Suchergebnisse für contract law

Are Credit Institutions in the Banking Union (BU) Resolvable?

This study discusses whether credit institutions established in the Member States participating in the (European) Banking Union (BU) are resolvable. It is structured in five Sections: Section I provides an overview of the legislative acts which constitute the “EU banking resolution framework” (including the rules on credit institutions’ loss absorption and recapitalisation capacity), as these…

Schutz der Kundenvermögen durch Segregation

Swiss financial market law contains various provisions that serve to protect client assets by means of segregation. With regard to the custody of intermediated securities, a revision entered into force on 1 January 2023: Art. 11a of the Federal Act on Intermediated Securities (FISA) now stipulates an obligation for custodians to hold their own securities and those of their account holders in…

Recent developments in Swiss competition law

Insider Trading im digitalen Zeitalter: Neue Herausforderungen und Risiken

Insider trading has existed since the launch of the very first organized trading venues and is now prohibited in most jurisdictions. The growing digitalization of the financial industry is adding several layers of complexity to the topic and creating both new risks and opportunities for market participants. First, digitalization brings about a higher interconnectivity between the global financial…

Cyberattaque et ransomware: risques juridiques à payer et assurabilité des rançons

Legal risks of paying ransom following a ransomware attack need to be clarified, as such attacks are constant­ly increasing and victims always face the same dilemma: whether to pay the ransom or not? Insurability of ransomware needs also to be clarified, as some cyber insurance companies offer to cover the risk of ransomware without knowing whether such clauses are really insurable. This…

Innovation in Pharmaceutical Mergers: Looking for a Miracle Cure?

The European Commission’s approach to analysing the negative effects of a merger on competition has recently changed. Whereas for years, competition authorities have mainly focused on the effects of a merger on prices, the impact on output, or the creation or strengthening of a dominant position in a given market, they are now examining the effects of a merger on innovation. The analysis of the…

Recent developments in Swiss competition law

Open Finance und Decentralized Finance – Entwicklungen in einem disruptiven Finanzmarktumfeld

The recent technological developments not only impact society in general but they also strongly influence financial markets, even in a disruptive way. Open finance and decentralized finance cause an opening of the financial ecosystem and challenge existing notions; for example, new concepts are needed for the regulation of data access/portability and of digital identity as well as for the…

Do Robots Rule Wealth Management? A Brief Legal Analysis of Robo-Advisors

What are the legal duties of robo-advisors in Switzerland? In this article, we focus on the legal framework arising from Swiss financial market law, contract law and data protection law. We also make a comparison with European law. We first explain how robo-advisors work and conclude that, contrary to what their name may suggest, they are primarily portfolio managers. As financial service providers…

Questions de responsabilité civile et contractuelle soulevées par la distribution de „logiciels libres“ (open source)

Since the 1980s, the free and open software («FOSS») movement promotes the open exchange of software and of its source code to disrupt the limitations brought upon by the copyrightability of software. The recent emergence of public repositories such as GitHub has however impacted the distribution model of FOSS software – as many of them can now be downloaded and operated freely by their users,…

Le rôle du représentant indépendant des actionnaires en droit suisse de la société anonyme, notamment à l’aune de la législation COVID et des assemblées générales virtuelles du nouveau droit

The independent proxy emerged in Swiss company law a few years ago through the back door of the Minder initiative (Article 95 Federal Constitution). This constitutional provision was then implemented by the Ordinance against Excessive Remuneration in Listed Companies Limited by Shares (ORAb), which has been in force since 1 January 2014. Its institution has been given a new lease of life with the…

Recent developments in Swiss competition law

Annonce des violations de la sécurité des données: une nouvelle obligation de la nLPD

The data security principle (art. 8 of the revised Federal Act on Data Protection (rFADP) requires that the controller and when applicable the processor take all the necessary measures to maintain a sufficient level of security when processing personal data, including to prevent any data breach. Nevertheless, data breaches can occur and when so, the controller shall react quickly in order to…

Recent developments in Swiss competition law

1. In economic theory, transparency of information is usually seen as a positive condition, which contributes to effective competition. When one turns to competition law, however, it seems that…

Bestimmung von Vertragskonditionen im Rahmen automatisierter Entscheidungen

Automated decision making has become increasingly popular in the context of contracting. Essential contractual conditions, in particular the price, are automatically determined based on a number of factors, a wealth of data and by the use of algorithms. Automated decision making for contractual terms raises a number of legal issues and questions, in particularly related to data protection, fair…

Haftung für automatisierte Entscheidungen – Herausforderungen in der Praxis

It is now technically possible for decisions to be made by autonomous means without any human involvement. The ability of automated decision making systems to act increasingly autonomously poses new challenges to the current legal framework. For example, in addition to contractual and non-contractual liability bases, proposals are being made for liability under the Swiss Product Liability Act or…

Recent developments in Swiss competition law

Obviously, steps taken by certain companies in the media sector trigger reactions from competitors in this dynamic environment which is constantly changing as a result of the digital revolution. Interestingly, Comco faced at the same time two transactions (AZ Medien/NZZ and Tamedia/Basler Zeitung) which had to be assessed in light of each other from the perspective of collective dominance:⁹⁰

Pouvoir de marché dans le secteur numérique: l’accès à de larges quantités de données est-il suffisant?

