Section Six: Dissolution of the Cooperative

Art. 911  

A. Grounds for dis­sol­u­tion

 

The co­oper­at­ive is dis­solved:

1.
in ac­cord­ance with the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation;
2.
by res­ol­u­tion of the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers;
3.
by com­mence­ment of in­solv­ency pro­ceed­ings;
4.
in the oth­er cases provided for by law.
Art. 912  

B. No­ti­fic­a­tion for entry in the com­mer­cial re­gister

 

Where the com­pany is dis­solved for reas­ons oth­er than in­solv­ency, the board of dir­ect­ors no­ti­fies the dis­sol­u­tion for entry in the com­mer­cial re­gister.

Art. 913  

C. Li­quid­a­tion, dis­tri­bu­tion of as­sets

 

1 The co­oper­at­ive is li­quid­ated in ac­cord­ance with the pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares, sub­ject to the fol­low­ing pro­vi­sions.

2 The as­sets of the dis­solved co­oper­at­ive re­main­ing after pay­ment of all its debts and re­pay­ment of any shares may be dis­trib­uted among the mem­bers only where the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation provide for such dis­tri­bu­tion.

3 Un­less the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation provide oth­er­wise, in this case the as­sets are dis­trib­uted among the mem­bers as at the time of dis­sol­u­tion or their leg­al suc­cessors on a per cap­ita basis. The stat­utory en­ti­tle­ment of de­par­ted mem­bers or their heirs to a fin­an­cial set­tle­ment is re­served.

4 Where the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation make no pro­vi­sion for such dis­tri­bu­tion among the mem­bers, the li­quid­a­tion sur­plus must be used for the so­ci­ety’s pur­pose or to pro­mote char­it­able causes.

5 Un­less the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation provide oth­er­wise, the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers de­cides on this mat­ter.

Art. 914605  

D. ...

 

605 Re­pealed by An­nex No 2 of the Mer­gers Act of 3 Oct. 2003, with ef­fect from 1 Ju­ly 2004 (AS 2004 2617; BBl 2000 4337).

Art. 915  

E. Takeover by a pub­lic sec­tor cor­por­a­tion

 

1 Where the as­sets of a co­oper­at­ive are taken over by the Con­fed­er­a­tion, by a can­ton or, un­der guar­an­tee from the can­ton, by a dis­trict or com­mune, with the con­sent of the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers it may be agreed that no li­quid­a­tion will take place.

2 The res­ol­u­tion of the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers must be made in ac­cord­ance with the pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing dis­sol­u­tion and no­ti­fied to the com­mer­cial re­gistry.

3 On entry of such res­ol­u­tion in the com­mer­cial re­gister, the trans­fer of the co­oper­at­ive’s as­sets and debts is com­plete and the co­oper­at­ive's name must be de­leted.

Section Seven: Liability

Art. 916606  

A. Li­ab­il­ity to the co­oper­at­ive

 

All per­sons en­gaged in the ad­min­is­tra­tion, busi­ness man­age­ment or audit­ing or li­quid­a­tion of the co­oper­at­ive are li­able to the co­oper­at­ive for the losses arising from any wil­ful or neg­li­gent breach of their du­ties.

606 Amended by No I 3 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on Lim­ited Li­ab­il­ity Com­pan­ies and Amend­ments to the Law on Com­pan­ies lim­ited by Shares, Co­oper­at­ives, the Com­mer­cial Re­gister and Busi­ness Names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

Art. 917  

B. Li­ab­il­ity to the co­oper­at­ive, mem­bers and cred­it­ors

 

1 Any dir­ect­or or li­quid­at­or who wil­fully or neg­li­gently breaches his stat­utory du­ties with re­gard to the over­indebted­ness of the co­oper­at­ive is li­able to the co­oper­at­ive, the in­di­vidu­al mem­bers and the cred­it­ors for the losses arising.

2 Claims for com­pens­a­tion for losses suffered by the mem­bers and the cred­it­ors only in­dir­ectly through harm done to the co­oper­at­ive must be brought in ac­cord­ance with the pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares.

Art. 918  

C. Joint and sev­er­al li­ab­il­ity and re­course

 

1 Where two or more per­sons are re­spons­ible for the same loss, they are jointly and sev­er­ally li­able.

2 The right of re­course among sev­er­al de­fend­ants is de­term­ined by the court with due re­gard to the de­gree of fault.

Art. 919607  

D. Pre­scrip­tion

 

1 The claim for dam­ages against any per­son held li­able un­der the above pro­vi­sions pre­scribes five years after the date on which the per­son suf­fer­ing dam­age learned of the dam­age and of the per­son li­able for it but in any event ten years after the date on which the harm­ful con­duct took place or ceased.

2 If the per­son li­able has com­mit­ted a crim­in­al of­fence through his or her harm­ful con­duct, then the right to dam­ages or sat­is­fac­tion pre­scribes at the earli­est when the right to pro­sec­ute the of­fence be­comes time-barred. If the right to pro­sec­ute is no longer li­able to be­come time-barred be­cause a first in­stance crim­in­al judg­ment has been is­sued, the right to claim dam­ages or sat­is­fac­tion pre­scribes at the earli­est three years after no­tice of the judg­ment is giv­en.

607 Amended by No I of the FA of 15 June 2018 (Re­vi­sion of the Law on Pre­scrip­tion), in force since 1 Jan. 2020 (AS 2018 5343; BBl 2014 235).

Art. 920  

E. Li­ab­il­ity in cred­it and in­sur­ance co­oper­at­ives

 

In the case of cred­it co­oper­at­ives and li­censed in­sur­ance co­oper­at­ives, li­ab­il­ity is de­term­ined ac­cord­ing to the pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares.

Section Eight: Cooperative Unions

Art. 921  

A. Re­quire­ments

 

Three or more co­oper­at­ives may form a co­oper­at­ive uni­on and con­sti­tute it as a co­oper­at­ive.

Art. 922  

B. Or­gan­isa­tion

I. As­sembly of del­eg­ates

 

1 Un­less the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation provide oth­er­wise, the su­preme gov­ern­ing body of the co­oper­at­ive uni­on is the as­sembly of del­eg­ates.

2 The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation de­term­ine the num­ber of del­eg­ates from the af­fil­i­ated so­ci­et­ies.

3 Un­less the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation provide oth­er­wise, each del­eg­ate has one vote.

Art. 923  

II. Board of dir­ect­ors

 

Un­less the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation provide oth­er­wise, the board of dir­ect­ors is made up of mem­bers from the af­fil­i­ated co­oper­at­ives.

Art. 924  

III. Mon­it­or­ing, chal­lenge

 

1 The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may grant the dir­ect­ors of the uni­on the right to mon­it­or the busi­ness activ­it­ies of the af­fil­i­ated co­oper­at­ives.

2 They may the grant the dir­ect­ors of the uni­on the right to chal­lenge in court the res­ol­u­tions made by the in­di­vidu­al af­fil­i­ated so­ci­et­ies.

Art. 925  

IV. Ex­clu­sion of new ob­lig­a­tions

 

Ac­ces­sion to a co­oper­at­ive uni­on may not bring with it any ob­lig­a­tions for the mem­bers of the ac­ced­ing so­ci­ety which they do not already have by law or un­der the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation of their own co­oper­at­ive.

Section Nine: Involvement of Public Sector Corporations

Art. 926  
 

1 Where pub­lic sec­tor cor­por­a­tions such as the Con­fed­er­a­tion or a can­ton, dis­trict or com­mune have a pub­lic in­terest in a co­oper­at­ive, the co­oper­at­ive’s art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may grant that cor­por­a­tion the right to ap­point rep­res­ent­at­ives to the board of dir­ect­ors or the aud­it­or.608

2 These dir­ect­ors and aud­it­ors ap­poin­ted by a pub­lic sec­tor cor­por­a­tion have the same rights and du­ties as those elec­ted by the co­oper­at­ive.

3 Only the pub­lic sec­tor cor­por­a­tion has the right to dis­miss the rep­res­ent­at­ives it ap­poin­ted to the board of dir­ect­ors and the aud­it­or.609 The pub­lic sec­tor cor­por­a­tion is li­able to the co­oper­at­ive, its mem­bers and cred­it­ors for the ac­tions of these rep­res­ent­at­ives, sub­ject to rights of re­course un­der fed­er­al and can­ton­al law.

608 Amended by No I 3 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on Lim­ited Li­ab­il­ity Com­pan­ies and Amend­ments to the Law on Com­pan­ies lim­ited by Shares, Co­oper­at­ives, the Com­mer­cial Re­gister and Busi­ness Names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

609 First sen­tence Amended by No I 3 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on Lim­ited Li­ab­il­ity Com­pan­ies and Amend­ments to the Law on Com­pan­ies lim­ited by Shares, Co­oper­at­ives, the Com­mer­cial Re­gister and Busi­ness Names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

Division Four: The Commercial Register, Business Names and Commercial Accounting610

610Amended by the Federal Act of 18 Dec. 1936, in force since 1 July 1937 (AS 53 185; BBl 1928 I 205, 1932 I 217). See the Final and Transitional Provisions of Title XXIV–XXXIII, at the end of this Code.

Title Thirty: The Commercial Register611

611 Amended by No I 1 of the FA of 17 March 2017 (Commercial Register Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2021, Art. 928b und 928c in force since 1 April 2020 (AS 2020 957; BBl 2015 3617).

Art. 927  

A. Defin­i­tion and pur­pose

 

1 The com­mer­cial re­gister is a net­work of state-run data­bases. Its primary pur­pose is the re­cord­ing and pub­lic­a­tion of leg­ally rel­ev­ant in­form­a­tion about leg­al en­tit­ies, which serves to provide leg­al cer­tainty and pro­tect third parties.

2 Leg­al en­tit­ies for the pur­pose of this Title are:

1.
sole pro­pri­et­or­ships;
2.
gen­er­al part­ner­ships;
3.
lim­ited part­ner­ships;
4.
com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares;
5.
part­ner­ships lim­ited by shares;
6.
lim­ited li­ab­il­ity com­pan­ies;
7.
co­oper­at­ives;
8.
as­so­ci­ations;
9.
found­a­tions;
10.
lim­ited part­ner­ships for cap­it­al in­vest­ment schemes;
11.
in­vest­ment com­pan­ies with fixed cap­it­al;
12.
in­vest­ment com­pan­ies with vari­able cap­it­al;
13.
pub­lic in­sti­tu­tions;
14.
branch of­fices.
Art. 928  

B. Or­gan­isa­tion

I. Com­mer­cial re­gister au­thor­it­ies

 

1 The can­tons are re­spons­ible for run­ning the com­mer­cial re­gister of­fices. They are free to run the com­mer­cial re­gister on a cross-can­ton­al basis.

2 The Con­fed­er­a­tion shall ex­er­cise over­sight over the keep­ing of the com­mer­cial re­gister.

Art. 928a  

II. Co­oper­a­tion between au­thor­it­ies

 

1 The com­mer­cial re­gister au­thor­it­ies shall work to­geth­er to ful­fil their tasks. They shall provide each oth­er with the in­form­a­tion and doc­u­ments that are re­quired to ful­fil their tasks.

2 Un­less the law provides oth­er­wise, fed­er­al and can­ton­al courts and ad­min­is­trat­ive au­thor­it­ies shall no­ti­fy the com­mer­cial re­gister of­fices of facts that re­quire re­gis­tra­tion, amend­ment or de­le­tion in the com­mer­cial re­gister.

3 In­form­a­tion and no­ti­fic­a­tions are provided free of charge.

Art. 928b  

C. Cent­ral data­bases

 

1 The Fed­er­al Su­per­vis­ory Au­thor­ity op­er­ates the cent­ral data­bases on the leg­al en­tit­ies and per­sons re­cor­ded in the can­ton­al re­gisters. The cent­ral data­bases al­low the re­gistered leg­al en­tit­ies and per­sons to be found, and their data to be linked and dif­fer­en­ti­ated.

2 The Fed­er­al Su­per­vis­ory Au­thor­ity is re­spons­ible for com­pil­ing the data for the cent­ral data­base on leg­al en­tit­ies. It shall make the pub­lic data on leg­al en­tit­ies avail­able on­line free of charge for in­di­vidu­al quer­ies.

3 The com­mer­cial re­gister of­fices are re­spons­ible for com­pil­ing the data for the cent­ral data­base on per­sons.

4 The Con­fed­er­a­tionis re­spons­ible for the se­cur­ity of the in­form­a­tion sys­tems and the leg­al­ity of the data pro­cessing.

Art. 928c  

D. OASI num­ber

 

1 The com­mer­cial re­gister au­thor­it­ies shall use the OASI num­ber sys­tem­at­ic­ally to identi­fy nat­ur­al per­sons.

2 They shall only dis­close the OASI num­ber to oth­er au­thor­it­ies and in­sti­tu­tions that re­quire the num­ber to carry out their stat­utory du­ties in con­nec­tion with the com­mer­cial re­gister and that are en­titled to make sys­tem­at­ic use of the num­ber.

3 Nat­ur­al per­sons re­cor­ded in the cent­ral data­base for per­sons shall also be al­loc­ated a non-de­script­ive per­son­al num­ber.

Art. 929  

E. Re­gis­tra­tion, amend­ment and de­le­tion

I. Prin­ciples

 

1 Entries in the com­mer­cial re­gister must be true and must neither be mis­lead­ing nor con­trary to any pub­lic in­terest.

2 Re­cord­ing in the com­mer­cial re­gister is based on an ap­plic­a­tion. Doc­u­ments must be provided in sup­port of the in­form­a­tion to be re­cor­ded.

3 Entries may be made based on a judg­ment or rul­ing of a court or an ad­min­is­trat­ive au­thor­ity or ex of­fi­cio.

Art. 930  

II.Busi­ness iden­ti­fic­a­tion num­ber

 

The leg­al en­tit­ies re­cor­ded in the com­mer­cial re­gister re­gistered are as­signed a busi­ness iden­ti­fic­a­tion num­ber in ac­cord­ance with the Fed­er­al Act of 18 June 2010613 on the Busi­ness Iden­ti­fic­a­tion Num­ber.

Art. 931  

III. Ob­lig­a­tion to re­gister and vol­un­tary re­gis­tra­tion

1. Sole pro­pri­et­or­ships and branch of­fices

 

1 A nat­ur­al per­son who op­er­ates a busi­ness that in the most re­cent fin­an­cial year achieved rev­en­ues of at least 100 000 francs must have their sole pro­pri­et­or­ships re­cor­ded in the com­mer­cial re­gister at the place of es­tab­lish­ment. Ex­emp­ted from this ob­lig­a­tion are mem­bers of the lib­er­al pro­fes­sions and farm­ers who do not op­er­ate a com­mer­cial busi­ness.

2 Branch of­fices must be re­cor­ded in the com­mer­cial re­gister of the place where they are loc­ated.

3 Sole pro­pri­et­or­ships and branch of­fices that are not re­quired to re­gister are non­ethe­less en­titled to be re­gistered.

Art. 932  

2. Pub­lic in­sti­tu­tions

 

1 Pub­lic in­sti­tu­tions must be re­cor­ded in the com­mer­cial re­gister if they primar­ily carry on a private gain­ful eco­nom­ic activ­ity or if the fed­er­al, can­ton­al or com­mun­al law re­quires their re­gis­tra­tion. They shall be re­gistered at the loc­a­tion of their seat.

2 Pub­lic in­sti­tu­tions that are not re­quired to re­gister are non­ethe­less en­titled to be re­gistered.

Art. 933  

IV. Change in facts

 

1 If a fact must be re­cor­ded in the com­mer­cial re­gister, any change in this fact must also be re­cor­ded.

2 A per­son no longer as­so­ci­ated with an en­tity is en­titled to ap­ply for the entry re­lat­ing to them to be de­leted. The Or­din­ance reg­u­lates the de­tails.

Art. 934  

V. Ex of­fi­cio de­le­tion

1. Leg­al en­tit­ies without busi­ness op­er­a­tions and without as­sets

 

1 If a leg­al en­tity is no longer op­er­at­ing as a busi­ness and if it no longer has any dis­pos­able as­sets, the com­mer­cial re­gister of­fice shall de­lete it from the com­mer­cial re­gister.

2 The com­mer­cial re­gister of­fice shall re­quest the leg­al en­tity to give no­tice of any in­terest in keep­ing the entry. If there is no re­sponse to this re­quest, it shall re­quest oth­er per­sons con­cerned to give no­tice of any such in­terest by pub­lish­ing the re­quest three times in the Swiss Of­fi­cial Com­mer­cial Gaz­ette. If there is no re­sponse to this re­quest, the leg­al en­tity shall be de­leted.

3 If oth­er per­sons con­cerned give no­tice of an in­terest in keep­ing the entry, the com­mer­cial re­gister of­fice shall refer the mat­ter to the court for a de­cision.

Art. 934a  

2. In the event of a sole pro­pri­et­or­ship or branch of­fice hav­ing no dom­i­cile

 

1 If a sole pro­pri­et­or­ship no longer has a dom­i­cile, then if there is no re­sponse to a re­quest pub­lished three times in the Swiss Of­fi­cial Com­mer­cial Gaz­ette, it shall be de­leted from the com­mer­cial re­gister.

2 If a branch of­fice with a prin­cip­al place of busi­ness in Switzer­land no longer has a dom­i­cile, the branch of­fice shall be de­leted by the com­mer­cial re­gister of­fice if there is no re­sponse to a re­quest made to the prin­cip­al place of busi­ness.

Art. 935  

VI. Re­in­state­ment

 

1 Any per­son claim­ing a le­git­im­ate in­terest may re­quest the court to have a de­leted leg­al en­tity re­in­stated in the com­mer­cial re­gister.

2 A per­son shall have a le­git­im­ate in­terest in par­tic­u­lar if:

1.
on con­clu­sion of the li­quid­a­tion of the de­leted leg­al en­tity not all its as­sets have been sold or dis­trib­uted;
2.
the de­leted leg­al en­tity is still a party to court pro­ceed­ings;
3.
re­in­state­ment is re­quired in or­der to cor­rect a pub­lic re­gister; or
4.
in a case of bank­ruptcy, re­in­state­ment of the de­leted leg­al en­tity is re­quired in or­der to con­clude the bank­ruptcy pro­ceed­ings.

3 If there are de­fects in the or­gan­isa­tion of the leg­al en­tity, the court shall take the re­quired meas­ures when or­der­ing re­in­state­ment.

Art. 936  

F. Pub­li­city and ef­fect­ive­ness

I. Pub­li­city and pub­lic­a­tion on the in­ter­net

 

1 The com­mer­cial re­gister is pub­lic. The in­form­a­tion made pub­lic in­cludes the entries, ap­plic­a­tions and the sup­port­ing doc­u­ments. OASI num­bers are not pub­lic.

2 The entries, art­icles of as­so­ci­ation and found­a­tion deeds shall be made ac­cess­ible on the in­ter­net free of charge. Fur­ther doc­u­ments and ap­plic­a­tions may be in­spec­ted at the com­mer­cial re­gister of­fice con­cerned or may on re­quest be made ac­cess­ible on the in­ter­net.

3 It shall be pos­sible, based on cer­tain cri­ter­ia, to con­duct a search of entries in the com­mer­cial re­gister made ac­cess­ible on the in­ter­net.

4 Amend­ments to the com­mer­cial re­gister must re­main chro­no­lo­gic­ally trace­able.

Art. 936a  

II. Pub­lic­a­tion in the Swiss Of­fi­cial Com­mer­cial Gaz­ette and start of ef­fect­ive­ness

 

1 Entries in the com­mer­cial re­gister shall be pub­lished on­line in the Swiss Of­fi­cial Com­mer­cial Gaz­ette. They be­come ef­fect­ive on pub­lic­a­tion.

2 All stat­utory pub­lic­a­tions shall also be made on­line in the Swiss Of­fi­cial Com­mer­cial Gaz­ette.

Art. 936b  

III. Ef­fects

 

1 If a fact is re­cor­ded in the com­mer­cial re­gister, no one may claim that they were un­aware of it.

2 Where the entry of a fact is re­quired but such fact was not entered in the re­gister, it may be re­lied on in re­la­tion to third parties only if it can be shown that they were aware of the said fact.

3 Any per­son who has re­lied in good faith on a re­cor­ded fact even though it was in­cor­rect must be pro­tec­ted in their good faith un­less there are over­rid­ing in­terests to the con­trary.

Art. 937  

G. Ob­lig­a­tions

I. Ob­lig­a­tion to veri­fy

 

The com­mer­cial re­gister au­thor­it­ies shall veri­fy wheth­er the leg­al re­quire­ments for re­cord­ing in the com­mer­cial re­gister are met, and in par­tic­u­lar wheth­er the ap­plic­a­tion and the sup­port­ing doc­u­ments are not con­trary to any man­dat­ory reg­u­la­tions and have the leg­ally re­quired con­tent.

Art. 938  

II. Re­quest and ex of­fi­cio re­cord­ing

 

1 The com­mer­cial re­gister of­fice shall re­quest parties to ful­fil the ob­lig­a­tion to re­gister and shall fix a dead­line for do­ing so.

2 If the parties do not com­ply with the re­quest with­in the dead­line, the of­fice shall re­cord the re­quired entries ex of­fi­cio.

