Öffentliches Recht

Editorial

Am 19. Juni 2020 haben die Eidgenössischen Räte die Revision des schweizerischen Aktienrechts verabschiedet. Die Referendumsfrist ist am 8. Oktober 2020 unbenützt abgelaufen, sodass mit einer Inkraftsetzung im Laufe des Jahres 2022 zu rechnen ist. Zu den Hauptstossrichtungen der Reform zählt sicher die Digitalisierung, welche nebst den Formalitäten des Rechtsverkehrs auch das materielle…

Intransparentere FINMA-Praxis

The abolishment of the FINMA Bulletin and the FINMA enforcement report render significant parts of financial market supervisory practice inaccessible. A resumption of these series is desirable to enable market participants to gauge FINMA expectations and to check their equal treatment, and the public to oversee the authority’s workings. These goals are widely acknowledged to warrant publication…

Editorial

Die Digitalisierung verändert immer weitere Be­reiche des täglichen Lebens und der Tätigkeiten von Unternehmen und Behörden. Betroffen sind auch Handlungen, die seit jeher von Menschen ausgeführt worden sind, etwa das Fällen von Entscheiden. Dank der grossen Fortschritte in der sog. Artificial Intel­ligence, insb. im Bereich des Machine Learning, der stetig wachsenden Datenmengen und der…

Automatisierte Entscheidungen: Perspektive Grundrechte

Automated decisions affect the legal system in a wide variety of areas. In a state governed by the rule of law, fundamental rights are of great importance; their ­validity can lead to a conflict with «results» produced by algorithms. The article examines five areas (employment relationships, biomedical «environment», moderation of online content, financial markets, procedural guarantees) and,…

Automatisierte Entscheidungen: Perspektive Datenschutzrecht und ­öffentliche Verwaltung

In the area of government action, automated individual decisions in the sense of the draft revision of the Swiss Federal Data Protection Act (E-DSG) are fully automated decrees. Art. 19 E-DSG provides, on the one hand, for a labelling obligation for such decrees and, on the other hand, for certain decisions, the person concerned is granted the opportunity, upon request, to state his point of view…

Mise sous scellés et infractions financières: développements récents

The sealing of evidence is a procedural tool of great relevance, notably in the context of economic offences. The case law on this measure is important and sometimes uncertain. This is especially true in administrative criminal law: the practical importance of this area of law has been steadily increasing these past years while its procedural provisions appear to be outdated. This paper deals…

LEFin-LSFin: des assujettis face aux nouveaux organes et organismes

The regulations governing financial institutions and services are bringing new actors – such as portfolio managers and trustees – within the scope of FINMA su­pervision, supported by a reformed self-regulatory framework. It is worth comparing the latter with the set of rules and organizational measures adopted for the registration of client advisors and the control of prospectuses for securities…

Les frais de procédure et d’investigation sous pression

There has been a sharp increase in appeals relating to FINMA’s investigation and litigation costs. This article takes up recent case law and examines in detail all the legal questions that have been submitted to the federal judges over the past twelve months. The current FINMA’s practice of charging procedural costs to individuals and legal entities irrespective of whether or not they are subject…

Generalversammlungen von AG: «Landsgemeinden» oder «Chatrooms»?

Digitalization will cause a fundamental change regarding general meetings of Swiss stock corporations. Currently, Swiss corporate law provides that shareholders must be physically present, or validly represented at a general meeting and may not participate in writing or by electronic means; the «COVID-19 regime», however, allows e.g. «cyber general meetings». The new Swiss law on corporations,…

Konzernverantwortungsinitiative: Was ändert sich bei einem JA?

The highly debated Swiss Responsible Business Initiative will be put to public vote in November 2020. If the electorate supports the position of the Initiative, a provision titled «Responsibility of Businesses» will be introduced into the Swiss Constitution. According to this provision companies seated in Switzerland would be required to respect internationally recognized human rights and…