SWITZERLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: François Micheli, Roman Huber, Cristina Ess and Lea Ruckstuhl, Kellerhals Carrard
corruption, Switzerland meets 53% of the criteria for regulation and 17% of those for implementation, compared to the OECD averages of 45% and 36%, respectively. There is room for improvement in the following areas: • Switzerland does not fulfil any criteria on regula - tions and practice to mitigate corruption risks related to lobbying; • in relation to conflict of interest, Switzerland fulfils 33% of the criteria on regulation and does not fulfil any criteria on implementation, compared to the OECD averages of 76% and 40%, respectively; and • Switzerland fulfils 60% of the criteria on regulation and 29% of those on implementation, compared to the OECD averages of 73% and 58%, respectively, regarding political finance. Switzerland has implemented new rules regard - ing individual donations to parties and committees. The donations have to be disclosed if they exceed CHF15,000. Campaign funds must also be declared if the voting or election campaign has a budget of more than CHF50,000. In addition, monetary dona - tions from abroad and anonymous donations are pro - hibited. These new rules were applied for the first time during the National Council elections in autumn 2023. Switzerland aims to reinforce transparency, account - ability and international co-operation in line with evolving global standards. Switzerland has adopted a new Federal Act on the Transparency of Legal Entities (LETA), expected to enter into force in 2026, to align with international AML and anti-corruption standards – ie, Financial Action Task Force (FATF)/OECD stand - ards. The law introduces a central, non-public register of beneficial owners, managed by the Federal Office of Justice. All Swiss legal entities – and certain for - eign ones with ties to Switzerland – must identify and report their ultimate beneficial owners, defined as individuals holding 25% or more of ownership or control, or otherwise exercising effective control. Enti - 9.2 Likely Changes to the Applicable Legislation of the Enforcement Body
ties are required to verify and update this informa - tion and report any changes promptly. Access to the register will be restricted to authorities and financial intermediaries. Due diligence obligations for professions and sec - tors particularly exposed to corruption and money- laundering risks, such as legal and fiduciary service providers, are to be extended The proposed legisla - tion extends AML due diligence obligations to legal professionals when they engage in high-risk services – in particular, advising on company structuring, real estate transactions or the creation, conversion or sale of legal entities. In those contexts, lawyers/advisors must identify and verify their client and the beneficial owner(s) involved, and document the business relationship and relevant transactions, keeping records to justify the steps tak - en. To ensure oversight, lawyers subject to these obli - gations will need to be affiliated with a self-regulatory organisation (SRO), which will monitor compliance (rather than being directly supervised by Bar associa - tions). However, in the parliamentary process of 2025, these obligations were scaled back in many cases: for instance, legal professionals will be exempted from customer due diligence in many real estate transac - tions under a certain threshold (CHF5 million), mean - ing the full due diligence duty will not apply universally to all lawyer-facilitated property deals. The changes are expected to take effect around 2026–27, once the implementing ordinance is adopted. Collectively, these measures seek to address long- standing recommendations from international bodies, strengthen enforcement capabilities, and ensure that Switzerland maintains a robust and credible stance against corruption. However, certain proposals remain under parliamentary deliberation, particularly those perceived to affect the competitiveness of the Swiss financial and corporate sectors.
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