Adoption Agreement
If the parties subject their legal relationship to the standards and orders of the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects (SIA), the comprehensive set of rules of this trade organisation is applicable.
No General Applicability
SIA standards are neither generally binding nor can do they constitute binding customary law.
The Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland does not recognise the SIA standards as binding customary law. It only bases its decision on such standards if the parties have adopted said standards as an integral part of their contract.
Order of Precedence of the Contract Components in Building Contracts
Article 21 SIA standard 118 contains an order of precedence of the contract components, which provision shall applie when two or more terms or conditions in different components of the contract are in conflict with each other. In such an event the SIA standard 118 takes precedence over the law (OR) and other standards.
Recommendation for Building Contracts
- Individual determination of the optimum ranking by the parties
- Possible adoption of the suitable (professional) standards of other associations in the building contract