SWITZERLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Lukas Bühlmann, Michael Reinle and Michael Schüepp, MLL Legal
2.4 Product Demonstrations The same standards apply as in the assessment of other advertising methods (see 1.1 Primary Laws and Regulation ). Therefore, it is particularly significant that the product actually has the characteristics presented and that the product demonstration does not mislead about characteristics of the product. In addition, pro - visions specific to the product must also be observed. 2.5 Endorsements and Testimonials The same standards apply as in the assessment of other advertising methods (see 1.1 Primary Laws and Regulation ). The SFCC has specified these standards (see Principle B.7) and considers testimonials to be unlawful if the testimonials are not limited to informa- tion about the product and cannot be substantiated as to their content and originator. References to fictional persons must also be avoided in commercial com - munication even if there can be no ambiguity about the fiction. In addition, there are specific regulations for regulated products, such as medicinal products. 2.6 Environmental Claims The new provision in Article 3 (1)(x) UCA entered into force on 1 January 2025, and prohibits claims about a company, its goods, works or services in relation to their climate impact, which cannot be proven by objective and verifiable bases. The provision can be seen as codifying a main aspect of the case law of the SFCC, which is why its decisions (and its new guidelines; see below) will support companies in their compliance efforts. The wording of Article 3 (1)(x) UCA is very broad and covers any form of claims related to climate impact – ie, not only “climate-friendly” and “CO2-neutral”, but also claims such as “sustainable”, “CO2-positive” or “environmentally friendly”. When using such claims, companies must meet a high standard of proof in the future. This is a tightening of the general principle in Article 13a UCA. If a company is unable to provide evi - dence to support the correctness of a claim – ie, also in cases where there is a lack of objective and wide - ly recognised methods of measurement – it should refrain from using the claim. The SFCC guideline for commercial communica - tion with environmental references summarises the
requirements for compliance with the principles of clarity and correctness. For the clarity principle to be met, it must, among other things, be clear whether the claim refers to: • a product; • a part of a product or certain aspects of a product; or • all the advertiser’s/company’s activities or a spe - cific part of the advertiser’s/company’s activities. Regarding vague or imprecise claims about environ - mental impact, which could have different meanings, the SFCC emphasises that they may only be made if they can be proven to be true in all reasonably foresee - able circumstances without any limitation. Moreover, green claims may only be made if it is clear that the efforts of the advertiser go beyond the requirements prescribed by law or industry-specific regulations for the product of the advertiser, or that the efforts of the advertiser go beyond those efforts that are customary for corresponding products or activities of the adver - tiser. Furthermore, it is worth highlighting that the guidelines also define how certain common claims are gener - ally understood by the average consumer: for exam - ple, claims such as “sustainable”, “environmentally friendly”, etc, refer to environmental/climate-related measures that clearly go beyond legal or industry- specific requirements. 2.7 Disclosures The key question is whether an advertisement is rec - ognisable as a commercial communication without disclosure. In its principles (see Principle B.15), the SFCC declares commercial communication without disclosure to be unfair if the commercial communica - tion is not clearly identifiable as such. If content is not clearly recognisable as a commercial communication, the relationship with the third party must be disclosed. This applies in particular if the third party provides sponsoring services or comparable or similar payments, or contributions in kind. In (more recent) case law, however, the SFCC has been relatively liberal and often assumes, especially
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