For the second week of our Annual Compliance Conference, we discussed key trade compliance issues impacting our clients globally. Specifically, we discussed the trade policy response of the US, EU and U.K. to ever increasing geopolitical disruption, global strategies for handling sanctions regulators and enforcement, and key global sanctions and export controls developments.
The Federal Information Security Act (ISA), which only entered into force on 1 January 2024, is already being amended with an obligation to report cyberattacks for operators of critical infrastructures. On 18 January 2024, the deadline expired for challenging the amendment by way of a public referendum. This means that the amended version will become law, with the new obligation to report cyberattacks expected to come into force in 2025, although an exact date has not yet been set.
The revised Data Protection Act (nDPA) and the revised Data Protection Ordinance (nDPO) will enter into force on 1 September 2023. The revised Swiss data protection law is “a GDPR-like” legislation and provides for certain (new) obligations not contained in the current data protection law.
In an employment relationship, an employer inevitably processes employees’ personal data for various purposes. This client alert aims to inform employers about their data privacy obligations under the new data protection law and provides an opportunity to test data protection compliance.
Baker McKenzie’s Sanctions Blog published the alert titled Switzerland implements the 9th package of EU sanctions against Russia on 1 February 2023. Read the article via the link here. Please also visit our Sanctions Blog for the most recent updates.
Baker McKenzie’s Sanctions Blog published the alert titled Switzerland implements eighth EU sanctions package and adds UK to certain carve-outs on 28 November 2022. Read the article via the link here. Please also visit our Sanctions Blog for the most recent updates.
After pressure from Parliament, the Swiss Federal Council has against its own intentions opened the consultation process on new legislation to screen foreign investments in future also in Switzerland and has published a draft investment control law (“Draft ICL”). By implementing foreign investment control mechanisms, Switzerland would follow the global trend towards stricter regulation of foreign investments. According to the Draft ICL, the new law would apply to acquisitions of domestic companies by foreign investors. The main objective is the aversion of possible threats to public order and national security resulting from acquisitions of domestic companies by foreign investors. The final aim is to create investment controls in a new and stand-alone federal law.
In August 2022, the Swiss Competition Commission launched an investigation against the multinational healthcare company Fresenius Kabi Group.
Baker McKenzie’s Sanctions Blog published the alert titled Switzerland implements sixth EU sanctions package on 1 July 2022. Read the article via the link here. Please also visit our Sanctions Blog for the most recent updates.
Baker McKenzie’s Sanctions Blog published the alert titled Switzerland decides to adopt the EU’s sixth package of sanctions against Russia and Belarus on 13 June 2022. Read the article via the link here. Please also visit our Sanctions Blog for the most recent updates.