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Swiss Civil Code

The Federal Assembly of the Swiss Confederation,

based on Article 64 of the Federal Constitution1,2
and having considered the Dispatch of the Federal Council dated 28 May 19043,

decrees:

1[BS 1 3]. This provision corresponds to Art. 122 of the Federal Constitution of 18 April 1999 (SR 101).

2 Amended by Annex No 2 of the Civil Jurisdiction Act of 24 March 2000, in force since 1 Jan. 2001 (AS 2000 2355; BBl 1999 2829).

3BBl 1904 IV 1, 1907 VI 367

Introduction

Art. 1  

A. Ap­plic­a­tion of the law

 

1 The law ap­plies ac­cord­ing to its word­ing or in­ter­pret­a­tion to all leg­al ques­tions for which it con­tains a pro­vi­sion.

2 In the ab­sence of a pro­vi­sion, the court4 shall de­cide in ac­cord­ance with cus­tom­ary law and, in the ab­sence of cus­tom­ary law, in ac­cord­ance with the rule that it would make as le­gis­lat­or.

3 In do­ing so, the court shall fol­low es­tab­lished doc­trine and case law.

4 Term in ac­cord­ance with No I 1 of the FA of 26 June 1998, in force since 1 Jan. 2000 (AS 1999 1118; BBl 1996 I 1). This amend­ment is taken in­to con­sid­er­a­tion throughout the Code.

Art. 2  

B. Scope and lim­its of leg­al re­la­tion­ships

I. Act­ing in good faith

 

1 Every per­son must act in good faith in the ex­er­cise of his or her rights and in the per­form­ance of his or her ob­lig­a­tions.

2 The mani­fest ab­use of a right is not pro­tec­ted by law.

Art. 3  

II. Good faith

 

1 Where the law makes a leg­al ef­fect con­di­tion­al on the good faith of a per­son, there shall be a pre­sump­tion of good faith.

2 No per­son may in­voke the pre­sump­tion of good faith if he or she has failed ex­er­cise the di­li­gence re­quired by the cir­cum­stances.

Art. 4  

III. Ju­di­cial

 

Where the law con­fers dis­cre­tion on the court or makes ref­er­ence to an as­sess­ment of the cir­cum­stances or to good cause, the court must reach its de­cision in ac­cord­ance with the prin­ciples of justice and equity.

Art. 5  

C. Fed­er­al law and can­ton­al law

I. Can­ton­al civil law and loc­al cus­tom

 

1 In­so­far as fed­er­al law re­serves the ap­plic­a­tion of can­ton­al law, the can­tons may en­act or re­peal civil law pro­vi­sions.

2 Where the law makes ref­er­ence to prac­tice or loc­al cus­tom, the ex­ist­ing can­ton­al law is deemed a val­id ex­pres­sion there­of, provided no di­ver­gent prac­tice is shown to ex­ist.

Art. 6  

II. Can­ton­al pub­lic law

 

1 Fed­er­al civil law does not re­strict the right of the can­tons to en­act pub­lic law.

2 The can­tons are en­titled with­in the lim­its of their sov­er­eignty to re­strict or pro­hib­it the trade in cer­tain goods or to de­clare trans­ac­tions in­volving such goods leg­ally in­val­id.

Art. 7  

D. Gen­er­al pro­vi­sions of the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions

 

The gen­er­al pro­vi­sions of the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions6 con­cern­ing the form­a­tion, per­form­ance and ter­min­a­tion of con­tracts also ap­ply to oth­er civil law mat­ters.

Art. 8  

E. Rules of evid­ence

I. Bur­den of proof

 

Un­less the law provides oth­er­wise, the bur­den of prov­ing the ex­ist­ence of an al­leged fact shall rest on the per­son who de­rives rights from that fact.

Art. 9  

II. Proof by pub­lic doc­u­ment

 

1 Pub­lic re­gisters and pub­lic deeds con­sti­tute full proof of the facts evid­enced by them, un­less their con­tent is shown to be in­cor­rect.

2 Such proof of in­cor­rect­ness does not re­quire to be in any par­tic­u­lar form.

Art. 107  
 

7 Re­pealed by An­nex 1 No II 3 of the Civil Pro­ced­ure Code of 19 Dec. 2008, with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 1739; BBl 2006 7221).

Part One: Law of Persons

Title One: Natural Persons

Chapter One: Legal Personality

Art. 11  

A. Per­son­al­ity in gen­er­al

I. Leg­al ca­pa­city

 

1 Every per­son has leg­al ca­pa­city.

2 Ac­cord­ingly, with­in the lim­its of the law, every per­son has the same ca­pa­city to have rights and ob­lig­a­tions.

Art. 12  

II. Ca­pa­city to act

1. Nature

 

A per­son who has ca­pa­city to act has the ca­pa­city to cre­ate rights and ob­lig­a­tions through his ac­tions.

Art. 138  

2. Re­quire­ments

a. In gen­er­al

 

A per­son who is of age and is cap­able of judge­ment has the ca­pa­city to act.

8 Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2008 (Adult Pro­tec­tion Law, Law of Per­sons and Law of Chil­dren), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2011 725; BBl 20067001).

Art. 149  

b. Ma­jor­ity

 

A per­son is of age if he or she has reached the age of 18.

9Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2008 (Adult Pro­tec­tion Law, Law of Per­sons and Law of Chil­dren), with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2011 725; BBl 20067001).

Art. 1510  

c. ...

 

10Re­pealed by No I of the FA of 7 Oct. 1994, with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 1996 (AS 1995 1126; BBl 1993 I 1169).

Art. 1611  

d. Ca­pa­city of judge­ment

 

A per­son is cap­able of judge­ment with­in the mean­ing of the law if he or she does not lack the ca­pa­city to act ra­tion­ally by vir­tue of be­ing un­der age or be­cause of a men­tal dis­ab­il­ity, men­tal dis­order, in­tox­ic­a­tion or sim­il­ar cir­cum­stances.

11 Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2008 (Adult Pro­tec­tion Law, Law of Per­sons and Law of Chil­dren), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2011 725; BBl 20067001).

Art. 1712  

III. In­ca­pa­city

1. In gen­er­al

 

A per­son does not have the ca­pa­city to act if he or she is in­cap­able of judge­ment or is un­der age or is sub­ject to a gen­er­al deputy­ship.

12 Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2008 (Adult Pro­tec­tion Law, Law of Per­sons and Law of Chil­dren), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2011 725; BBl 20067001).

Art. 18  

2. Lack of ca­pa­city of judge­ment

 

A per­son who is in­cap­able of judge­ment can­not cre­ate leg­al ef­fect by his or her ac­tions, un­less the law provides oth­er­wise.

Art. 19  

3. Per­sons cap­able of judge­ment but lack­ing the ca­pa­city to act.

a. Prin­ciple

 

1 Per­sons who are cap­able of judge­ment but lack the ca­pa­city to act may only enter in­to ob­lig­a­tions or give up rights with the con­sent of their leg­al rep­res­ent­at­ive.14

2 Without such con­sent, they may only ac­cept ad­vant­ages that are free of charge or carry out minor every­day trans­ac­tions.15

3 They are li­able in dam­ages for un­per­mit­ted acts.

14 Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2008 (Adult Pro­tec­tion Law, Law of Per­sons and Law of Chil­dren), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2011 725; BBl 20067001).

15 Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2008 (Adult Pro­tec­tion Law, Law of Per­sons and Law of Chil­dren), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2011 725; BBl 20067001).

Art. 19a16  

b. Con­sent of the leg­al rep­res­ent­at­ive

 

1 Un­less the law provides oth­er­wise, the leg­al rep­res­ent­at­ive may con­sent ex­pressly or ta­citly in ad­vance or ap­prove the trans­ac­tion ret­ro­spect­ively.

2 The oth­er party is re­lieved of any ob­lig­a­tion if ap­prov­al is not giv­en with­in a reas­on­able peri­od that he or she fixes or has fixed by a court.


16 In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2008 (Adult Pro­tec­tion Law, Law of Per­sons and Law of Chil­dren), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2011 725; BBl 20067001).

Art. 19b17  

c. Ab­sence of con­sent

 

1 If the leg­al rep­res­ent­at­ive does not grant ap­prov­al, either party may de­mand resti­tu­tion of any per­form­ance already made. A per­son lack­ing ca­pa­city to act is however only li­able to the ex­tent that he or she has already be­nefited from the per­form­ance or to which he or she has been en­riched at the time of the de­mand or has ali­en­ated the be­ne­fits in bad faith.

2 If the per­son lack­ing ca­pa­city to act has in­duced the oth­er party to er­ro­neously as­sume that he or she has the ca­pa­city to act, he or she is li­able for the dam­age in­curred.

17 In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2008 (Adult Pro­tec­tion Law, Law of Per­sons and Law of Chil­dren), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2011 725; BBl 20067001).

Art. 19c18  

4. Strictly per­son­al rights

 

1 Per­sons cap­able of judge­ment but lack­ing ca­pa­city to act ex­er­cise their strictly per­son­al rights in­de­pend­ently; cases where the law re­quires the con­sent of the leg­al rep­res­ent­at­ive are re­served.

2 The leg­al rep­res­ent­at­ive acts for a per­son lack­ing ca­pa­city of judge­ment un­less a right is so strictly per­son­al that any form of rep­res­ent­a­tion is ex­cluded.

18 In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2008 (Adult Pro­tec­tion Law, Law of Per­sons and Law of Chil­dren), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2011 725; BBl 20067001).

Art. 19d19  

IIIbis. Re­stric­tion of the ca­pa­city to act

 

The ca­pa­city to act may be re­stric­ted by an adult pro­tec­tion meas­ure.

19 In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2008 (Adult Pro­tec­tion Law, Law of Per­sons and Law of Chil­dren), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2011 725; BBl 20067001).

Art. 20  

IV.

1. Blood kin­ship

 

1 The de­gree of kin­ship21 is de­term­ined by the num­ber of in­ter­me­di­ary gen­er­a­tions.

2 Lin­eal kin­ship ex­ists between two per­sons where one is des­cen­ded from the oth­er and col­lat­er­al kin­ship ex­ists between two per­sons where both are des­cen­ded from a third per­son and are not re­lated lin­eally.


21Term amended by No I 3 of the FA of 30 June 1972, in force since 1 April 1973 (AS 1972 2819; BBl 1971 I 1200).

Art. 2122  

2. Kin­ship by mar­riage

 

1 Where one per­son is re­lated to an­oth­er, he or she is re­lated as an in-law to the lat­ter’s spouse or re­gistered part­ner in the same line and to the same de­gree.

2 Kin­ship by mar­riage is not ended by dis­sol­u­tion of the mar­riage or of the re­gistered part­ner­ship which cre­ated it.

22 Amended by An­nex No 8 of the Re­gistered Part­ner­ship Act of 18 June 2004, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2005 5685;BBl2003 1288).

Art. 22  

V. Place of ori­gin and dom­i­cile

1. Ori­gin

 

1 The place of ori­gin of a per­son is de­term­ined by his or her cit­izen­ship.

2 Cit­izen­ship is gov­erned by pub­lic law.

3 If a per­son is a cit­izen of more than one place, his or her place of ori­gin is the one in which he or she is or was most re­cently res­id­ent or, in the ab­sence of any such res­id­ence, the one in which he or she or his or her an­cest­ors last ac­quired cit­izen­ship.

Art. 23  

2. Dom­i­cile

a. Defin­i­tion

 

1 A per­son’s dom­i­cile is the place in which he or she resides with the in­ten­tion of set­tling; res­id­ence for the pur­pose of edu­ca­tion or the ac­com­mod­a­tion of a per­son in an edu­cat­ive in­sti­tu­tion or care home, a hos­pit­al or a pen­al in­sti­tu­tion does not by it­self es­tab­lish dom­i­cile.23

2 No per­son may have more than one dom­i­cile at a time.

3 This pro­vi­sion does not ap­ply to places of busi­ness.

23 Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2008 (Adult Pro­tec­tion Law, Law of Per­sons and Law of Chil­dren), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2011 725; BBl 20067001).

Art. 24  

b. Change of dom­i­cile, tem­por­ary res­id­ence

 

1 A per­son re­tains his or her dom­i­cile un­til such time as a new one is ac­quired.

2 A per­son’s dom­i­cile is deemed to be the place in which he or she is tem­por­ar­ily res­id­ent if no pre­vi­ously es­tab­lished dom­i­cile may be proven or if he or she was formerly res­id­ent abroad and has not yet es­tab­lished a dom­i­cile in Switzer­land.


Art. 2525  

c. Dom­i­cile of minors

 

1 The dom­i­cile of a child sub­ject to par­ent­al re­spons­ib­il­ity26 is deemed to be that of the par­ents or, if the par­ents have dif­fer­ent dom­i­ciles, that of the par­ent with whom the child is res­id­ent; in all oth­er cases it is deemed to be the child’s tem­por­ary dom­i­cile.

2 Chil­dren un­der guard­i­an­ship are dom­i­ciled at the seat of the child pro­tec­tion au­thor­ity.27

25Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 5 Oct. 1984, in force since 1 Jan. 1988 (AS 1986 122153Art. 1; BBl 1979 II 1191).

26 Term in ac­cord­ance with No I 1 of the FA of 26 June 26 June 1998, in force since 1 Jan. 2000 (AS 1999 1118; BBl 1996 I 1). This amend­ment is taken in­to con­sid­er­a­tion throughout the Code.

27 Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2008 (Adult Pro­tec­tion Law, Law of Per­sons and Law of Chil­dren), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2011 725; BBl 20067001).

Art. 2628  

d. Per­sons in in­sti­tu­tions

 

Adults sub­ject to a gen­er­al deputy­ship are dom­i­ciled at the loc­a­tion of the adult pro­tec­tion au­thor­ity.

28 Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2008 (Adult Pro­tec­tion Law, Law of Per­sons and Law of Chil­dren), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2011 725; BBl 20067001).

Art. 27  

B. Pro­tec­tion of leg­al per­son­al­ity

I. Against ex­cess­ive re­stric­tion

 

1 No per­son may, wholly or in part, re­nounce his or her leg­al ca­pa­city or his or her ca­pa­city to act.

2 No per­son may sur­render his or her free­dom or re­strict the use of it to a de­gree which vi­ol­ates the law or pub­lic mor­als.

Art. 2830  

II. Against in­fringe­ments

1. Prin­ciple

 

1 Any per­son whose per­son­al­ity rights are un­law­fully in­fringed may pe­ti­tion the court for pro­tec­tion against all those caus­ing the in­fringe­ment.

2 An in­fringe­ment is un­law­ful un­less it is jus­ti­fied by the con­sent of the per­son whose rights are in­fringed or by an over­rid­ing private or pub­lic in­terest or by law.

30Amended by No I of the FA of 16 Dec. 1983, in force since 1 Ju­ly 1985 (AS 1984 778; BBl 1982 II 636).

Art. 28a32  

2. Ac­tions

a. In gen­er­al

 

1 The ap­plic­ant may ask the court:

1.
to pro­hib­it a threatened in­fringe­ment;
2.
to or­der that an ex­ist­ing in­fringe­ment cease;
3.
to make a de­clar­a­tion that an in­fringe­ment is un­law­ful if it con­tin­ues to have an of­fens­ive ef­fect.

2 In par­tic­u­lar the ap­plic­ant may re­quest that the rec­ti­fic­a­tion or the judg­ment be no­ti­fied to third parties or pub­lished.

3 Claims for dam­ages and sat­is­fac­tion and for hand­ing over profits in ac­cord­ance with the pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing agency without au­thor­ity are re­served.

32In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 16 Dec. 1983, in force since 1 Ju­ly 1985 (AS 1984 778; BBl 1982 II 636).

Art. 28b33  

b. Vi­ol­ence, threats or har­ass­ment

 

1 To ob­tain pro­tec­tion from vi­ol­ence, threats or har­ass­ment, the ap­plic­ant may re­quest the court in par­tic­u­lar to or­der the of­fend­ing party to re­frain from:

1.
ap­proach­ing the ap­plic­ant or from en­ter­ing a defined area around the ap­plic­ant’s dwell­ing;
2.
fre­quent­ing spe­cified loc­a­tions, not­ably par­tic­u­lar streets, squares or dis­tricts;
3.
from mak­ing con­tact with the ap­plic­ant, es­pe­cially by tele­phone, in writ­ing or elec­tron­ic­ally, or from har­ass­ing the ap­plic­ant in any oth­er way.

2 If the ap­plic­ant lives in the same dwell­ing as the of­fend­ing party, the ap­plic­ant may ask the court to or­der the of­fend­ing party to leave the dwell­ing for a spe­cified peri­od. This peri­od may be ex­ten­ded on one oc­ca­sion for good cause.

3 Where jus­ti­fied by the cir­cum­stances, the court may:

1.
re­quire the ap­plic­ant to pay reas­on­able com­pens­a­tion for his or her ex­clus­ive use of the dwell­ing; or
2.
with the land­lord’s con­sent, trans­fer the rights and ob­lig­a­tions un­der the lease to the ap­plic­ant alone.

3bis It shall give no­tice of its de­cision to the com­pet­ent child and adult pro­tec­tion au­thor­it­ies, the com­pet­ent can­ton­al au­thor­ity un­der para­graph 4 and oth­er au­thor­it­ies and third parties, provided this ap­pears ne­ces­sary in or­der to ful­fil its re­spons­ib­il­it­ies or for the pro­tec­tion of the ap­plic­ant, or en­ables the de­cision to be en­forced.34

4 The can­tons shall des­ig­nate an au­thor­ity which in ur­gent cases may or­der the im­me­di­ate ex­pul­sion of the of­fend­ing party from the joint dwell­ing and shall en­act rules gov­ern­ing the pro­ced­ure.

33 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 16 Dec. 1983 (AS 1984 778; BBl 1982 II 636). Amended by No I of the FA of 23 June 2006 (Pro­tec­tion of the Per­son­al­ity against Vi­ol­ence, Threats and Har­ass­ment), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2007 (AS2007 137; BBl 2005 68716897).

34 In­ser­ted by No I 1 of the FA of 14 Dec. 2018 on Im­prov­ing the Pro­tec­tion giv­en to Vic­tims of Vi­ol­ence, in force since 1 Ju­ly 2020 (AS 2019 2273; BBl 2017 7307).

Art. 28c35  

c. Elec­tron­ic mon­it­or­ing

 

1 The court that is­sues an in­junc­tion pur­su­ant to the pro­vi­sion on vi­ol­ence, threats or har­ass­ment, and the en­force­ment court, may on the ap­plic­ant's re­quest or­der the use of an elec­tron­ic device that is se­curely at­tached to the of­fend­ing party and which can con­tinu­ously as­cer­tain and re­cord his or her loc­a­tion.

2 The meas­ure may be ordered for a max­im­um of six months. It may be ex­ten­ded by a max­im­um of six months at a time. As a pre­cau­tion­ary meas­ure, the meas­ure may be ordered for a max­im­um peri­od of six months.

3 The can­tons shall des­ig­nate an au­thor­ity that is re­spons­ible for en­for­cing the meas­ure, and shall reg­u­late the en­force­ment pro­ced­ure. They shall en­sure that the data re­cor­ded on the per­sons con­cerned are used only to en­force the in­junc­tion and are de­leted twelve months at the latest after ter­min­a­tion of the meas­ure.

4 The ap­plic­ant must not in­cur any costs from the en­force­ment of the meas­ure. The per­son mon­itored may be charged the costs of the meas­ure.

35In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 16 Dec. 1983 (AS 1984 778; BBl 1982 II 636). Amended by No I 1 of the FA of 14 Dec. 2018 on Im­prov­ing the Pro­tec­tion giv­en to Vic­tims of Vi­ol­ence, in force since 1 Jan. 2022 (AS 2019 2273; BBl 2017 7307).

Art. 28d–28f36  

3. ...

 

36In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 16 Dec. 1983 (AS 1984 778; BBl 1982 II 636). Re­pealed by An­nex 1 No II 3 of the Civil Pro­ced­ure Code of 19 Dec. 2008, with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 1739; BBl 2006 7221).

Art. 28g38  

4. Right of reply

a. Prin­ciple

 

1 Any per­son whose per­son­al­ity rights are dir­ectly af­fected by a rep­res­ent­a­tion of events in peri­od­ic­ally ap­pear­ing me­dia, es­pe­cially the press, ra­dio or tele­vi­sion, shall have a right of reply.

2 There is no right of reply in re­spect of ac­cur­ate re­ports of the pub­lic deal­ings of an au­thor­ity in which the af­fected per­son took part.

38In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 16 Dec. 1983, in force since 1 Ju­ly 1985 (AS 1984 778; BBl 1982 II 636).

Art. 28h39  

b. Form and con­tent

 

1 The text of the reply must be suc­cinct and con­fine it­self to the sub­ject mat­ter of the con­ten­tious rep­res­ent­a­tion.

2 The reply may be re­fused if it is plainly in­cor­rect or vi­ol­ates the law or pub­lic mor­als.

39In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 16 Dec. 1983, in force since 1 Ju­ly 1985 (AS 1984 778; BBl 1982 II 636).

Art. 28i40  

c. Pro­ced­ure

 

1 The au­thor of the reply must send the text to the me­dia com­pany with­in 20 days of learn­ing of the con­ten­tious rep­res­ent­a­tion, but at the latest with­in three months of pub­lic­a­tion.

2 The me­dia com­pany must im­me­di­ately in­form the au­thor of the reply when it will be pub­lished or why it is re­jec­ted.

40In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 16 Dec. 1983, in force since 1 Ju­ly 1985 (AS 1984 778; BBl 1982 II 636).

Art. 28k41  

d. Pub­lic­a­tion

 

1 The reply must be pub­lished as soon as pos­sible and in such a man­ner as to en­sure that it reaches the same audi­ence or read­er­ship as the con­ten­tious rep­res­ent­a­tion.

2 The reply must be iden­ti­fied as such; the me­dia com­pany is not per­mit­ted to make any ad­di­tion ex­cept to state wheth­er it stands by its rep­res­ent­a­tion or to in­dic­ate its sources.

3 The reply must be pub­lished free of charge.

41In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 16 Dec. 1983, in force since 1 Ju­ly 1985 (AS 1984 778; BBl 1982 II 636).

Art. 28l42  

e. Re­course to the courts

 

1 If the me­dia com­pany ob­structs the right of reply, re­jects the reply or fails to pub­lish it cor­rectly, the party in ques­tion may pe­ti­tion the court.

2 ...43

3 and 4 ...44


42In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 16 Dec. 1983, in force since 1 Ju­ly 1985 (AS 1984 778; BBl 1982 II 636).

43 Re­pealed by An­nex No 2 of the Civil Jur­is­dic­tion Act of 24 March 2000, with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2001 (AS 2000 2355; BBl 1999 2829).

44 Re­pealed by An­nex 1 No II 3 of the Civil Pro­ced­ure Code of 19 Dec. 2008, with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 1739; BBl 2006 7221).

Art. 29  

III. Right to use one’s name

1. Pro­tec­tion of one’s name

 

1 If a per­son’s use of his or her name is dis­puted, he or she may ap­ply for a court de­clar­a­tion con­firm­ing his rights.

2 If a per­son is ad­versely af­fected be­cause an­oth­er per­son is us­ing his or her name, he or she may seek an or­der pro­hib­it­ing such use and, if the user is at fault, may bring a claim for dam­ages and, where jus­ti­fied by the nature of the in­fringe­ment, for sat­is­fac­tion.

Art. 30  

2. Change of name

a. Gen­er­al

 

1 The gov­ern­ment of the can­ton of res­id­ence may per­mit a per­son to change his or her name for good cause.46

2 ...47

3 A per­son ad­versely af­fected by a change of name may con­test the same in court with­in one year of learn­ing there­of.

46Amended by No I of the FA of 30 Sept. 2011 (Name and Cit­izen­ship), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2012 2569; BBl 200975737581).

47Re­pealed by No I of the FA of 30 Sept. 2011 (Name and Cit­izen­ship), with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2012 2569; BBl 200975737581).

Art. 30a48  

b. On the death of a spouse

 

A per­son whose spouse dies may, if that per­son changed his or her sur­name on mar­riage, at any time de­clare be­fore the civil re­gis­trar the wish to re­vert to the name by which he or she was known pri­or to the mar­riage.

48 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 30 Sept. 2011 (Name and Cit­izen­ship), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2012 2569; BBl 200975737581).

Art. 30b49  

IV. In re­la­tion to sex

 

1 Any per­son who is firmly con­vinced that they are not of the sex entered in their re­spect in the civil re­gister may de­clare to the civil re­gis­trar that they wish to have the entry changed.

2 The per­son mak­ing the de­clar­a­tion may have one or more new first names entered in the civil re­gister.

3 The de­clar­a­tion has no leg­al ef­fect on fam­ily re­la­tion­ships.


4 The con­sent of the leg­al rep­res­ent­at­ive is re­quired if:

1.
the per­son mak­ing the de­clar­a­tion is un­der the age of 16;
2.
the per­son mak­ing the de­clar­a­tion is sub­ject to a gen­er­al deputy­ship; or
3.
the adult pro­tec­tion au­thor­ity has so ordered.

49 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Sex Change in the Civil Re­gister), in force since 1 Jan. 2022 (AS 2021 668; BBl 2020 799).

Art. 31  

C. Be­gin­ning and end of per­son­al­ity rights

I. Birth and death

 

1 Per­son­al­ity rights be­gin on the birth of the liv­ing child and end on death.

2 An un­born child has leg­al ca­pa­city provided that it sur­vives birth.

Art. 32  

II. Proof

1. Bur­den of proof

 

1 Any per­son who, in ex­er­cising a right, re­lies on the fact that an­oth­er per­son is liv­ing or has died or was alive at a par­tic­u­lar time or sur­vived an­oth­er per­son must pro­duce evid­ence there­of.

2 If it can­not be proved that, of a group of sev­er­al de­ceased per­sons, one sur­vived an­oth­er, all are deemed to have died at the same time.

Art. 33  

2. Evid­ence

a. In gen­er­al

 

1 Proof of the birth or death of a per­son is es­tab­lished by the re­cords kept by the civil re­gister.

2 If re­cords are miss­ing or shown to be in­cor­rect, proof may be ad­duced in an­oth­er form.

Art. 34  

b. Pre­sump­tion of death

 

The death of a per­son is deemed proven, even if no-one has seen the corpse, if that per­son has dis­ap­peared in cir­cum­stances in which his death may be con­sidered cer­tain.


Art. 35  

III. De­clar­a­tion of pre­sumed death

1. In gen­er­al

 

1 If it is highly prob­able that a per­son is dead be­cause he or she has dis­ap­peared in ex­tremely life-threat­en­ing cir­cum­stances or has been miss­ing for a lengthy peri­od without any sign of life, the court may de­clare that per­son pre­sumed dead on ap­plic­a­tion by any per­son de­riv­ing rights from his or her death.

2 ...50

50 Re­pealed by An­nex No 2 of the Civil Jur­is­dic­tion Act of 24 March 2000, with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2001 (AS 2000 2355; BBl 1999 2829).

Art. 36  

2. Pro­ced­ure

 

1 The ap­plic­a­tion may be made when at least one year has elapsed since the life-threat­en­ing event or five years have elapsed since the last sign of life.

2 The court must, by suit­able pub­lic means, call on any per­son who may provide in­form­a­tion about the miss­ing per­son to come for­ward with­in a spe­cified peri­od.

3 The peri­od shall run for at least one year fol­low­ing the first pub­lic no­tice.

Art. 37  

3. Fail­ure of ap­plic­a­tion

 

If the miss­ing per­son comes for­ward with­in the set peri­od or if news of the miss­ing per­son is re­ceived or if the date of his or her death is proved, the ap­plic­a­tion fails.

Art. 38  

4. Ef­fect

 

1 If no news is re­ceived dur­ing the set peri­od, the miss­ing per­son is de­clared pre­sumed dead and rights de­rived from the fact of his or her death may be en­forced as if death were proven.

2 The de­clar­a­tion of pre­sumed death has ret­ro­act­ive ef­fect from the time of the life-threat­en­ing event or the last sign of life.

3 A de­clar­a­tion of pre­sumed death dis­solves a mar­riage.51

51 In­ser­ted by No I 4 of the FA of 26 June 1998, in force since 1 Jan. 2000 (AS 1999 1118; BBl 1996 I 1).

Chapter Two: Registration of Civil Status52

52 Amended by No I 1 of the FA of 26 June 1998, in force since 1 Jan. 2000 (AS 1999 1118; BBl 1996 I 1).

Art. 3953  

A. Re­gisters

I. In gen­er­al

 

1 Civil status is re­cor­ded in an elec­tron­ic re­gister (civil re­gister).

2 Civil status in­cludes in par­tic­u­lar:

1.
a per­son’s par­tic­u­lars, such as those re­lat­ing to birth, mar­riage, re­gistered civil part­ner­ship and death;
2.
a per­son’s status un­der the law of per­sons and fam­ily law, such as ma­jor­ity, par­ent­age, mar­riage or re­gistered civil part­ner­ship;
3.
names;
4.
can­ton­al and com­mun­al cit­izen­ship;
5.
na­tion­al­ity.

53 Amended by No I 1 of the FA of 15 Dec. 2017 (Re­gis­tra­tion of Civil Status and Land Re­gister), in force since 1 Jan. 2019 (AS 2018 4017; BBl 2014 3551).

Art. 40  

II. Duty to no­ti­fy

 

1 The Fed­er­al Coun­cil de­term­ines which per­sons and au­thor­it­ies have a duty to fur­nish the in­form­a­tion ne­ces­sary to re­cord civil status.

2 It may provide that breaches of said duty be pun­ish­able by fines.

3 ...55

55 Re­pealed by No I of the FA of 5 Oct. 2001 (Elec­tron­ic civil re­gister), with ef­fect from 1 Ju­ly 2004 (AS 20042911; BBl 2001 1639).

Art. 41  

III. Proof of un­dis­puted in­form­a­tion

 

1 Where doc­u­ment­ary proof of in­form­a­tion con­cern­ing civil status is re­quired but is im­possible or un­reas­on­ably dif­fi­cult to ob­tain des­pite mak­ing reas­on­able ef­forts, the can­ton­al su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity may ac­cept a de­clar­a­tion made in the pres­ence of the re­gis­trar as proof provided such in­form­a­tion is not dis­puted.

2 The re­gis­trar shall re­mind any per­son mak­ing such a de­clar­a­tion of his or her duty to tell the truth and that a false de­clar­a­tion may lead to pro­sec­u­tion.

Art. 42  

IV. Rec­ti­fic­a­tion

1. By court or­der

 

1 Any per­son who sat­is­fies the court that he or she has a per­son­al in­terest war­rant­ing pro­tec­tion may seek an or­der for the re­gis­tra­tion of dis­puted in­form­a­tion con­cern­ing per­son­al status or the rec­ti­fic­a­tion or re­mov­al of an entry. The court shall hear the rel­ev­ant can­ton­al su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity, to which it shall no­ti­fy its judg­ment.

2 The can­ton­al su­per­vis­ory au­thor­it­ies are like­wise en­titled to make such ap­plic­a­tions.

Art. 43  

2. By the re­gister au­thor­it­ies

 

The re­gister au­thor­it­ies must of their own ac­cord rec­ti­fy mis­takes res­ult­ing from an ob­vi­ous over­sight or er­ror.

Art. 43a56  

V. Data pro­tec­tion and dis­clos­ure

 

1 In re­la­tion to the re­gis­tra­tion of civil status, the Fed­er­al Coun­cil is re­spons­ible for safe­guard­ing the per­son­al­ity and con­sti­tu­tion­al rights of per­sons in re­spect of whom data is pro­cessed.

2 It reg­u­lates the dis­clos­ure of data to private per­sons who may show a dir­ect in­terest war­rant­ing pro­tec­tion.

3 It stip­u­lates those au­thor­it­ies, in ad­di­tion to the re­gister au­thor­it­ies, to whom the data ne­ces­sary for the per­form­ance of their leg­al du­ties may be dis­closed peri­od­ic­ally or on re­quest. The dis­clos­ure pro­vi­sions un­der can­ton­al law are re­served.

3bis The re­gister au­thor­it­ies are re­quired to re­port to the com­pet­ent au­thor­ity any crim­in­al of­fences that come to their at­ten­tion while car­ry­ing out their of­fi­cial du­ties.57

4 The fol­low­ing bod­ies have on­line ac­cess to data re­quired for prov­ing the iden­tity of a per­son:

1.
the is­su­ing au­thor­it­ies un­der the Fed­er­al Act of 22 June 200158 on Iden­ti­fic­a­tion Doc­u­ments for Swiss Na­tion­als;
2.59
the fed­er­al agency re­spons­ible for op­er­at­ing the com­pu­ter­ised po­lice search sys­tem un­der Art­icle 15 of the Fed­er­al Act of 13 June 200860 on the Fed­er­al Po­lice In­form­a­tion Sys­tems and the fil­ter­ing agen­cies of the can­ton­al and com­mun­al po­lice forces linked in­to the search sys­tem;
3.61
the fed­er­al au­thor­ity re­spons­ible for op­er­at­ing the VOSTRA Re­gister of Crim­in­al Re­cords in­form­a­tion sys­tem in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 3 of the Crim­in­al Re­cords Re­gister Act of 17 June 201662;
4.
the fed­er­al agency re­spons­ible for in­vest­ig­a­tions re­gard­ing miss­ing per­sons63;
5.64
the Fed­er­al In­tel­li­gence Ser­vice for the early de­tec­tion and pre­ven­tion of threats to in­tern­al or ex­tern­al se­cur­ity in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 6 para­graph 1 let­ter a of the In­tel­li­gence Ser­vice Act of 25 Septem­ber 201565;
6.66
the au­thor­it­ies re­spons­ible for keep­ing the can­ton­al and com­mun­al re­gisters of res­id­ents in ac­cord­ance with the Re­gister Har­mon­isa­tion Act of 23 June 200667;
7. 68
the fed­er­al agen­cies re­spons­ible for keep­ing the cent­ral re­gisters of in­sured per­sons in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 71 para­graph 4 let­ter a of the Fed­er­al Act of 20 Decem­ber 194669 on Old-Age and Sur­viv­ors In­sur­ance;
8. 70
the fed­er­al agen­cies at the Fed­er­al De­part­ment of For­eign Af­fairs re­spons­ible for keep­ing the re­gister of Swiss liv­ing abroad in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 4 para­graph 1 of the Fed­er­al Act of 24 March 200071 on the Pro­cessing of Per­son­al Data.

56 In­tro­duced by No I of the FA of 5 Oct. 2001 (Elec­tron­ic civil re­gister), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2004 (AS 20042911; BBl 2001 1639).

57 In­ser­ted by No I 3 of the FA of 15 June 2012 on Meas­ures against Forced Mar­riages, in force since 1 Ju­ly 2013 (AS 2013 1035; BBl 2011 2185).

58 SR 143.1

59 Amended by An­nex 1 No 4 of the FA of 13 June 2008 on the Fed­er­al Po­lice In­form­a­tion Sys­tems, in force since 5 Dec. 2008 (AS 20084989; BBl 2006 5061).

60 SR 361

61 Amended by An­nex 1 No 2 of the Crim­in­al Re­cords Re­gister Act of 17 June 2016, in force since 23 Jan. 2023 (AS 2022 600; BBl 2014 5713).

62 SR 330

63 Cur­rently the Fed­er­al Of­fice of Po­lice.

64 In­ser­ted by An­nex No II 4 of the In­tel­li­gence Ser­vice Act of 25 Sept. 2015, in force since 1 Sept. 2017 (AS 2017 4095; BBl 2014 2105).

65 SR 121

66 In­ser­ted by No I 1 of the FA of 15 Dec. 2017 (Re­gis­tra­tion of Civil Status and Land Re­gister), in force since 1 Jan. 2019 (AS 2018 4017; BBl 2014 3551).

67 SR 431.02

68 In­ser­ted by No I 1 of the FA of 15 Dec. 2017 (Re­gis­tra­tion of Civil Status and Land Re­gister), in force since 1 Jan. 2019 (AS 2018 4017; BBl 2014 3551).

69 SR 831.10

70 In­ser­ted by No I 1 of the FA of 15 Dec. 2017 (Re­gis­tra­tion of Civil Status and Land Re­gister), in force since 1 Jan. 2019 (AS 2018 4017; BBl 2014 3551).

71 SR 235.2

Art. 44  

B. Or­gan­isa­tion

I. Civil re­gister au­thor­it­ies

1. Civil re­gis­trars

 

1 In par­tic­u­lar, the re­gis­trars shall per­form the fol­low­ing tasks:

1.
they main­tain the civil re­gister;
2.
they make no­ti­fic­a­tions and provide ex­tracts;
3.
they carry out the pre­par­at­ory pro­ced­ure for wed­dings and con­duct the wed­ding ce­re­mony;
4.
they re­cord de­clar­a­tions as to civil status.

2 Ex­cep­tion­ally, the Fed­er­al Coun­cil may en­trust a rep­res­ent­at­ive of Switzer­land abroad with these tasks.

Art. 45  

2. Su­per­vis­ory au­thor­it­ies

 

1 Each can­ton shall ap­point a su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity.

2 In par­tic­u­lar, the su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity shall per­form the fol­low­ing tasks:

1.
it su­per­vises the re­gister of­fices;
2.
it sup­ports and ad­vises the re­gister of­fices;
3.
it as­sists in main­tain­ing the civil re­gister and in car­ry­ing out the pre­par­at­ory pro­ced­ure for wed­dings;
4.
it is­sues dir­ect­ives on re­cog­ni­tion and re­cord­ing of mat­ters re­lat­ing to civil status that oc­cur abroad and of for­eign ju­di­cial and ad­min­is­trat­ive de­cisions con­cern­ing civil status;
5.
it provides for the ba­sic and con­tinu­ing edu­ca­tion and train­ing of per­sons work­ing in the civil re­gister ser­vice.

3 The Con­fed­er­a­tion is re­spons­ible for over­sight. It may have re­course to can­ton­al ap­peal pro­ced­ures against the de­cisions of the re­gis­trars and the su­per­vis­ory au­thor­it­ies.72

72 Amended by No I of the FA of 5 Oct. 2001 (Elec­tron­ic civil re­gister), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2004 (AS 20042911; BBl 2001 1639).

Art. 45a73  

Ia. Cent­ral civil in­form­a­tion sys­tem

 

1 The Con­fed­er­a­tion shall op­er­ate and de­vel­op a cent­ral civil in­form­a­tion sys­tem for run­ning a cent­ral­ised civil re­gister.

2 The Con­fed­er­a­tion bears the op­er­at­ing and de­vel­op­ment costs.

3 The can­tons shall pay the Con­fed­er­a­tion an an­nu­al fee for the use of the sys­tem for the pur­poses of man­aging the re­gister of civil status.

4 The Con­fed­er­a­tion shall in­volve the can­tons in the de­vel­op­ment of the sys­tem and provide tech­nic­al sup­port in its use.

5 In co­oper­a­tion with the can­tons, the Fed­er­al Coun­cil reg­u­lates:

1.
the de­tails of the can­tons’ in­volve­ment in de­vel­op­ing the sys­tem;
2.
the amount to be paid by the can­tons for its use;
3.
the rights of ac­cess of the civil re­gister au­thor­it­ies and oth­er agen­cies with ac­cess rights;
4.
how the Con­fed­er­a­tion and can­tons co­oper­ate over run­ning the sys­tem;
5.74
the or­gan­isa­tion­al and tech­nic­al meas­ures ne­ces­sary to safe­guard data pro­tec­tion and data se­cur­ity and the su­per­vi­sion of com­pli­ance with the data pro­tec­tion reg­u­la­tions;
6.
data archiv­ing.

6 It may provide for the costs of ser­vices for third parties for pur­poses un­re­lated to civil status mat­ters to be charged to these third parties.

73 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 5 Oct. 2001 (Elec­tron­ic civil re­gister) (AS 20042911; BBl 2001 1639). In­ser­ted by No I 1 of the FA of 15 Dec. 2017 (Re­gis­tra­tion of Civil Status and Land Re­gister), in force since 1 Jan. 2019 (AS 2018 4017; BBl 2014 3551).

74 Amended by An­nex 1 No II 16 of the Data Pro­tec­tion Act of 25 Sept. 2020, in force since 1 Sept. 2023 (AS 2022 491; BBl 2017 6941).

Art. 46  

II. Li­ab­il­ity

 

1 Any per­son suf­fer­ing loss caused un­law­fully by per­sons em­ployed in the civil re­gister ser­vice in the ex­er­cise of their of­fi­cial du­ties is en­titled to dam­ages and, where jus­ti­fied by the grav­ity of the loss, to sat­is­fac­tion.

2 The can­ton is li­able; it may have re­course against per­sons who have caused loss wil­fully or through gross neg­li­gence.

3 The Gov­ern­ment Li­ab­il­ity Act of 14 March 195875 ap­plies in re­la­tion to per­sons em­ployed by the Con­fed­er­a­tion.

Art. 47  

III. Dis­cip­lin­ary meas­ures

 

1 Wil­ful or neg­li­gent breaches of of­fi­cial duty by per­sons work­ing in civil re­gister of­fices are sub­ject to dis­cip­lin­ary meas­ures taken by the can­ton­al su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity.

2 Dis­cip­lin­ary meas­ures shall con­sist of rep­rim­ands, fines of up to CHF 1000 or, in ser­i­ous cases, re­mov­al from of­fice.

3 The right to pro­sec­ute is re­served.

Art. 48  

C. Im­ple­ment­ing pro­vi­sions

I. Fed­er­al law

 

1 The Fed­er­al Coun­cil is­sues the pro­vi­sions on im­ple­ment­a­tion.

2 In par­tic­u­lar it reg­u­lates:

1.
the re­gisters to be main­tained and the in­form­a­tion to be re­cor­ded;
2.
the use of the OASI num­ber76 in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 50c of the Fed­er­al Act of 20 Decem­ber 194677 on the Old-Age and Sur­viv­ors' In­sur­ance for the pur­pose of elec­tron­ic data ex­change between of­fi­cial re­gisters of per­sons;
3.
the main­ten­ance of the re­gister;
4.
su­per­vi­sion.78

3 To en­sure tech­nic­ally re­li­able im­ple­ment­a­tion the Fed­er­al Coun­cil may set min­im­um re­quire­ments for the ba­sic and con­tinu­ing edu­ca­tion and train­ing of per­son­nel in the civil re­gister ser­vice and for the func­tion of re­gis­trar.

4 It de­term­ines the fees charged by the civil re­gister ser­vice.

5 It de­term­ines the con­di­tions on which it is per­miss­ible by elec­tron­ic means:

1.
to provide civil status in­form­a­tion;
2.
to make de­clar­a­tions con­cern­ing civil status;
3.
to make no­ti­fic­a­tions and provide ex­tracts from the civil re­gister.79

76 Term in ac­cord­ance with An­nex No 2 of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Sys­tem­at­ic Use of the OASI Num­ber by Au­thor­it­ies), in force since 1 Jan. 2022 (AS 2021 758; BBl 20197359). This modi­fic­a­tion has been made in the pro­vi­sion spe­cified in the AS.

77 SR 831.10

78 Amended by An­nex No 2 of the Re­gister Har­mon­isa­tion Act of 23 June 2006, in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2006 4165; BBl 2006 427).

79 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 5 Oct. 2001 (Elec­tron­ic Civil Re­gister), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2004 (AS 20042911; BBl 2001 1639).

Art. 49  

II. Can­ton­al law

 

1 The can­tons define the civil re­gister dis­tricts.

2 They en­act the pro­vi­sions ne­ces­sary for im­ple­ment­a­tion with­in the frame­work of fed­er­al law.

3 Such can­ton­al pro­vi­sions, with the ex­cep­tion of those con­cern­ing re­mu­ner­a­tion of per­son­nel, are sub­ject to ap­prov­al by the Con­fed­er­a­tion.

Art. 50and 51  
 

Re­pealed

Title Two: Legal Entities

Chapter One: General Provisions

Art. 52  

A. Leg­al per­son­al­ity

 

1 As­so­ci­ations of per­sons or­gan­ised as cor­por­ate bod­ies and in­de­pend­ent bod­ies with a spe­cif­ic pur­pose ac­quire leg­al per­son­al­ity on be­ing entered in the com­mer­cial re­gister.

2 Pub­lic law cor­por­a­tions and bod­ies, and as­so­ci­ations that do not have a com­mer­cial pur­pose do not re­quire re­gis­tra­tion.80

3 As­so­ci­ations of per­sons and bod­ies which pur­sue an im­mor­al or un­law­ful pur­pose may not ac­quire leg­al per­son­al­ity.

80 Amended by No I 1 of the FA of 12 Dec. 2014 on the Im­ple­ment­a­tion of the 2012 Re­vi­sion of the Re­com­mend­a­tions of the Fin­an­cial Ac­tion Task Force, in force since 1 Jan. 2016 (AS 20151389; BBl 2014605).

Art. 53  

B. Leg­al ca­pa­city

 

Leg­al en­tit­ies have all the rights and du­ties oth­er than those which pre­sup­pose in­trins­ic­ally hu­man at­trib­utes, such as sex, age or kin­ship.

Art. 54  

C. Ca­pa­city to act

I. Re­quire­ments

 

Leg­al en­tit­ies have ca­pa­city to act once the gov­ern­ing bod­ies re­quired by law and their art­icles of as­so­ci­ation have been ap­poin­ted.

Art. 55  

II. Ac­tion on be­half of the leg­al en­tity

 

1 The gov­ern­ing bod­ies ex­press the will of the leg­al en­tity.

2 They bind the leg­al en­tity by con­clud­ing trans­ac­tions and by their oth­er ac­tions.

3 The gov­ern­ing of­ficers are also per­son­ally li­able for their wrong­ful acts.

Art. 5681  

D. Seat

 

The seat of the leg­al en­tity is loc­ated where its ad­min­is­tra­tion is car­ried out, un­less its art­icles of as­so­ci­ation provide oth­er­wise.

81 Amended by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on lim­ited li­ab­il­ity com­pan­ies and modi­fic­a­tions to the law on com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares, co­oper­at­ives, the com­mer­cial re­gister and com­pany names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

Art. 57  

E. Dis­sol­u­tion

I. Ap­plic­a­tion of as­sets

 

1 On dis­sol­u­tion of a leg­al en­tity, and un­less provided oth­er­wise by law, the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation, the found­ing charter or the gov­ern­ing bod­ies, its as­sets pass to the state au­thor­ity (Con­fed­er­a­tion, can­ton, com­mune) to which the en­tity had been as­signed ac­cord­ing to its ob­jects.