Art. 939  

III.Or­gan­isa­tion­al de­fects

 

1 If the com­mer­cial re­gister of­fice iden­ti­fies de­fects in the or­gan­isa­tion­al as­pects re­quired by law of trad­ing com­pan­ies, co­oper­at­ives, as­so­ci­ations, found­a­tions not sub­ject to su­per­vi­sion or branch of­fices with prin­cip­al place of busi­ness abroad that are re­cor­ded in the com­mer­cial re­gister, it shall re­quest the leg­al en­tity con­cerned to rec­ti­fy the de­fect, and fix a dead­line for do­ing so.

2 If the de­fect is not rec­ti­fied not with­in the dead­line, the of­fice shall refer the mat­ter to the court. The court shall take the re­quired meas­ures.

3 In the case of found­a­tions and leg­al en­tit­ies that are sub­ject to su­per­vi­sion un­der the Col­lect­ive In­vest­ment Schemes Act of 23 June 2006614, the mat­ter shall be re­ferred to the su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity.

Art. 940  

H.Fixed pen­al­ties

 

Any per­son who is served by the com­mer­cial re­gister of­fice with a re­quest to ful­fil their ob­lig­a­tion to re­gister con­tain­ing a ref­er­ence to the pen­al­ties un­der this Art­icle and who fails to com­ply with this ob­lig­a­tion with­in the peri­od al­lowed may be is­sued by the com­mer­cial re­gister of­fice with a fixed pen­alty not ex­ceed­ing 5000 francs.

Art. 941  

I. Fees

 

1 Any per­son who gives cause for the com­mer­cial re­gister au­thor­ity to is­sue a rul­ing or who claims a ser­vice from the same must pay a fee.

2 The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall reg­u­late the char­ging of the in­di­vidu­al fees, in par­tic­u­lar:

1.
the basis for cal­cu­lat­ing the fees;
2.
the waiv­ing of fees;
3.
li­ab­il­ity when more than one per­son is re­quired to pay a fee;
4.
the due date, billing and ad­vance pay­ment of fees;
5.
the pre­scrip­tion of fee debts;
6.
the share of can­ton­al fee rev­en­ues paid to the Con­fed­er­a­tion.

3 It shall take ac­count of the equi­val­ence prin­ciple and the break-even prin­ciple in reg­u­lat­ing the fees.

Art. 942  

J. Leg­al rem­ed­ies

 

1 Rul­ings of the com­mer­cial re­gister of­fices may be con­tested with­in 30 days of be­ing is­sued.

2 Each can­ton shall des­ig­nate a high­er court as the sole ap­pel­late au­thor­ity.

3 The can­ton­al courts shall give no­tice of their de­cisions to the com­mer­cial re­gister of­fice without delay and shall also give no­tice there­of to the fed­er­al over­sight au­thor­ity.

Art. 943  

K. Or­din­ance

 

The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall is­sue reg­u­la­tions on:

1.
the keep­ing of the com­mer­cial re­gister and over­sight;
2.
ap­plic­a­tion, re­gis­tra­tion, amend­ment, de­le­tion and re­in­state­ment;
3.
the con­tent of entries;
4.
the sup­port­ing doc­u­ments and their veri­fic­a­tion;
5.
pub­lic­a­tion and ef­fect­ive­ness;
6.
the or­gan­isa­tion of the Swiss Of­fi­cial Com­mer­cial Gaz­ette and its pub­lic­a­tion;
7.
co­oper­a­tion and ob­lig­a­tion to provide in­form­a­tion;
8.
the use of OASI num­bers and per­son­al num­bers;
9.
the cent­ral­ised data­bases on leg­al en­tit­ies and per­sons;
10.
the mod­al­it­ies for elec­tron­ic com­mu­nic­a­tion;
11.
the pro­ced­ures.

Title Thirty-One: Business Names

Art. 944  

A. Gen­er­al prin­ciples of busi­ness name com­pos­i­tion

I. Gen­er­al pro­vi­sions

 

1 In ad­di­tion to the es­sen­tial con­tent re­quired by law, each busi­ness name may con­tain in­form­a­tion which serves to de­scribe the per­sons men­tioned in great­er de­tail, an al­lu­sion to the nature of the com­pany or an in­ven­ted name provided that the con­tent of the busi­ness name is truth­ful, can­not be mis­lead­ing and does not run counter to any pub­lic in­terest.

2 The Fed­er­al Coun­cil may en­act pro­vi­sions reg­u­lat­ing the per­miss­ible scope for use of na­tion­al and ter­rit­ori­al des­ig­na­tions in busi­ness names.

Art. 945  

II. Names of sole pro­pri­et­or­ships

1. Es­sen­tial con­tent

 

1 A per­son op­er­at­ing a busi­ness as sole pro­pri­et­or must use his fam­ily name, with or without first name, as the es­sen­tial con­tent of his busi­ness name.

2 If the busi­ness name con­tains oth­er fam­ily names, it must in­dic­ate which one is the pro­pri­et­or’s fam­ily name.616

3 The busi­ness name must not have any kind of suf­fix or end­ing which sug­gests con­sti­tu­tion as a com­pany or part­ner­ship.

616 Amended by No I of the FA of 25 Sept. 2015 (Law of Busi­ness Names), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2016 (AS 2016 1507; BBl 2014 9305).

Art. 946  

2. Ex­clus­iv­ity of the re­gistered busi­ness name

 

1 The name of a sole pro­pri­et­or­ship617 entered in the com­mer­cial re­gister may not be used by an­oth­er busi­ness pro­pri­et­or in the same loc­a­tion even if he has the same first name and fam­ily name from which the older busi­ness name is formed.

2 In such a case, the own­er of the new­er busi­ness must add a suf­fix or end­ing to his own name to pro­duce a busi­ness name which is clearly dis­tinct from the older busi­ness name.

3 Claims in re­spect of un­fair com­pet­i­tion against sole pro­pri­et­or­ships618 re­gistered in oth­er loc­a­tions are re­served.

617 Foot­note rel­ev­ant to Ger­man ver­sion.

618 Foot­note rel­ev­ant to Ger­man ver­sion.

Art. 947and948619  
 

619 Re­pealed by No I of the FA of 25 Sept. 2015 (Law of Busi­ness Names), with ef­fect from 1 Ju­ly 2016 (AS 2016 1507; BBl 2014 9305). See however the trans­ition­al pro­vi­sion to this amend­ment at the end of the text.

Art. 949620  
 

620 Re­pealed by No I 3 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on Lim­ited Li­ab­il­ity Com­pan­ies and Amend­ments to the Law on Com­pan­ies lim­ited by Shares, Co­oper­at­ives, the Com­mer­cial Re­gister and Busi­ness Names), with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

Art. 950621  

III. Com­pany names

1. Com­pos­i­tion of the busi­ness name

 

1 Com­mer­cial en­ter­prises and co­oper­at­ives are free to choose their busi­ness name sub­ject to the gen­er­al prin­ciples on the com­pos­i­tion of busi­ness names. The busi­ness name must in­dic­ate the leg­al form.

2 The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall spe­cify which ab­bre­vi­ations of leg­al forms are per­mit­ted.

