Swiss Federal Supreme Court's judgement concerning the non-application of public procurement law to the management of financial assets owned by public bodies

Lenz & Staehelin assisted the City of Geneva in the appeal procedure before the Swiss Supreme Court relating to a question of principle in the field of public procurement law. The question at stake was whether the attribution of the management of financial assets owned by public bodies (in the case at hand the Hotel Metropole Geneva and the Parc des Eaux-Vives Restaurant owned by the City of Geneva) falls within the scope of public procurement law.

In a judgment made public on the 17th of September 2019, the Swiss Supreme Court ruled entirely in favor of the City of Geneva. It held in particular that, contrary to the Swiss Competition Commission's opinion issued in this matter, such financial assets, which are not held in the pursuit of a public task of the State, do not fall within the scope of public procurement law.

The Lenz & Staehelin team was led by Partner Benoît Merkt (competition/public procurement), assisted notably by Alix Marxer and Sevan Antreasyan (both senior associates).

Published: 20 September 2019