2 Such as­sets must be used as far as pos­sible for the ori­gin­al pur­pose.

3 Where a leg­al en­tity is dis­solved due to its pur­suit of im­mor­al or un­law­ful ob­jects, the as­sets pass to the state au­thor­ity even where con­trary pro­vi­sion has been made.82

82 Amended by No I of the FA of 8 Oct. 2004 (Law on Found­a­tions), in force since 1 Jan. 2006 (AS 2005 4545; BBl 2003 81538191).

Art. 58  

II. Li­quid­a­tion

 

The pro­ced­ure for li­quid­at­ing the as­sets of the leg­al en­tity is gov­erned by the reg­u­la­tions for co­oper­at­ives.

Art. 59  

F. Re­ser­va­tion of pub­lic law and com­pany law

 

1 Pub­lic and ec­cle­si­ast­ic­al cor­por­a­tions and in­sti­tu­tions are gov­erned by fed­er­al and can­ton­al pub­lic law.

2 As­so­ci­ations of per­sons which pur­sue a com­mer­cial pur­pose are sub­ject to the pro­vi­sions on com­pan­ies and co­oper­at­ives.

3 Com­mon land co­oper­at­ives and sim­il­ar bod­ies re­main sub­ject to the pro­vi­sions of can­ton­al law.

Chapter Two: Associations

Art. 60  

A. Form­a­tion

I. Cor­por­ate group of per­sons

 

1 As­so­ci­ations with a polit­ic­al, re­li­gious, sci­entif­ic, cul­tur­al, char­it­able, so­cial or oth­er non-com­mer­cial pur­pose ac­quire leg­al per­son­al­ity as soon as their in­ten­tion to ex­ist as a cor­por­ate body is ap­par­ent from their art­icles of as­so­ci­ation.

2 The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation must be done in writ­ing and in­dic­ate the ob­jects of the as­so­ci­ation, its re­sources and its or­gan­isa­tion.

Art. 61  

II. Entry in the com­mer­cial re­gister

 

1 Once the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation have been rat­i­fied and the com­mit­tee ap­poin­ted, the as­so­ci­ation is eli­gible for entry in the com­mer­cial re­gister.

2 The as­so­ci­ation must be re­gistered if it:

1.
con­ducts a com­mer­cial op­er­a­tion in pur­suit of its ob­jects;
2.
is sub­ject to an audit re­quire­ment;
3.84
primar­ily col­lects or dis­trib­utes as­sets abroad, dir­ectly or in­dir­ectly, that are in­ten­ded for char­it­able, re­li­gious, cul­tur­al, edu­ca­tion­al or so­cial pur­poses.85

2bis The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall is­sue the im­ple­ment­ing pro­vi­sions on the re­quire­ment to be entered in the com­mer­cial re­gister.86

2ter It may ex­empt as­so­ci­ations in ac­cord­ance with para­graph 2 num­ber 3 from the re­quire­ment to be re­gistered in par­tic­u­lar if they are ex­posed to a low risk of ab­use for the pur­pose of money laun­der­ing or the fin­an­cing of ter­ror­ism be­cause of the amount, ori­gin, pur­pose or in­ten­ded use of the as­sets col­lec­ted or dis­trib­uted.87

3 ...88

84 In­ser­ted by An­nex 1 No 1 of the FA of 19 March 2021, in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2021 656; 2022 551; BBl 2019 5451).

85 Amended by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on lim­ited li­ab­il­ity com­pan­ies and modi­fic­a­tions to the law on com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares, co­oper­at­ives, the com­mer­cial re­gister and com­pany names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

86 In­ser­ted by An­nex 1 No 1 of the FA of 19 March 2021, in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2021 656; 2022 551; BBl 2019 5451).

87 In­ser­ted by An­nex 1 No 1 of the FA of 19 March 2021, in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2021 656; 2022 551; BBl 2019 5451).

88 Re­pealed by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

Art. 61a89  

IIa. List of mem­bers

 

1 As­so­ci­ations that must be entered in the com­mer­cial re­gister shall keep a list of their mem­bers, in­clud­ing their first and sur­names, busi­ness names and ad­dresses.

2 They shall keep the list so that it may be ac­cessed at any time in Switzer­land.

3 They shall re­tain the de­tails of each mem­ber and any sup­port­ing doc­u­ments for five years after the mem­ber has been re­moved from the list.

89 In­ser­ted by An­nex 1 No 1 of the FA of 19 March 2021, in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2021 656; 2022 551; BBl 2019 5451).

Art. 62  

III. As­so­ci­ations lack­ing leg­al per­son­al­ity

 

As­so­ci­ations which can­not ac­quire or have not yet ac­quired leg­al per­son­al­ity are treated as simple part­ner­ships.

Art. 63  

IV. Re­la­tion­ship between art­icles of as­so­ci­ation and the law

 

1 Where the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation do not provide rules for the as­so­ci­ation’s or­gan­isa­tion or its re­la­tion­ship with its mem­bers, the fol­low­ing pro­vi­sions ap­ply.

2 Man­dat­ory pro­vi­sions of law can­not be altered by the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation.

Art. 64  

B. Or­gan­isa­tion

I. Gen­er­al meet­ing

1. Func­tion, con­ven­ing of meet­ings

 

1 The gen­er­al meet­ing of mem­bers is the su­preme gov­ern­ing body of the as­so­ci­ation.

2 The gen­er­al meet­ing is called by the com­mit­tee.

3 Gen­er­al meet­ings must be con­vened in ac­cord­ance with the rules set out in the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation and also, as re­quired by law, if one-fifth of the mem­bers so re­quest.

Art. 65  

2. Powers

 

1 The gen­er­al meet­ing of mem­bers de­cides on ad­mis­sion and ex­clu­sion of mem­bers, ap­points the com­mit­tee and de­cides all mat­ters which are not re­served to oth­er gov­ern­ing bod­ies of the as­so­ci­ation.

2 It su­per­vises the activ­it­ies of the gov­ern­ing bod­ies and may at any time dis­miss the lat­ter without pre­ju­dice to any con­trac­tu­al rights of those dis­missed.

3 The right of dis­missal ex­ists by law whenev­er jus­ti­fied by good cause.

Art. 66  

3. Res­ol­u­tions

a. Form

 

1 Res­ol­u­tions are passed by the gen­er­al meet­ing.

2 The writ­ten con­sent of all mem­bers to a pro­pos­al is equi­val­ent to a res­ol­u­tion of the gen­er­al meet­ing.

Art. 67  

b. Vot­ing rights and ma­jor­ity

 

1 All mem­bers have equal vot­ing rights at the gen­er­al meet­ing.

2 Res­ol­u­tions re­quire a ma­jor­ity of the votes of the mem­bers present.

3 Res­ol­u­tions may be taken on mat­ters for which prop­er no­tice has not been giv­en only where this is ex­pressly per­mit­ted by the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation.

Art. 68  

c. Ex­clu­sion from vot­ing

 

Each mem­ber is by law ex­cluded from vot­ing on any res­ol­u­tion con­cern­ing a trans­ac­tion or dis­pute between him or her, his or her spouse or a lin­eal re­l­at­ive on the one hand and the as­so­ci­ation on the oth­er.


Art. 69  

II. Com­mit­tee

1. Rights and du­ties in gen­er­al

 

1 The com­mit­tee is en­titled and ob­liged ac­cord­ing to the powers that it is gran­ted un­der the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation to man­age and rep­res­ent the as­so­ci­ation.

2 As­so­ci­ations that must be entered in the com­mer­cial re­gister must be able to be rep­res­en­ted by a per­son who is dom­i­ciled in Switzer­land. This per­son must have ac­cess to the list of mem­bers.91

91 In­ser­ted by An­nex 1 No 1 of the FA of 19 March 2021, in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2021 656; 2022 551; BBl 2019 5451).

