On April 16, 2020, the Swiss Federal Council enacted the COVID-19 Insolvency Ordinance. One of its main goals is to relieve pressure on executive bodies of Swiss entities to request the opening of insolvency proceedings. Relief is targeted at overindebtedness situations caused by negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on liquidity, earnings and going-concern prospects. Further, the Swiss Federal Council put in place a special COVID-19 moratorium.

April 2020

138Newsletter No.

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As announced on 9 April 2020, the Swiss Government today adopted measures to prevent a wave of bankruptcies as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the heart of the measures is the suspension of the duty to notify the court in the event of over-indebtedness and a new moratorium designed for SMEs (COVID-19 Moratorium).

Newsletter No. 138 April 2020

Um was geht es?

Dieser Artikel beschreibt in Kürze das freiwillige Liquidationsverfahren einer Gesellschaft aufgrund eines Sonderbeschlusses seiner Aktionäre.

Was muss ich tun?

Beschlussfassung der Gesellschafter

Introduction

Switzerland is home to one of the world's largest cryptocurrency ecosystems, the so-called 'Crypto Valley' in the city of Zug. However, with cryptocurrencies growing in popularity, problems are inevitable.

As Switzerland maintains a quite strict legal regime governing the director’s liability, it is immanent for each person holding a board function to know the rules and risks as well the legal consequences in this respect. During the last couple of years Switzerland has introduced various new rules influencing the director’s liability (new transparency rules for management compensations in listed companies, a comprehensive revision of the audit legislation and new statutory rules governing financial accounting), which are mainly applicable for listed companies.

Introduction

Kommt ein Schuldner seinen Verpflichtungen nicht nach, so muss der Gläubiger ein Zwangsvollstreckungsverfahren in die Wege leiten. Dies geschieht in der Regel mit der Einreichung eines Betreibungsbegehrens beim zuständigen Betreibungs- und Konkursamt. Obschon das Stellen eines Betreibungsbegehrens trivial erscheint, führt dies in der Praxis immer wieder zu Rechtsstreitigkeiten, im Rahmen welcher ein - gestützt auf ein fehlerhaft formuliertes Betreibungsbegehren erlassener - Zahlungsbefehl aufgehoben oder gar dessen Nichtigkeit festgestellt wird.

The general view in Switzerland is that cryptocurrencies are intangible assets sui generis and as such can be subject to regular debt enforcement and insolvency proceedings in Switzerland (provided that these cryptocurrencies have a financial value).

This article highlights the particularities to be considered when cryptocurrencies are the target of an attachment procedure (ie, a freezing order) in Switzerland.

Attachment

The following must be established to obtain an attachment in Switzerland:

Die neue Verordnung kurz zusammengefasst:

At the press conference of Friday, 20 March 2020, the Federal Council informed on an additional package of measures to cushion the economic consequences of the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

In order to remedy liquidity bottlenecks that continue to exist despite short-time working compensation at companies affected by the forced closure and demand shortages, the Federal Council announced additional support measures.

In addition to: