Suchergebnisse für evidence

Vertrauen, Kredit und Kreditsicherheiten

The relationship between creditor and debtor has often been described as a quintessential relationship based on trust, as evidenced by etymological origin of the term credit. Credit relationships are indeed shaped by the risk of opportunistic behavior of the debtor and principal agent problems. Limiting these risks by providing adequate incentives for cooperative behavior is a key objective in…

Stimmrechtsaktien und andere bevorzugte Aktien

There are many ways to grant privileges to specific categories of shareholders and one can distinguish between financial privileges and privileged voting rights in the general assembly of all shareholders. In future, this is to remain unchanged, and accordingly the November 2016 draft of Swiss Law on corporations does not propose any decisive modifications. With regards to the new rules for…

Vorbereitung und Durchsetzung von Aktionärsklagen: Wie kann die Informationsasymmetrie überwunden werden?

In order to improve the enforcement of directors’ liability in solvent companies, it is necessary to improve the access of shareholders to information in order to prepare a derivative suit. The Swiss company law revision project of 2016 provides such improvements by lowering the conditions under which a special audit can be appointed by the court (art. 697a seq. CO). However, the applicants…

Ermessen und Ermessenskontrolle in Revision und Revisionsaufsicht

Judgement is of vital importance in the world of accounting and auditing. With a view to auditing, judgement is the auditor’s leeway in decision-making conferred upon by regulation and standards formulated in an open way. But the exercise of judgement is not at the auditor’s exclusive discretion; it has to be exercised with professional due care, which is conditioned by the observance of the…

Réflexions critiques sur l’adoption par la Suisse des normes du GAFI en ­matière de transparence des sociétés : du bricolage législatif à l’abolition des actions au porteur ?

As a result of the revised FATF recommendations issued in 2012, Switzerland, under international pressure, had no choice but to enact requirements aiming at creating more transparency with regard to the ownership and control of limited by share companies. In this context, the widespread possibility for Swiss companies to issue bearer shares was particularly at stake. Switzerland inserted these…

Relevance of WTO Law for Financial Services Lessons from “Argentina – Financial Services”

In the past debates about financial markets regulations the fact that most countries are Member States of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was often neglected. Through its recent decision “Argentina – Financial Services” the WTO Dispute Settlement Body now shifted the focus to the impact of WTO law on financial services. Even if very concrete findings have not been given, the assessment of the…

Swiss Bank Program: Non Prosecution Agreements Implementation & Beyond

The United States Department of Justice’s Swiss Bank Program undoubtedly accounts for one of the most ­ambitious global foreign enforcement of U.S. tax laws. The resulting Non-Prosecution Agreements – signed by a record of 80 banks – were reached after long, demanding internal investigations and cooperation efforts with U.S. authorities. But, these NPAs are not the end. To the contrary, they…

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…

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…