621 Amended by No I of the FA of 25 Sept. 2015 (Law of Busi­ness Names), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2016 (AS 2016 1507; BBl 2014 9305).

Art. 951622  

2. Ex­clus­iv­ity of the re­gistered busi­ness name

 

The busi­ness names of a com­mer­cial en­ter­prise or a co­oper­at­ives must be clearly dis­tinct from every oth­er busi­ness name of busi­nesses in any of these leg­al forms already re­gistered in Switzer­land.

622 Amended by No I of the FA of 25 Sept. 2015 (Law of Busi­ness Names), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2016 (AS 2016 1507; BBl 2014 9305). See however the trans­ition­al pro­vi­sion to this amend­ment at the end of the text.

Art. 952  

IV. Branch of­fices

 

1 A branch of­fice must have the same busi­ness name as the prin­cip­al place of busi­ness; however, it may ap­pend a spe­cial ad­di­tion to its busi­ness name provid­ing this ap­plies only to that par­tic­u­lar branch of­fice.

2 The busi­ness name of the branch of­fice of a com­pany whose seat is out­side Switzer­land must also in­dic­ate the loc­a­tion of the prin­cip­al place of busi­ness, the loc­a­tion of the branch of­fice and the ex­press des­ig­na­tion of branch of­fice.

Art. 953623  

V. ...

 

623 Re­pealed by No I of the FA of 25 Sept. 2015 (Law of Busi­ness Names), with ef­fect from 1 Ju­ly 2016 (AS 2016 1507; BBl 2014 9305).

Art. 954  

VI. Change of name

 

The pre­vi­ous busi­ness name may be re­tained where the name of the busi­ness own­er or part­ner con­tained therein has been changed by op­er­a­tion of law or by the com­pet­ent au­thor­ity.

Art. 954a624  

B. Ob­lig­a­tion to use busi­ness and oth­er names

 

1 In cor­res­pond­ence, on or­der forms and in­voices and in of­fi­cial com­mu­nic­a­tions, the busi­ness or oth­er name entered in the com­mer­cial re­gister must be giv­en in full and un­amended.

2 Shortened names, lo­gos, trade names, brand names and sim­il­ar may also be used.

624 In­ser­ted by No I 3 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on Lim­ited Li­ab­il­ity Com­pan­ies and Amend­ments to the Law on Com­pan­ies lim­ited by Shares, Co­oper­at­ives, the Com­mer­cial Re­gister and Busi­ness Names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

Art. 955  

C. Mon­it­or­ing

 

The re­gis­trar is ob­liged ex of­fi­cio to en­sure that the in­ter­ested parties com­ply with the pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing the com­pos­i­tion of busi­ness names.

Art. 955a626  

D. Re­ser­va­tion of oth­er pro­vi­sions of fed­er­al law

 

The re­gis­tra­tion of a busi­ness name does not re­lieve the per­sons en­titled to use the same of the ob­lig­a­tion to com­ply with oth­er pro­vi­sions of fed­er­al law, in par­tic­u­lar on pro­tec­tion against de­ceit in busi­ness.

626 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 2 of the FA of 21 June 2013, in force since 1 Jan. 2017 (AS 2015 3631; BBl 2009 8533).

Art. 956  

E. Pro­tec­tion of busi­ness names

 

1 The busi­ness name of a sole pro­pri­et­or or com­mer­cial com­pany or co­oper­at­ive entered in the com­mer­cial re­gister and pub­lished in the Swiss Of­fi­cial Gaz­ette of Com­merce is for the ex­clus­ive use of the party that re­gistered it.

2 A party whose in­terests are in­jured by the un­au­thor­ised use of a busi­ness name may ap­ply for an in­junc­tion ban­ning fur­ther ab­use of the busi­ness name and sue for dam­ages if the un­au­thor­ised user is at fault.

Title Thirty-Two: Commercial Accounting, Financial Reporting, other Transparency and Due Diligence Obligations 628629

628 Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 23 Dec. 2011 (Financial Reporting Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2012 6679; BBl 2008 1589). See also the Transitional Provision to this Amendment, at the end of this Code.

629 Amended by No I of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Indirect Counter-Proposal to the Popular Initiative "For responsible businesses – protecting human rights and the environment"), in force since 1 Jan. 2022 (AS 2021 846; BBl 2017 399).

Section One: General Provisions

Art. 957  

A. Duty to keep ac­counts and file fin­an­cial re­ports

 

1 The duty to keep ac­counts and file fin­an­cial re­ports in ac­cord­ance with the fol­low­ing pro­vi­sions ap­plies to:

1.
sole pro­pri­et­or­ships and part­ner­ships that have achieved sales rev­en­ue of at least 500,000 francs in the last fin­an­cial year;
2.
leg­al en­tit­ies.

2 The fol­low­ing need only keep ac­counts on in­come and ex­pendit­ure and on their as­set po­s­i­tion:

1.
sole pro­pri­et­or­ships and part­ner­ships with less than 500,000 francs sales rev­en­ue in the last fin­an­cial year;
2.
as­so­ci­ations and found­a­tions which are not re­quired to be entered in the com­mer­cial Re­gister;
3.
found­a­tions that are ex­empt from the re­quire­ment to ap­point an aud­it­or un­der Art­icle 83b para­graph 2 Swiss Civil Code630.

3 For un­der­tak­ings in ac­cord­ance with para­graph 2, re­cog­nised ac­count­ing prin­ciples ap­ply mu­tatis mutandis.

630 SR 210

Art. 957a  

B. Ac­count­ing

 

1 Ac­count­ing forms the basis for fin­an­cial re­port­ing. It re­cords the trans­ac­tions and cir­cum­stances that are re­quired to present the as­set, fin­an­cing and earn­ings po­s­i­tion of the un­der­tak­ing (the eco­nom­ic po­s­i­tion).

2 It fol­lows the re­cog­nised ac­count­ing prin­ciples. Par­tic­u­lar note must be taken of the fol­low­ing:

1.
the com­plete, truth­ful and sys­tem­at­ic re­cord­ing of trans­ac­tions and cir­cum­stances;
2.
doc­u­ment­ary proof for in­di­vidu­al ac­count­ing pro­ced­ures;
3.
clar­ity;
4.
fit­ness for pur­pose giv­en the form and size of the un­der­tak­ing;
5.
veri­fi­ab­il­ity.

3 An ac­count­ing vouch­er is any writ­ten re­cord on pa­per or in elec­tron­ic or com­par­able form that is re­quired to be able to veri­fy the busi­ness trans­ac­tion or the cir­cum­stances be­hind an ac­count­ing entry.

4 Ac­count­ing is car­ried out in the na­tion­al cur­rency or in the cur­rency re­quired for busi­ness op­er­a­tions.

5 It is car­ried out in one of the of­fi­cial Swiss lan­guages or in Eng­lish. It may be car­ried out in writ­ing, elec­tron­ic­ally or in a com­par­able man­ner.

Art. 958  

C. Fin­an­cial re­port­ing

I. Aim and con­stitu­ent ele­ments

 

1 Fin­an­cial re­port­ing is in­ten­ded to present the eco­nom­ic po­s­i­tion of the un­der­tak­ing in such a man­ner that third parties can make a re­li­able as­sess­ment of the same.

