Jurisdiction to hear actions relating to nuclear incidents is governed by the Convention of 29 July 19601on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy as amended by the Additional Protocol of 28 January 1964, the Protocol of 16 November 1982 and the Protocol of 12 February 2004 (the Paris Convention).
If the Swiss courts have jurisdiction under this Convention, the action shall be brought in the canton in whose territory the incident occurred, or, where the place of the incident lies outside the sovereign territory of the contracting parties or cannot be determined with certainty, in the canton in whose territory the nuclear installation of the operator liable is located. If several courts have jurisdiction in accordance with these rules, the action shall be brought in the canton that in accordance with Article 13 paragraph (f) number (ii) of the Convention is most closely related to the incident and is the most affected by its effects.
The rules on jurisdiction in paragraph 2 also apply by analogy to actions arising from nuclear incidents to which the Convention does not apply. If in the case of such an action, neither the place of the incident nor that of the nuclear installation lies in Switzerland, the action may also be filed in the canton in whose territory the alleged damage occurred. If damage occurred in two or more cantons, the canton that is most affected by the incident shall have jurisdiction.2