En 2002, une société belge (le demandeur) consentit à acheter du mâchefer auprès d'une société turque (le défendeur) conformément à un contrat qui comportait une clause de choix de droit formulée dans les termes suivants.

'5.7 Article XIV of the Contract ("Governing Law and Arbitration") so provides:

The contract shall be governed first by Incoterms 2000 (International Chamber of Commerce Publication no. 560) and by Swiss Law to the exclusion of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (1980) and any rules of conflict of laws.

Any dispute or controversy arising from the interpretation and/or the application of the contract shall be settled first amicably. If the parties fail to resolve such dispute or controversy within 30 days, than [sic] the dispute or controversy shall be finally settled under the Rules of Conciliation and Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce by three arbitrators.

. . . . . . . . .

6.2 Pursuant to the first paragraph of Article XIV of the Contract (supra at 5.7), the parties have agreed upon the rules of law to be applied to the merits of the dispute. According to such choice-of-law clause, the Contract is governed by, and thus the Arbitral Tribunal must decide the dispute pursuant to, the "Incoterms 2000" and Swiss law (with the express exclusion of any Swiss rules of conflict of laws and of the Vienna Convention of 1980 on the International Sale of Goods).'