2 The ac­counts are filed in the an­nu­al re­port. This con­tains the an­nu­al ac­counts (the fin­an­cial state­ments of the in­di­vidu­al en­tity), com­pris­ing the bal­ance sheet, the profit and loss ac­count and the notes to the ac­counts. The reg­u­la­tions for lar­ger un­der­tak­ings and cor­por­ate groups are re­served.

3 The an­nu­al re­port must be pre­pared with­in six months of the end of the fin­an­cial year and sub­mit­ted to the re­spons­ible man­age­ment body or the re­spons­ible per­sons for ap­prov­al. It must be signed by the chair­per­son of the su­preme man­age­ment or ad­min­is­trat­ive body and the per­son re­spons­ible for fin­an­cial re­port­ing with­in the un­der­tak­ing.

Art. 958a  

II. Prin­ciples of fin­an­cial re­port­ing

1. Go­ing-con­cern as­sump­tion

 

1 Fin­an­cial re­port­ing is based on the as­sump­tion that the un­der­tak­ing will re­main a go­ing con­cern for the fore­see­able fu­ture.

2 If it is in­ten­ded or prob­ably in­ev­it­able that all or some activ­it­ies will cease in the next twelve months from the bal­ance sheet date, then the fin­an­cial re­ports for the rel­ev­ant parts of un­der­tak­ing must be based on real­is­able val­ues. Pro­vi­sions must be made for ex­pendit­ures as­so­ci­ated with ceas­ing activ­it­ies.

3 Derog­a­tions from the go­ing-con­cern as­sump­tion must be spe­cified in the notes to the ac­counts; their in­flu­ence on the eco­nom­ic po­s­i­tion must be ex­plained.

Art. 958b  

2. Chro­no­lo­gic­al and ma­ter­i­al dis­tinc­tion

 

1 Ex­pendit­ure and in­come must be entered sep­ar­ately de­pend­ing on the date and nature of the trans­ac­tion.

2 Provided the net pro­ceeds from the sale of goods or ser­vices or fin­an­cial in­come does not ex­ceed 100,000 francs, ac­cru­als based on time may be dis­pensed with and in­stead based on ex­pendit­ure and in­come.

Art. 958c  

III. Re­cog­nised fin­an­cial re­port­ing prin­ciples

 

1 The fol­low­ing prin­ciples in par­tic­u­lar ap­ply to fin­an­cial re­ports:

1.
they must be clear and un­der­stand­able;
2.
they must be com­plete;
3.
they must be re­li­able;
4.
they must in­clude the es­sen­tial in­form­a­tion;
5.
they must be prudent;
6.
the same rules must be ap­plied in present­a­tion and valu­ation;
7.
as­sets and li­ab­il­it­ies and in­come and ex­pendit­ure may not be off­set against each oth­er.

2 The sum entered for the in­di­vidu­al items on the bal­ance sheet and in the notes to the ac­count must be proven by an in­vent­ory or by some oth­er meth­od.

3 Fin­an­cial re­ports must be ad­ap­ted to the spe­cial fea­tures of the un­der­tak­ing and the sec­tor while re­tain­ing the stat­utory min­im­um con­tent.

Art. 958d  

IV. Present­a­tion, cur­rency and lan­guage

 

1 The bal­ance sheet and the profit and loss ac­count may be presen­ted in ac­count or in re­port form. Items that have no or a neg­li­gible value need not be shown sep­ar­ately.

2 In the an­nu­al ac­counts, the cor­res­pond­ing val­ues of the pre­vi­ous year must be shown along­side the fig­ures for the rel­ev­ant fin­an­cial year.

3 Fin­an­cial re­ports are presen­ted in the na­tion­al cur­rency or in the cur­rency re­quired for busi­ness op­er­a­tions. If the na­tion­al cur­rency is not used, the val­ues must also be shown in the na­tion­al cur­rency. The ex­change rates ap­plied must be pub­lished in the notes to the ac­counts and if ap­plic­able ex­plained.

4 Fin­an­cial re­ports are presen­ted in one of the of­fi­cial Swiss lan­guages or in Eng­lish.

Art. 958e  

D. Pub­lic­a­tion and in­spec­tion

 

1 Fol­low­ing their ap­prov­al by the com­pet­ent man­age­ment body, the an­nu­al ac­counts and con­sol­id­ated ac­counts to­geth­er with the audit re­ports must either be pub­lished in the Swiss Of­fi­cial Gaz­ette of Com­merce or sent as an of­fi­cial copy to any per­son who re­quests the same with­in one year of their ap­prov­al at his or her ex­pense where the un­der­tak­ing:

1.
has out­stand­ing deben­tures; or
2.
has equity se­cur­it­ies lis­ted on a stock mar­ket.

2 Oth­er un­der­tak­ings must al­low cred­it­ors who prove a le­git­im­ate in­terest to in­spect the an­nu­al re­port and the audit re­ports. In the event of a dis­pute, the court de­cides.

Art. 958f  

E. Keep­ing and re­tain­ing ac­count­ing re­cords

 

1 The ac­count­ing re­cords and the ac­count­ing vouch­ers to­geth­er with the an­nu­al re­port and the audit re­port must be re­tained for ten years. The re­ten­tion peri­od be­gins on ex­piry of the fin­an­cial year.

2 The an­nu­al re­port and the audit re­port must be re­tained in a writ­ten form and signed.

3 The ac­count­ing re­cords and the ac­count­ing vouch­ers may be re­tained on pa­per, elec­tron­ic­ally or in a com­par­able man­ner, provided that cor­res­pond­ence with the un­der­ly­ing busi­ness trans­ac­tions and cir­cum­stances is guar­an­teed thereby and provided they can be made read­able again at any time.

4 The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall is­sue reg­u­la­tions on the ac­count­ing re­cords that must be kept, the prin­ciples for keep­ing and re­tain­ing them and on the in­form­a­tion car­ri­ers that may be used.

Section Two: Annual Accounts

Art. 959  

A. Bal­ance sheet

I. Pur­pose of the bal­ance sheet, duty to pre­pare a bal­ance sheet and bal­ance sheet eli­gib­il­ity

 

1 The bal­ance sheet shows the as­set and fin­an­cing po­s­i­tion of the un­der­tak­ing on the bal­ance sheet date. It is struc­tured in­to as­sets and li­ab­il­it­ies.

2 Items must be entered on the bal­ance sheet as as­sets if due to past events they may be dis­posed of, a cash in­flow is prob­able and their value can be re­li­ably es­tim­ated. Oth­er as­sets may not be entered on the bal­ance sheet.

3 Cash and cash equi­val­ents and oth­er as­sets that will prob­ably be­come cash or cash equi­val­ents as­sets or oth­er­wise be real­ised with­in one year of the bal­ance sheet date or with­in the nor­mal op­er­at­ing cycle must be entered on the bal­ance sheet as cur­rent as­sets. All oth­er as­sets are entered on the bal­ance sheet as cap­it­al as­sets.

4 Bor­rowed cap­it­al and share­hold­ers’ equity must be entered on the bal­ance sheet as li­ab­il­it­ies.

5 Li­ab­il­it­ies must be entered on the bal­ance sheet as bor­rowed cap­it­al if they have been caused by past events, a cash out­flow is prob­able and their value can be re­li­ably es­tim­ated.

