Facts
Company A. Ltd. filed two public law appeals with the Federal Tribunal against the decisions of the High Court of the Canton of Zurich dated March 23, 2001. These decisions had rejected A. Ltd.'s requests to declare an arbitral award rendered in London on April 17, 2000, ordering company B. AG to pay certain sums, as well as to obtain the definitive release of enforcement proceedings. A. Ltd. invoked the violation of the Concordat on Arbitration and the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards. The Federal Tribunal dismissed the appeals.Considerations
The Federal Tribunal first recalled that the public law appeal for violation of international treaties (Art. 84 para. 1 let. c FSCA) was formerly exempt from the exhaustion of cantonal instances. However, since the amendment of the law in 1992, this appeal is subject to this requirement, except for cases of intercantonal double taxation and seizure of property of foreign states.
The Federal Tribunal then specified that, within the framework of the public law appeal for violation of international treaties, the principle of the prohibition of asserting new facts and points of law now applies, as for the other public law appeals. Only a few exceptions are allowed, in particular when the new means are made necessary by the reasoning…