In the middle of this year, the Federal Council presented a new legislation to screen foreign direct investment seeks to prevent threats to public order and security posed by foreign investors acquiring Swiss companies. In 2023, we will find out what will happen next.

Switzerland is one of the world's largest recipients of foreign investment. Being open to inward foreign investment is of central importance for Switzerland as a business centre. The country must therefore remain attractive for foreign investment even if screening is introduced. However, in the last years Switzerland policy to remain open for investments was heavily discussed, when foreign investors acquired or invested in mid-size or large Swiss companies.

In the future, further possible threats are expected in particular from investors with ties to foreign governments. The acquisition of Swiss companies by foreign state-owned companies or by investors with ties to foreign governments should therefore be made subject to approval in all sectors. Furthermore, the new regulations will define in which critical areas all acquisitions by foreign investors - state or private - must be authorised. Small businesses are to be exempted from the screening process by setting a de minimis threshold.

Marc Baumberger from MLL Legal talked about this new draft legislation, which will now after the consultation be finalised as a draft law and then submitted to the Swiss States and National Council. Therefore, we expect this to become one of the key discussions points in M&A the following year. Listen to our podcast and become part of the discussion!

The increase in cyber incidents, as well as record-high fines for tech companies for failing to comply with data protection rules, have significantly undermined the trust that previously existed between users and providers of digital tools. Therefore, the Swiss Digital Initiative (SDI) intends to increase user trust by launching the Digital Trust Label. Sarah Gädig and Nicolas Zahn talked about this initiative to Marco Meier and Cornelia Mattig of MLL. Their chat highlights the strategy used by the SDI to foster digital trust, which is based on a comprehensive analysis and a corresponding Whitepaper.

 

Although the Digital Trust Label is neither a tool for compliance nor a substitute for legal requirements that companies need to fulfil, it shows that a provider is willing to go the extra mile and may, thereby, foster trust in its digital tools. One of the major compliance topics this year is the implementation of the revised Swiss Data Protection Act. The Swiss Data Protection Act is scheduled to enter into force on 1 September 2023 and requires businesses to have implemented the act by that date because there will be no grace periods. Therefore, the push for more digital trust is in line with the upcoming legal tasks for businesses and may constitute a tool to show their commitment to privacy and digital trust.

 

If you would like to know more or require assistance in your compliance project, we are happy to support you. In the meantime, we will be keeping a close eye on developments on our different news channels. 

 

If you have not yet registered, subscribe to our podcast to stay on top of legal challenges and trends. You can find us on Spotify, Podbean or Apple Podcast under the name “MLL NexGen – LexCast” or sign up here.

As 2021 draws to an end MLL looks forward to 2022 and wonders what it holds. Listen to our specialists from across our offices talking about what legal trends they see in coming in the year ahead.

 

They talk to Cornelia Mattig about upcoming legal changes regarding the legality of cannabis products in Switzerland (Daniel Haymann), changes in the area of IP (Andrea Schäffler). Theay also talk about the upcoming company law revision (Marc Baumberger). The reference Marc Baumberger makes in his preview can be found here.  Moreover, they talk about the necessary preparations for the revised Federal Data Protection Act (Marco Meier) and the possibility of virtual shareholder meetings and the impact of this change for the work of notary publics (Davina Stalder).

 

With this summary of some of the major legal issues that await us in 2022, we would like to wish all of you a successful, healthy and happy year ahead. 

 

Tune in and find out what 2022 has in store for our speakers, MLL and you!

Environmental, social and corporate governance or short ESG is a term that can no longer be avoided. More and more stakeholders call on businesses to stop burying their heads in the sand regarding topics such as environment or social matters. This trend was also reflected concerning the vote on the Responsible Business Initiative. Although the initiative was rejected, there was a government-backed counterproposal that will now enter into force in 2022 as a result of this rejection. This means that Swiss businesses will have to adhere to new reporting and due diligence duties.

If you want to find out if these new obligations also impact your business, tune in to our latest LexCast with Alexander Vogel, Peter Hiltner and Cornelia Mattig. They will discuss what the new rules in the Swiss Code of Obligation regarding ESG mean for Swiss companies and what effect this will have on them. Do you agree with the assessment of our speakers? Do let us know!

MLL has established a Cybersecurity Incident Response Hub, putting the issue of cybersecurity and how to help clients respond top of the agenda for the new firm. Although the topic is already gaining more and more attention, many businesses still underestimate the risk of a cybersecurity incident. This is particularly true for SMEs. In fact, about two-thirds of Swiss SMEs have already been the target of a cybersecurity attack.

In this LexCast, Nicola Benz tells Cornelia Mattig about the newly established Cybersecurity Incident Response Hub at MLL, the biggest challenges relating to cybersecurity today, whether it is legal to pay a ransom and what businesses should keep in mind.