6 Li­ab­il­it­ies must be entered on the bal­ance sheet as cur­rent li­ab­il­it­ies if they are ex­pec­ted to fall due for pay­ment with­in one year of the bal­ance sheet date or with­in the nor­mal op­er­at­ing cycle. All oth­er li­ab­il­it­ies must be entered on the bal­ance sheet as long-term li­ab­il­it­ies.

7 The share­hold­ers’ equity must be shown and struc­tured in the re­quired leg­al form.

Art. 959a  

II. Min­im­um struc­ture

 

1 Among the as­sets, the li­quid­ity ra­tio must be shown based on at least the fol­low­ing items, both in­di­vidu­ally and in the spe­cified or­der:

1.
cur­rent as­sets:
a.
cash and cash equi­val­ents and cur­rent as­sets with a stock ex­change price,
b.
trade re­ceiv­ables,
c.
oth­er cur­rent re­ceiv­ables,
d.
in­vent­or­ies and non-in­voiced ser­vices,
e.
ac­crued in­come and pre­paid ex­penses;
2.
cap­it­al as­sets:
a.
fin­an­cial as­sets,
b.
share­hold­ings,
c.
tan­gible fixed as­sets,
d.
in­tan­gible fixed as­sets,
e.
non-paid up ba­sic, share­hold­er or found­a­tion cap­it­al.

2 The due date of li­ab­il­it­ies must be shown based on at least the fol­low­ing items, both in­di­vidu­ally and in the spe­cified or­der:

1.
cur­rent bor­rowed cap­it­al:
a.
trade cred­it­ors,
b.
cur­rent in­terest-bear­ing li­ab­il­it­ies,
c.
oth­er cur­rent li­ab­il­it­ies,
d.
de­ferred in­come and ac­crued ex­penses;
2.
long-term bor­rowed cap­it­al:
a.
long-term in­terest-bear­ing li­ab­il­it­ies,
b.
oth­er long-term li­ab­il­it­ies,
c.
pro­vi­sions and sim­il­ar items re­quired by law;
3.
share­hold­ers’ equity:
a.
ba­sic, share­hold­er or found­a­tion cap­it­al, if ap­plic­able sep­ar­ately ac­cord­ing to par­ti­cip­a­tion classes,
b.
stat­utory cap­it­al re­serves,
c.
stat­utory re­tained earn­ings,
d.
vol­un­tary re­tained earn­ings or ac­cu­mu­lated losses as neg­at­ive items,
e.
own cap­it­al shares as neg­at­ive items.

3 Oth­er items must be shown in­di­vidu­ally on the bal­ance sheet or in the notes to the ac­counts, provided this is es­sen­tial so that third parties can as­sess the as­set or fin­an­cing po­s­i­tion or is cus­tom­ary as a res­ult of the activ­ity of the com­pany.

4 Re­ceiv­ables and li­ab­il­it­ies vis-à-vis dir­ect or in­dir­ect par­ti­cipants and man­age­ment bod­ies and vis-à-vis un­der­tak­ings in which there is a dir­ect or in­dir­ect par­ti­cip­a­tion must in each case be shown sep­ar­ately on the bal­ance sheet or in the notes to the ac­counts.

Art. 959b  

B. Profit and loss ac­count; min­im­um struc­ture

 

1 The profit and loss ac­count presents the earn­ings of the com­pany over the fin­an­cial year. It may be pre­pared ac­cord­ing to the peri­od-based ac­count­ing meth­od or the cost of sales meth­od.

2 If the peri­od-based ac­count­ing meth­od is used (nature of ex­pense meth­od), a min­im­um of the fol­low­ing items must be shown in­di­vidu­ally and in the spe­cified or­der:

1.
net pro­ceeds from sales of goods and ser­vices;
2.
changes in in­vent­or­ies of un­fin­ished and fin­ished goods and in non-in­voiced ser­vices;
3.
cost of ma­ter­i­als;
4.
staff costs;
5.
oth­er op­er­a­tion­al costs;
6.
de­pre­ci­ation and valu­ation ad­just­ments on fixed as­set items;
7.
fin­an­cial costs and fin­an­cial in­come;
8.
non-op­er­a­tion­al costs and non-op­er­a­tion­al in­come;
9.
ex­traordin­ary, non-re­cur­ring or pri­or-peri­od costs and in­come;
10.
dir­ect taxes;
11.
an­nu­al profit or an­nu­al loss.

3 If the cost of sales meth­od is used (activ­ity-based cost­ing meth­od), a min­im­um of the fol­low­ing items must be shown in­di­vidu­ally and in the spe­cified or­der:

1.
net pro­ceeds from sales of goods and ser­vices;
2.
ac­quis­i­tion or man­u­fac­tur­ing costs of goods and ser­vices sold;
3.
ad­min­is­trat­ive costs and dis­tri­bu­tion costs;
4.
fin­an­cial costs and fin­an­cial in­come;
5.
non-op­er­a­tion­al costs and non-op­er­a­tion­al in­come;
6.
ex­traordin­ary, non-re­cur­ring or pri­or-peri­od costs and in­come;
7.
dir­ect taxes;
8.
an­nu­al profit or an­nu­al loss.

4 If the cost of sales meth­od is used, the notes to the ac­counts must also show the staff costs and, as a single item, de­pre­ci­ation and valu­ation ad­just­ments to fixed as­set items.

5 Oth­er items must been shown in­di­vidu­ally in the profit and loss ac­count or in the notes to the ac­counts to the ex­tent that this is es­sen­tial in or­der that third parties can as­sess the earn­ing power or is cus­tom­ary as a res­ult of the activ­ity of the com­pany.

Art. 959c  
 

1 The notes to the an­nu­al ac­counts sup­ple­ment and ex­plain the oth­er parts of the an­nu­al ac­counts. They con­tain:

1.
de­tails of the prin­ciples ap­plied in the an­nu­al ac­counts where these are not spe­cified by law;
2.
in­form­a­tion, break­downs and ex­plan­a­tions re­lat­ing to items on the bal­ance sheet and in the profit and loss ac­count;
3.
the total amount of re­place­ment re­serves used and the ad­di­tion­al hid­den re­serves, if this ex­ceeds the total amount of new re­serves of the same type where the res­ult achieved thereby is con­sid­er­ably more fa­vour­able;
4.
oth­er in­form­a­tion re­quired by law.

