Facts
On February 13, 2014, the Court of First Instance No. 7 of Donostia (Spain) sent to the Court of First Instance of Geneva a request for international judicial assistance in civil matters, in order to obtain from bank B. SA documents concerning the bank accounts opened in the name of C. Inc. and A. Corp. The dispute pending before the Spanish court concerns a commercial sale, with the plaintiffs D. and E. acting against the defendants F. and company G. SA for payment of amounts due under the sale price.
The bank provided the required documents and information concerning the accounts opened in the name of C., but refused to provide information on the accounts opened in the name of A., as the latter had refused to release it from professional secrecy. The Court of First Instance of Geneva then ordered the bank to produce the certificate certifying the identity of the economic beneficiary of the account opened in the name of A.
A., the account holder, and X., the economic beneficiary, appealed against this order. The Court of Justice of the Canton of Geneva dismissed their appeal. They then filed a civil appeal with the Federal Tribunal.
Considerations
The Federal Tribunal upheld the appeal and overturned the contested judgment, rejecting the request for international judicial assistance from the Court of First Instance No. 7 of Donostia (Spain).
According to the Federal Tribunal, Swiss law allows the bank's client, the account holder, to refuse to cooperate by invoking banking secrecy, unless it is demonstrated that the interest in the disclosure of the…