Law

Amendment of the Cartel Act: Partial Revision

The partial revision of the Cartel Act aims to modernize Swiss merger control. In the 2025 winter session, the Council of States followed the National Council's compromise proposal on the assessment of agreements. In the final vote, the partial revision of the Cartel Act was approved. The referendum period runs until April 2026, with the amendment scheduled to come into force at the beginning of 2027. SwissHoldings welcomes the fact that authorities and courts must (once again) examine the actual effects of an agreement or conduct and demonstrate its harmfulness to competition.

Amendment of the Cartel Act: Institutional reform

Following the conclusion of the revision of the Cartel Act, the Federal Council is continuing to push ahead with institutional reform of the competition authority. This is intended to resolve problems in administrative proceedings, in particular the separation of the decision-making and investigative authorities and the acceleration of the appeal process. The message is expected in the first half of 2026. SwissHoldings supports the reform of competition commission and advocates a clear separation between the investigating and decision-making authorities and the strengthening of the appeal process.

Draft Register of Beneficial Owners

he bill provides for a federal register of beneficial owners and measures to strengthen the fight against money laundering. Both drafts were passed in the 2025 autumn session. The consultation on the implementing ordinance for the transparency register ran until the end of January. The law is expected to come into force in mid-2026 at the earliest, in time for the FATF country review in 2027. SwissHoldings supports the bill in principle, but rejects the current draft implementing ordinance as it deviates from the overarching law.

Revision of the Financial Market Infrastructure Act (FinMIA)

The Financial Market Infrastructure Act (FinMIA) is undergoing a periodic and general review. A report by the FDF shows that it has proven itself for the most part. However, transparency and legal certainty in certain areas of regulation in particular are to be strengthened. A consultation on the revision was held in 2024 and the message is expected in mid-2026. SwissHoldings welcomes improvements in the area of derivatives regulation in principle, but firmly rejects any weakening of self-regulation.

Motion Rüegsegger “Introduce Sector Inquiries. Resolve Structural Competition Issues”

Motion 24.4590 Rüegsegger calls for the introduction of sector inquiries as a supplementary instrument in the Cartel Act. This would enable the Competition Commission to analyze markets for structural competition problems on a preventive basis, even without concrete suspicion. On February 19, 2025, the Federal Council proposed rejecting the motion. With the publication of the report on postulate 23.3444 assessing the significance of the merger between UBS and CS in terms of competition law and the economy, the basis announced by the Federal Council for assessing the motion is now available. The Federal Council continues to reject the introduction of this instrument. Against this background, it can be assumed that the motion will now be further processed. SwissHoldings rejects the motion, as it considers the existing instruments of the Competition Commission to be sufficient and does not consider an extension of its powers to be necessary.

Parliamentary Initiative Roduit "Non-compliance with mandatory working conditions consti-tutes qualified unfair competition and must be prosecuted criminally"

he Roduit parliamentary initiative (21.470) calls for intentional violations of mandatory working conditions to also be prosecuted under the UCA. Once the consultation process with the RK-N has been completed, the committee will discuss the matter in early 2026. SwissHoldings is committed to compliance with mandatory working conditions, but rejects the Roduit initiative on the grounds that existing protective regulations are sufficient.

Parliamentary Initiative Burkart “More flexibility for working from home.”

he parliamentary initiative Burkart (16.484) aims to adapt the legal framework for working from home and flexible forms of work to the digital world of work. In September 2025, the National Council considered the bill and decided on a right to be unreachable, a working time window of 17 hours, a rest period of 9 hours, and up to 9 Sundays of teleworking per year. The EATC-S began detailed deliberations in January 2026 and will continue to discuss the bill in the second quarter of 2026, once the administration has answered questions regarding application and interpretation. SwissHoldings supports the bill as a step toward greater flexibility and modernity in labor law.

Motion Gössi “Better protection of intellectual property from AI misuse.”

he motion originally called for an opt-in mechanism whereby copyright-protected content could only be used for training AI systems with the express consent of the rights holders. In its fall 2025 session, the National Council approved an openly worded version. The Council of States approved this version in December 2025, and the openly worded motion was referred to the Federal Council. This marks the start of the FDJP's work on drafting amendments to the Copyright Act. SwissHoldings emphasizes that the fundamentals must first be clarified in order to generate a viable solution for all economic stakeholders.

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Felix Küng

Head Legal

+41 31 356 68 64
felix.kueng@swissholdings.ch .ch

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