2 The notes to the ac­counts must also in­clude the fol­low­ing in­form­a­tion, un­less it is already provided on the bal­ance sheet or in the profit and loss ac­count:

1.
the busi­ness name or name of the un­der­tak­ing as well as its leg­al form and re­gistered of­fice;
2.
a de­clar­a­tion as to wheth­er the num­ber of full-time po­s­i­tions on an­nu­al av­er­age is no more than 10, 50 or 250;
3.
the busi­ness name, leg­al form and re­gistered of­fice of un­der­tak­ings in which dir­ect or sub­stan­tial in­dir­ect share­hold­ings are held, stat­ing the share of the cap­it­al and votes held;
4.
the num­ber of its own shares that the un­der­tak­ing it­self holds and that are held by un­der­tak­ings in which it has share­hold­ings;
5.
ac­quis­i­tions and sales of its own shares and the terms on which they were ac­quired or sold;
6.
the re­sid­ual amount of the li­ab­il­it­ies from sale-like leas­ing trans­ac­tions and oth­er leas­ing ob­lig­a­tions, un­less these ex­pire or may be ter­min­ated with­in twelve months of the bal­ance sheet date ex­piry or be ter­min­ated may;
7.
li­ab­il­it­ies vis-à-vis pen­sion schemes;
8.
the total amount of col­lat­er­al for third party li­ab­il­it­ies;
9.
the total amount of as­sets used to se­cure own li­ab­il­it­ies and as­sets un­der re­ser­va­tion of own­er­ship;
10.
leg­al or ac­tu­al ob­lig­a­tions for which a cash out­flow either ap­pears un­likely or is of an amount that can­not be re­li­ably es­tim­ated (con­tin­gent li­ab­il­it­ies);
11.
the num­ber and value of shares or op­tions on shares held by man­age­ment or ad­min­is­trat­ive bod­ies and by em­ploy­ees;
12.
ex­plan­a­tions of ex­cep­tion­al, non-re­cur­ring or pri­or-peri­od items in the profit and loss ac­count;
13.
sig­ni­fic­ant events oc­cur­ring after the bal­ance sheet date;
14.
in the event of the aud­it­or's pre­ma­ture resig­na­tion: the reas­ons there­for.

3 Sole pro­pri­et­or­ships and part­ner­ships may dis­pense with notes to the ac­counts if they are not re­quired to file fin­an­cial re­ports un­der the reg­u­la­tions for lar­ger un­der­tak­ings. If ad­di­tion­al in­form­a­tion is re­quired in the reg­u­la­tions on the min­im­um struc­ture of the bal­ance sheet and profit and loss ac­count and the notes to the ac­counts are dis­pensed with, this in­form­a­tion must be shown dir­ectly on the bal­ance sheet or in the profit and loss ac­count.

4 Un­der­tak­ings with out­stand­ing deben­tures must provide in­form­a­tion on the amounts con­cerned, in­terest rates, ma­tur­ity dates and oth­er con­di­tions.

Art. 960  

D. Valu­ation

I. Prin­ciples

 

1 As­sets and li­ab­il­it­ies are nor­mally val­ued in­di­vidu­ally, provided they are sig­ni­fic­ant and not nor­mally con­sol­id­ated as a group for valu­ation pur­poses due to their sim­il­ar­ity.

2 Valu­ation must be car­ried out prudently, but this must not pre­vent the re­li­able as­sess­ment of the eco­nom­ic po­s­i­tion of the un­der­tak­ing.

3 If there are spe­cif­ic in­dic­a­tions that as­sets have been over­val­ued or that pro­vi­sions are too low, the val­ues must be re­viewed and ad­jus­ted if ne­ces­sary.

Art. 960a  

II. As­sets

1. In gen­er­al

 

1 When first re­cor­ded, as­sets must be val­ued no high­er than their ac­quis­i­tion or man­u­fac­tur­ing costs.

2 In any sub­sequent valu­ation, as­sets must not be val­ued high­er than their ac­quis­i­tion or man­u­fac­tur­ing costs. Pro­vi­sions on in­di­vidu­al types of as­sets are re­served.

3 Loss in value due to us­age or age must be taken in­to ac­count through de­pre­ci­ation, while oth­er losses in value must be taken in­to ac­count through valu­ation ad­just­ments. De­pre­ci­ation and valu­ation ad­just­ments must be ap­plied in ac­cord­ance with gen­er­ally re­cog­nised com­mer­cial prin­ciples. They must be de­duc­ted dir­ectly or in­dir­ectly from the rel­ev­ant as­sets and charged to the profit and loss ac­count and may not be shown un­der li­ab­il­it­ies.

4 For re­place­ment pur­poses and to en­sure the long-term prosper­ity of the un­der­tak­ing, ad­di­tion­al de­pre­ci­ation and valu­ation ad­just­ments may be made. For the same pur­poses, the can­cel­la­tion of de­pre­ci­ation and valu­ation ad­just­ments that are no longer jus­ti­fied may be dis­pensed with.

Art. 960b  

2. As­sets with ob­serv­able mar­ket prices

 

1 In the sub­sequent valu­ation, as­sets with a stock ex­change price or an­oth­er ob­serv­able mar­ket price in an act­ive mar­ket may be val­ued at that price as of the bal­ance sheet date, even if this price ex­ceeds the nom­in­al value or the ac­quis­i­tion value. Any per­son who ex­er­cises this right must value all as­sets in cor­res­pond­ing po­s­i­tions on the bal­ance sheet that have an ob­serv­able mar­ket price at the mar­ket price as of the bal­ance sheet date. In the notes to the ac­counts, ref­er­ence must be made to this valu­ation. The total value of the cor­res­pond­ing as­sets must be dis­closed sep­ar­ately for se­cur­it­ies and oth­er as­sets with ob­serv­able mar­ket price.

2 If as­sets are val­ued at the stock ex­change price or at the mar­ket price as of the bal­ance sheet date, a value ad­just­ment to be charged to the profit and loss ac­count may be made in or­der to take ac­count of fluc­tu­ations in the price de­vel­op­ment. Such valu­ation ad­just­ments are not per­mit­ted, however, if they would res­ult in both the ac­quis­i­tion value and the lower mar­ket value be­ing un­der­cut. The total amount of fluc­tu­ation re­serves must be shown sep­ar­ately on the bal­ance sheet or in the notes to the ac­counts.

Art. 960c  

3. In­vent­or­ies and non-in­voiced ser­vices

 

1 If the real­is­able value in the sub­sequent valu­ation of in­vent­or­ies and non-in­voiced ser­vices tak­ing ac­count of ex­pec­ted costs is less than the ac­quis­i­tion or man­u­fac­tur­ing costs on bal­ance sheet date, this value must be entered.

2 In­vent­or­ies com­prise raw ma­ter­i­als, work in pro­gress, fin­ished goods and re­sale mer­chand­ise.

Art. 960d  

4. Cap­it­al as­sets

 

1 Cap­it­al as­sets are as­sets that are ac­quired with the in­ten­tion of us­ing or hold­ing them for the long-term.

2 Long-term means a peri­od of more than twelve months.

3 Share­hold­ings are shares in the cap­it­al of an­oth­er un­der­tak­ing that are held for the long-term and con­fer a sig­ni­fic­ant in­flu­ence. This is pre­sumed if the shares con­fer at least 20 per cent of the vot­ing rights.

Art. 960e  

III. Li­ab­il­it­ies

 

1 Li­ab­il­it­ies must be entered at their nom­in­al value.

2 If past events lead to the ex­pect­a­tion of a cash out­flow in fu­ture fin­an­cial years, the pro­vi­sions prob­ably re­quired must be made and charged to the profit and loss ac­count.

3 Pro­vi­sions may also be made in par­tic­u­lar for:

1.
reg­u­larly in­curred ex­pendit­ures from guar­an­tee com­mit­ments;
2.
renov­a­tions to tan­gible fixed as­sets;
3.
re­struc­tur­ing;
4.
se­cur­ing the long-term prosper­ity of the un­der­tak­ing.

4 Pro­vi­sions that are no longer re­quired need not be can­celled.

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