Right to an impartial tribunal

The right to an impartial tribunal protects confidence in adjudication. In Swiss law and under European fair-trial standards, judges and certain administrative decision-makers must not have personal interests, prior involvement, hostility, close relationships or other circumstances that objectively raise doubts about neutrality. Parties may request recusal, usually as soon as they know the relevant facts. Impartiality has subjective and objective dimensions: actual bias is not always required if appearances would reasonably undermine trust in the decision-making body.