The Swiss Federal Council adopted during its meeting of today, 27 November 2019, the dispatch on the further improvement of the framework conditions for distributed ledger technology (“DLT”)/blockchain. The proposal is aimed at, in principle:
- increasing legal certainty;
- removing barriers for applications based on DLT; and
- reducing the risk of abuse.
The Federal Council emphasised that Switzerland wants to consistently combat abuses and ensure the integrity and good reputation of Switzerland as a financial centre and business location and it wants to create the best possible framework conditions so that Switzerland can establish itself and evolve as a leading, innovative and sustainable location for Fintech and DLT companies. Although the report dated December 2018 (reference is made to https://www.irglobal.com/article/no-blockchain-law-required-for-switzerland) showed that Switzerland’s current legal framework is already well suited to dealing with new technologies, including DLT, it nevertheless also pointed out the need for action in certain areas, which is why the Federal Council already submitted a series of amendments to existing legislation for consultation in March 2019 (reference is made to https://www.irglobal.com/article/switzerland-sets-another-milestone-re-blockchain-and-dlt). During the consultation process (any and everyone was entitled to send a response) 80 responses were received and all the participants welcomed the Federal Council’s proposal in principle.
The Federal Council has now adopted the dispatch on the adaptation of federal law to developments in DLT, whereas such legislation, which is designed as a blanket framework, proposes specific amendments to nine federal acts, covering both civil law and financial market law. The Swiss Parliament will probably examine the proposal for the first time in early 2020.
Diego Benz, [email protected]