Schrems II Court decision - impact on Swiss companies

The European Union (EU), the European Economic Area (EEA), as well as Switzerland consider the level of data protection legislation in the U.S. to be not equivalent to its principles and values - and therefore insufficient.

The self-certification program under EU-US PS, deemed permissible by the EU Commission since July 2016, allowed for the transfer of personal data from the EU and EEA to US companies. In Switzerland, a similar solution, CH-US PS, had been available to Swiss entrepreneurs since April 2017. On July 16, 2020, the ECJ declared the EU-US PS invalid in its ruling known as "Schrems II."

How this decision should be interpreted and what it means for Swiss companies can be read in the enclosed article by our two advocates lic. iur. Manuel C. Frick, LL.M. and lic. iur. Urs Maurer-Lambrou, LL.M. of SwissLegal (Bern) AG, published in: IT & Digitalization, supplement to Finanz und Wirtschaft of August 28, 2021.

Schrems II court decision - impact on Swiss companies (1 MB), pdf

Authors:

Manuel C. Frick

Attorney-at-law

Urs Maurer-Lambrou

Of Counsel

Schrems II Court decision - impact on Swiss companies

The Swiss Transparency Register Is Coming: What SMEs Should Do Now to Prepare

On October 1, 2026, the revised Anti-Money Laundering Act and the new Federal Act on the Transparency of Legal Entities and the Identification of Beneficial Owners—the TJPG for short—will take effect. The transparency register is legally governed by the TJPG and maintained by the Federal Office of Justice. This change by no means affects only banks or other financial intermediaries. In the future, the majority of Swiss stock corporations, limited liability companies, and cooperatives will be required to identify, verify, and document their beneficial owners and report them to the new registry.