Mandatory provisions

To consider

Even in cases where foreign law would be applicable, but the national law provides a mandatory provision in this situation, the competent courts have to apply this provision instead of the applicable foreign law. In Switzerland, this is fixed in Article 18 ILPA. Thus it is possible, for example, to apply mandatory provisions of Swiss cartel law to a licence agreement, which is otherwise subject to foreign law.

As an example a French court had to decide about the author’s moral right that is applicable as mandatory provision according to French law: In France, case law has been able to call upon the right to respect the integrity of a work in order to prohibit the use of a colourised version of a film within its territory, even if North American law would have been applicable to the creation of the work. This was justified on the grounds that local provisions regarding the moral right of the author (to that the integrity of a work belongs) are mandatory on French territory. (Arrêt Asphalt Jungle, Cass., Civ. 1, 28 mai 1991).