China's public policy challenge to costs allocation in investment treaty award rejected

In Decision 4A_100/2025, the Swiss Supreme Court dismissed an application by the People's Republic of China to set aside a final award rendered by a Geneva-seated arbitral tribunal under the 1986 China-UK BIT. Alongside other failed grounds, it rejected China's argument that the tribunal's costs allocation violated substantive public policy under article 190(2)(e) of the Swiss PILA. It held that China had not shown that the "costs follow the event" principle is a fundamental public policy legal principle, and that an allegedly excessive costs award is not in itself a ground for intervention.