In the digital sector, access to large sets of data may provide strategic advantages and thus raises the question as to whether it may be the source of market power within the meaning of competition law. In light of recent case law, we argue that access to big data may confer such power only when particular conditions are met. The data at stake should notably be correlated to specific users. In…

Recent developments in Swiss competition law

Over the past few months the Courts issued quite a significant number of judgments. Generally, they favoured a strict competition policy in dealing with substantive law issues. However, this was not done to the detriment of the protection of the parties’ procedural rights...

Le régime de responsabilité civile en matière d’émissions publiques de jetons digitaux (ICO)

Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) consist of an innovative form of capital raising. In the digital era, it has become technically possible to raise substantial funds within a very short period of time. This paper analyses the civil liability regime applying to misrepresentations communicated to investors acquiring tokens in an ICO. Pursuant to the prospectus liability provisions of the Swiss Code of…

Recent developments in Swiss competition law

1. The above title might raise a few eyebrows. What is the relationship between the Coty case, which was decided at the end of 2017 by the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”),¹ and the Gaba² and BMW³ judgments handed down the same year by the Federal Tribunal? In addition to the fact that these three cases deal with vertical agreements, the first interesting point of comparison is that the ECJ…

Eigentum an Sachdaten: Eine Standortbestimmung

In both legal writing and the public debate, there is a noticeable trend of growing support for some type of data ownership. This article examines the ongoing debate, thereby providing some contextual insights and a starting point for future research. In particular, we argue that a potential right to data ownership does not neatly fit into existing categories of property rights and liability…

Contracts on Digital Content in Europe: Balancing between ­Author-Protective Copyright Policies and Consumer Policies

The online distribution of digital content is generally based on a chain of contractual relationships that can frequently consist of an upstream relationship between an author and a supplier, and a downstream relationship between the supplier and the consumer. Protected digital content transactions are thus potentially subject to two distinct sets of rules, i.e. copyright and consumer protection…

Corporate Governance auf der Blockchain

It is within the context of crypto-currencies that Blockchain first gained importance as a new technology. In the meantime, it has been recognized that this technology can also be used in the corporate environment. Such usage would have significant effects on corporate governance within companies (for example, in connection with the transparency of ownership, the handling of voting rights,…

Neuerfindung des Finanzsektors?

Although digitalization embraces practically all areas of society and economy, in the financial sector, the use of these new technologies started very early and were particularly intense. As financial products are largely based on information, the usage of such technologies are also the basis for financial systems, payment infrastructures, trading platforms and crypto-currencies. Owing to the…

Recent developments in Swiss competition law

1. «Wettbewerbskomplexität»! After reading the 347-page long judgment handed down by the Federal Administrative Tribunal in the Swisscom ADSL price strategy case,¹ one can only agree with the expression used by the court in its decision.² Although an appeal before the Federal Tribunal is pending, we must emphasize the high quality of this judgment and, in particular, its clarity and educational…

Konzernorganisationsrecht 2.0

The premise of this article is that the law of corporate groups is, in essence, business organisation law. The departure point is the observation that the function of the corporate group relates primarily to the overcoming of entrepreneurial problems that economic globalisation has brought, and continues to bring, forth. In order to do justice to this economic reality, the law must provide the…

Recent developments in Swiss competition law

1. The Competition Commission¹ adopted new organizational rules (“OrgReg”).² It would go beyond the scope of this chronicle to comment each and every provision. On the other hand, it is worth mentioning that the 2015 rules take into account the evolution of the tasks and functions attributed to the authority over the past 20 years; in fact, it is quite amazing that this text did not need any…

Standing and Passing-on in the New EU Directive on Antitrust Damages Actions

This article critically evaluates private enforcement of the competition rules in Switzerland and compares them to recent developments at EU level, particularly regarding indirect purchaser standing and the passing-on defence. The article addresses the question of whether, and under what conditions, the new EU Directive on Antitrust Damages Actions, along with the Recommendation on Common…

Recent developments in Swiss competition law

1. An in-depth reform of the Federal Law on Cartels and Other Competition Restraints¹ should not be expected any time soon. On 17 September 2014, the National Council confirmed its decision of non-consideration, which, in accordance with Swiss parliamentary procedure, led to the closing of a long legislative process that started during the winter 2006/2007 with the mission entrusted to an expert…