual penalties
August 31 2010
A contract clause penalising one party for non-performance or breach of contract is enforceable under Swiss law. According to Article 161(1) of the Swiss Code of Obligations, the enforcement of a penalty clause requires no proof of any real damage. Article 161(2) establishes that where the creditor has incurred damage and that damage amounts to more than the amount of the penalty, the excess amount can be claimed in addition to the penalty, provided that the damage is due to a fault of the debtor. Article 163(3) stipulates that penalty clauses can be mitigated by the court if they are excessive.
Most penalty clauses provide that the debtor must pay a fixed sum in case of non-performance or breach of contract. The payment of a fixed sum can either be construed by the parties as liquidated damages or as a penalty. Both are admissible under Swiss law. Liquidated damages are used to estimate damages in case of non-performance or breach of contract and are due only if the creditor can demonstrate the existence of damage. As the damages are liquidated, the exact amount of the damage need not be shown. On the other hand, the triggering of a penalty clause does not require proof of any real damage. The code does not define the scope of contractual penalties. In 1954 the Federal Supreme Court held that the statutory forfeiture of pension claims against a pension fund in case of breach of membership duties cannot be construed as a penalty.(1) It ruled that a contractual penalty can only arise from a conditional promise to deliver a performance, not in a forfeiture of a right. This narrow penalty scope has been widely criticised in Swiss legal doctrine.

In a decision published on April 23 2009 the Federal Supreme Court had the opportunity to review its position.(2)

Швейцарский обязательственный кодекс (ШОК) не знает понятия неустойки и в ст. 160 говорит о ЗОУ. Тем не менее анализ ст. ст. 160 - 163 ШОК показывает, что речь идет по сути все о той же неустойке, так как праву Швейцарии не свойственно дифференцировать неустойку и ЗОУ. Кредитор может требовать взыскания либо неустойки, либо исполнения в натуре, если только неустойка не установлена на случай просрочки исполнения или нарушения условия о месте исполнения обязательства. В последнем случае кумуляция возможна, но только если кредитор оговорил такое право при принятии ненадлежащего исполнения (п. п. 1 - 2 ст. 160). Неустойка взыскивается независимо от того, причинен ли убыток кредитору или нет (п. 1 ст. 161 ШОК). При этом ее размер может быть уменьшен в случае явной несоразмерности (п. 3 ст. 163 ШОК). В случае если убытки превышают сумму неустойки, то кредитору автоматически причитается разница (п. 2 ст. 161 ШОК).