Tune in and find out if your business is ready to tackle a cybersecurity incident!

The fashion industry is an important and huge player in business nowadays; hence, it is clear that like many other industries, it faces disruptions from start-ups aiming to change how this sector works. In particular, this includes working on creating a more sustainable fashion industry. Xenia Rivkin and Cornelia Mattig will be discussing in this LexCast what start-ups that would like to disrupt this industry have to consider when starting. Like any business, a fashion start-up must consider issues ranging from corporate, contract, intellectual property, e-commerce, data and marketing, regulatory, export and import, tax to labour matters. However, in our opinion, to stand out and to set their business apart from the big existing players, they will have to put a strong focus on corporate social responsibility and sustainability to appeal to woke consumers.

Tune in and find out what traditional legal issues to keep in mind and how you can show that you are committed to keeping your brand sustainable.

This episode of FRORIEP LexCast is about decentralised autonomous organizations (DAO) as governance vehicle and the HOPR protocol, which is a privacy preserving communication layer. The host, Ronald Kogens and his guest Sebastian Bürgel are talking about the HOPR protocol, why autonomous governance exists, why people are turning into such organisations, how to balance the power of collective intelligence and how you can identify a legitimate decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO).

Note: the show is not legal or investment advice and only for educational and entertainment purpose.

In this special LexCast edition, we will be talking about start-up stories as we are not able to do so at our Spring Start-up Stories Night due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite this slightly different set-up Jürgen Galler of 1PlusX AG agreed to present his company and share three stories with us.

The first story focuses on 1PlusX AGs path to find the appropriate employee participation scheme, resulting in the use of three different programs. Marco Fusi of MLL then puts these three different approaches in perspective and highlights what start-ups should consider when deciding on the appropriate participation scheme.

The second story then looks at contractual challenges in an international setting, which is a key challenge for international agile companies as pointed out by Jürgen and Cornelia Mattig of Froriep. The growth and expansion of 1PlusX AG led to them being active worldwide. As a result of its global activity, the business has to tackle compliance and contractual challenges because of the mere number of contracts they enter ranging from data processing agreements, terms and conditions, service level agreements to master agreements. Not only the variety of contracts but also the need to consider the legal framework of each jurisdiction increased the workload of the business requiring them to find a solution to become more efficient in their contract management.

Finally, the third story focuses on the distinction between employees and third-party service providers when using them to upscale the business. Regarding this story, Jürgen and Evelien Zemp of Froriep talk about three key issues, namely outsourcing, the distinction between employees and service providers and staff leasing.

Tune in and find out more about Jürgen’s stories and the legal input provided by the other speakers. Also, if you have a story to share or want to know more about any of the discussed topics, check out our blog, LexCasts or simply reach out to us. We are always happy to chat about your stories.

As 2020 comes to an end FRORIEP looks forward to 2021 and wonders what it holds. Listen to our specialists from across our offices in London, Zurich, Madrid, Geneva and Zug talking about what they see on FRORIEP’s horizon, what they look forward to and what legal questions they hope will be clarified in the coming year.

 

They talk to Xenia Rivkin and Cornelia Mattig about new legal provisions in the fields of corporate law (Evelien Zemp), financial institutions (Natalia Hidalgo), arbitration (Tomás Navarro), possible developments in the field of sustainable law (Laura Tscherrig), a new decision impacting the classification of CBD (Daniel Haymann), New Year’s Resolutions for inhouse counsels, entrepreneurs and businesses alike (Romina Brogini) as well as a new insolvency law knowledge base which will be provided by FRORIEP (Yannik Hässig).

 

Tune in and find out what 2021 has in store for our speakers, FRORIEP and you!

 

If you want to know more about a specific topic, listen to our upcoming LexCasts, visit our blog or directly get in touch with us!

 

Wishing you all a successful start into a healthy and prosperous New Year!

 

The FRORIEP NexGen Incubator

On 29 November 2020 the Swiss people will vote on the Responsible Business Initiative. The initiative proposes a due diligence obligation for Swiss-based multinational companies as well as a liability provision to hold them accountable for human and environmental rights violations abroad.

As for the due diligence duty, our team addresses which companies are targeted and what measures will have to be taken by such companies as well as the counter-proposal introduced by the Swiss Parliament and similar legislation in other countries.

With regard to the liability provision, you will learn who can be held responsible, what liability concept the Initiative proposes and whether it is a novelty in the international legal landscape.

Listen to our LexCast by our associates Tomás Navarro Blakemore and Xenia Rivkin to learn more or read our two dedicated Blogs .

The present LexCast is part of FRORIEP's series on the Responsible Business Initiative.