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SWISS MARITIME
LAW ASSOCIATION

Welcome at Swiss Maritime Association (SMLA)

The SMLA is a non-profit association with the purpose of supporting the development of Swiss and international maritime law.

Since the 1960s the SMLA served (as a department of the Swiss Maritime Shipping Association (SVS)) as national platform of the Comté Maritime International (CMI) and made valuable contributions to the development of international conventions on the law of the sea.

Since September 2014 the SMLA is an independent association and is therefore now a direct member of the CMI.

As a newly established association the SMLA is happy to welcome new members from all over Switzerland and the neighbouring foreign countries. As a member of the SMLA you will benefit from regular information about the current developments and results in national and international maritime law. Furthermore you will get the possibility to actively work on projects of the SMLA (and therefore of the CMI) and influence these projects through your input.

Register today as a member of the SMLA and actively help shaping the development of the Swiss and international maritime law!

Current Projects

Review of the Rules on General Average

The Comité Maritime International (CMI) has been revising the rules on general average for quite some time now. Switzerland is represented in this project by our member Mr. Andreas Bach. Despite multiple attempts from various national maritime…
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Transfer of the project «Recognition of Foreign Judicial Sales of Ships»

The draft convention on «Recognition of Foreign Judicial Sales of Ships» was adopted on the occasion of the Hamburg Conference 2014. It is now time to transfer the convention into the intergovernmental organizations, in which the instrument…
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Harmonization of the Marine Insurance Law

The International Working Group on international marine insurance law is currently concentrating on the sections of international conventions, which relate to the compulsory insurance. For these insurances various questions arise in practice…
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Latest Events

Annual general meeting

The annual general meeting takes place on December 9, 2015, (most likely in Zurich). Special invitations to the annual general meeting will be sent. Further information will be provided in due course.
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Conference «Recognition of Foreign Judicial Sales of Ships»

In the first half of 2016 (most likely in Basel and in Geneva) a conference on the draft convention «Recognition of Foreign Judicial Sales of Ships», which was adopted on the occasion of the Hamburg Conference 2014, will be organized. Further…
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Conference «Introduction to the general principles of international maritime law»

The conference will be held in cooperation with the Swiss Shippers Council (SSC) on September 22, 2015, in the Hotel Engimatt, Zurich. Special invitations to the conference will be sent. You find the program of the conference as well as a…
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About our assocation

The purpose of the SMLA is the support of the development of Swiss and international maritime law, including the relevant Community law and the (maritime) law of nations as well as the inland waterway law. In furtherance of these purposes the SMLA is a member of the Comité Maritime International (CMI).

Therefore the main task of the SMLA ist the handling of the affairs of the CMI. In addition the members of the SMLA (in cooperation with the Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) and the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA)) will carry out in groups the respective consultation work for the public consultation process in the field of national and international trade law, in particular in the field of maritime law / inland waterway law.

For carrying out the this work, the SMLA intends to also involve students and graduates of Swiss universities. Particularly Master’s students shall be given the possibility to present their Master’s theses in the field of maritime law to the SMLA and its working groups.

The Board

  • Foundation of the association

    Since the 1960s the SMLA has been a department of the Swiss Maritime Association (SVS). Since 1st December 2015 the SMLA acts as an independent association.

  • Motivation

    The SMLA exclusively and directly pursues scientific and non-profit-making purposes. Correspondingly the SMLA acts selflessly and does not pursue any economic intentions of its own.

  • Information

    The SMLA keeps all members regularly informed about the current developments in Swiss and international maritime law.

  • Conferences and Events

    At least once a year the SMLA organizes a conference dealing with a specific topic out of the topics of the CMI or an independent maritime law topic.

    Besides the SMLA invites its members once a year to the annual general meeting, in which the recent developments of maritime law projects in different international organisations will be presented.

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