Facts
Appellants 1 and 2 as well as Appellants 3-11 have filed an appeal with the Federal Supreme Court against an interim decision of the Arbitral Tribunal dated June 7, 2010. In this decision, the Arbitral Tribunal had ordered the parties to pay their shares of the fees and expenses of the Arbitral Tribunal incurred so far and had stayed the proceedings until these amounts were paid.
The Arbitral Tribunal had initially limited the proceedings to the question of jurisdiction and provisionally estimated the amount in dispute at a sum of USD x. It then set the advance on costs in accordance with the provisions of the Swiss Rules of International Arbitration (Swiss Rules) and requested the parties to pay. Since the advance on costs was not paid within the deadline, the Arbitral Tribunal initially terminated the proceedings and later confirmed the termination with the condition that the resumption was dependent on the payment of the advance on costs.
With the contested interim decision, the Arbitral Tribunal finally ordered that the proceedings remain stayed until the payment of the fees and expenses of the Arbitral Tribunal incurred so far. It found that the parties were jointly and severally liable for half of these amounts each and ordered them to pay within 60 days.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court concluded that the Arbitral Tribunal's orders regarding the compensation do not constitute appealable arbitral awards within the meaning of Art. 190 PILA. Rather,…