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Effective October 1, 2026
The Swiss Transparency Register for the identification of the beneficial owners of companies will come into effect. The following companies are required to report:
- Stock corporations (Aktiengesellschaften)
- Limited stock partnerships (Kommanditaktiengesellschaften)
- Limited liability companies (Gesellschaften mit beschränkter Haftung)
- Cooperatives (Genossenschaften)
- Investment companies with variable capital (SICAV)
- Fixed-capital investment companies (SICAF)
- Limited partnerships for collective investment schemes (Kommanditgesellschaften für kollektive Kapitalanlagen)
Legal entities governed by foreign law that
- have a branch in Switzerland that is entered in the Commercial Register
- have their actual place of management in Switzerland
- own real property in Switzerland or acquire real property in Switzerland
Further information: Swiss Transparency Register
June 1, 2026
The Federal Supreme Court ruled that a termination agreement between an employee and the parent company of a corporate group was null and void because the employment contract had previously been transferred—with the employee’s consent—from the parent company, as the original employer, to the subsidiary. The fact that the employee continued to report to the CEO of the parent company and worked for the parent company or the entire corporate group did not alter the fact that the termination agreement should have been concluded with the subsidiary. There was no partial invalidity, and even the severability clause could not alter this. Due to the invalidity of the entire termination agreement, the employee forfeited millions in compensation for a agreed non-compete clause (BGE 4A_625/2025 of June 1, 2026).
January 2025
As of January 1, 2025
- Entry into force of the revised Code of Civil Procedure ZPO. Cantons may provide for English as the language of proceedings in certain international commercial disputes, upon request and with the consent of all parties Art. 129 para. 2 lit. b ZPO, Art. 42 para. 1bis E-BGG
July 2024
- Trademark law: A watch atelier that adapts ROLEX watches owned by customers to their wishes (customization) does not infringe any trademark rights of ROLEX due to the customer's right of personal use and the principle of exhaustion. However, this only applies if the modified product is not put back on the market (BGer 4A_171/2023 of 19.01.2024).
January 2024
- Employment law: Dismissal after expiry of the blocking period due to continued illness is only abusive in blatant cases, if the employer directly caused the illness (BGE 4A_396/2022 of 07.11.2023, publ.)
September 19, 2023
- Trademark law: Apple Inc.'s apple is distinctive and there is no need for a free-standing right. The Federal Administrative Court therefore approved the application for protection of the international registration in Switzerland as a trademark for sound, video and film recordings, contrary to the previous instance (BVer B-4493/2022 of 26.07.2023).
September 1, 2023
- Data privacy: Entry into force of the new Swiss Data Protection Act (DPA) and the Data Protection Ordinance (DPO). Companies must have implemented the data protection requirements by September 1, 2023 at the latest.
August 2023
- Pandemic and labor law: The Federal Supreme Court has ruled that the employer is not obliged to pay wages if the business is closed due to an official order if the short-time compensation does not cover the loss of wages. In the specific case, the cantonal court had to clarify additionally whether 100% online teaching would have been possible during the closure and in this way minus hours of the affected employees could have been avoided. Judgment of August 30, 2023 (4A_53/2023).
July 1, 2023
- Relaxed provisions on working hours for companies in information and communications technology as well as auditing, fiduciary services and tax consulting.
February 2023
- Employment Law: The Superior Court of the Canton of Zurich confirmed in a case that an employer must pay wages during the lockdown that occurred at the beginning of 2021. The employer had to reckon with a further lockdown when it hired the employee in August 2021 (judgment of 06.02.2023, LA220011-O).
October 2022
- Trade mark law: The fanciful word "FACTFULNESS" is not imaginative enough to be a registered trade mark. The individual words do not lose their meaning and are descriptive of the products offered, i.e. the educational material/school books. They are therefore in the public domain and cannot be protected by a trademark. BGer 4A_65/2022 of 06.05.2022.
February 3, 2022
- Requirement to work from home and end contact quarantine
The requirement to work from home where possible will be downgraded to a recommendation. Employers will still be required to take steps to protect their workers from infection in the workplace. Working from home remains an effective measure. The requirement to wear masks at work remains.. Link
January 1, 2022
- Revision of the Versicherungsvertragsgesetz (VVG)
July 1, 2021
February 1, 2021
- Entry into force of the Blockchain / Distributed-Ledger-Technologie Law (DLT-Gesetz)
January 1, 2021
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