Art. 69a92  

2. Ac­count­ing

 

The com­mit­tee shall main­tain the as­so­ci­ation’s busi­ness ledgers. The pro­vi­sions of the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions93 on com­mer­cial book­keep­ing and ac­count­ing ap­ply mu­tatis mutandis.

92 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on lim­ited li­ab­il­ity com­pan­ies and modi­fic­a­tions to the law on com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares, co­oper­at­ives, the com­mer­cial re­gister and com­pany names) (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969). Amended by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 23 Dec. 2011 (Ac­count­ing Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2012 6679; BBl 2008 1589).

93 SR 220

Art. 69b94  

III. Aud­it­ors

 

1 The as­so­ci­ation must sub­mit its ac­counts to a full audit by ex­tern­al aud­it­ors if two of the fol­low­ing fig­ures are ex­ceeded in two suc­cess­ive busi­ness years:

1.
total as­sets of CHF 10 mil­lion;
2.
turnover of CHF 20 mil­lion;
3.
av­er­age an­nu­al total of 50 full-time staff.

2The as­so­ci­ation must sub­mit its ac­counts to a lim­ited audit by ex­tern­al aud­it­ors if a mem­ber with per­son­al li­ab­il­ity or an ob­lig­a­tion to provide fur­ther cap­it­al so re­quests.

3The pro­vi­sions of the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions95 on ex­tern­al aud­it­ors for com­pan­ies ap­ply mu­tatis mutandis.

4 In all oth­er cases the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation and the gen­er­al meet­ing96 are free to make such audit­ing ar­range­ments as they deem fit.

94 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on lim­ited li­ab­il­ity com­pan­ies and modi­fic­a­tions to the law on com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares, co­oper­at­ives, the com­mer­cial re­gister and com­pany names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

95 SR 220

96 Cor­rec­ted by the Fed­er­al As­sembly Draft­ing Com­mit­tee (Art. 58 para. 1 ParlA; SR 171.10).

Art. 69c97  

IV. Or­gan­isa­tion­al de­fects

 

1 If the as­so­ci­ation lacks one of the pre­scribed gov­ern­ing bod­ies or the list of mem­bers in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 61a or if it is no longer leg­ally dom­i­ciled at its seat, a mem­ber or a cred­it­or may ap­ply to the court for an or­der that the ne­ces­sary meas­ures be taken.98

2 In par­tic­u­lar, the court may set the as­so­ci­ation a time lim­it in which to re­store the situ­ation re­quired by law and may, if ne­ces­sary, ap­point an ad­min­is­trat­or.

3 The as­so­ci­ation bears the cost of such meas­ures. The court may or­der the as­so­ci­ation to make an ad­vance pay­ment to the per­sons ap­poin­ted.

4 For good cause, the as­so­ci­ation may ap­ply to the court for the re­mov­al of the per­sons it ap­poin­ted.

97 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on lim­ited li­ab­il­ity com­pan­ies and modi­fic­a­tions to the law on com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares, co­oper­at­ives, the com­mer­cial re­gister and com­pany names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

98 Amended by An­nex 1 No 1 of the FA of 19 March 2021, in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2021 656; 2022 551; BBl 2019 5451).

Art. 69d99  

Bbis. Im­min­ent in­solv­ency and over­indebted­ness

 

For as­so­ci­ations that re­quire to be entered in the com­mer­cial re­gister, the pro­vi­sions of com­pany law on im­min­ent in­solv­ency and on over­indebted­ness and on the re­valu­ation of land, build­ings and equity par­ti­cip­a­tions ap­ply ac­cord­ingly.

99 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

Art. 70  

C. Mem­ber­ship

I. Ad­mis­sion, resig­na­tion

 

1 Mem­bers may be ad­mit­ted at any time.

2 All mem­bers have a leg­al right to resign sub­ject to six months’ no­tice ex­pir­ing at the end of the cal­en­dar year or, if an ad­min­is­trat­ive peri­od is provided for, at the end of such peri­od.

3 Mem­ber­ship is neither trans­fer­able nor her­it­able.


Art. 71100  

II. Duty to pay sub­scrip­tions

 

Mem­bers have a duty to pay sub­scrip­tions if the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation so provide.

100 Amended by No I of the FA of 17 Dec. 2004 (De­term­in­a­tion of Sub­scrip­tion Du­ties for As­so­ci­ation Mem­bers), in force since 1 June 2005 (AS 2005 2117; BBl 200448354843).

Art. 72  

III. Ex­clu­sion

 

1 The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may spe­cify the grounds on which a mem­ber may be ex­cluded, but ex­clu­sion may also oc­cur without reas­ons be­ing giv­en.

2 In such cases, the ex­clu­sion may not be chal­lenged based on the reas­ons.

3 Un­less the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation provide oth­er­wise, ex­clu­sion re­quires a res­ol­u­tion by the mem­bers and good cause.

Art. 73  

IV. Status of former mem­bers

 

1 Mem­bers who resign or are ex­cluded have no claim on the as­sets of the as­so­ci­ation.

2 They are li­able for the sub­scrip­tions due dur­ing the peri­od of their mem­ber­ship.

Art. 74  

V. Pro­tec­tion of the ob­jects of the as­so­ci­ation

 

No mem­ber may be forced against his or her will to ac­cept a change in the ob­jects of the as­so­ci­ation.

Art. 75  

VI. Pro­tec­tion of mem­bers

 

Any mem­ber who has not con­sen­ted to a res­ol­u­tion which in­fringes the law or the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation is en­titled by law to chal­lenge such res­ol­u­tion in court with­in one month of learn­ing there­of.

Art. 75a101  

Cbis. Li­ab­il­ity

 

The as­so­ci­ation is li­able for its ob­lig­a­tions with its as­sets. Such li­ab­il­ity is lim­ited to the as­sets un­less the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation provide oth­er­wise.

101 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 17 Dec. 2004 (De­term­in­a­tion of Sub­scrip­tion Du­ties for As­so­ci­ation Mem­bers), in force since 1 June 2005 (AS 2005 2117; BBl 200448354843).

Art. 76  

D. Dis­sol­u­tion

I. Man­ner of dis­sol­u­tion

1. By res­ol­u­tion

 

The as­so­ci­ation may be dis­solved at any time by res­ol­u­tion of the mem­bers.

Art. 77  

2. By op­er­a­tion of law

 

The as­so­ci­ation is dis­solved by op­er­a­tion of law if it is in­solv­ent or if the com­mit­tee may no longer be ap­poin­ted in ac­cord­ance with the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation.

Art. 78  

3. By court or­der

 

Where the ob­jects of the as­so­ci­ation are un­law­ful or im­mor­al, the com­pet­ent au­thor­ity or an in­ter­ested party may ap­ply for a court or­der of dis­sol­u­tion.

Art. 79  

II. De­le­tion from the com­mer­cial re­gister

 

Where the as­so­ci­ation is re­gistered, the com­mit­tee or the court shall in­form the com­mer­cial re­gis­trar of the dis­sol­u­tion so that the entry may be de­leted.

Chapter Three: Foundations

Art. 80  

A. Form­a­tion

I. In gen­er­al

 

A found­a­tion is es­tab­lished by the en­dow­ment of as­sets for a par­tic­u­lar pur­pose.

Art. 81  

II. Form of es­tab­lish­ment

 

1 A found­a­tion may be cre­ated by pub­lic deed or by test­a­ment­ary dis­pos­i­tion.102

2 The found­a­tion is entered in the com­mer­cial re­gister based on its charter and, as the case may be, in ac­cord­ance with any dir­ec­tions is­sued by the su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity, and the entry must in­dic­ate the mem­bers of the board of trust­ees.

3 The pro­bate au­thor­ity shall in­form the com­mer­cial re­gis­trar of the cre­ation of the found­a­tion by test­a­ment­ary dis­pos­i­tion.103

102 Amended by No I of the FA of 8 Oct. 2004 (Law on Found­a­tions), in force since 1 Jan. 2006 (AS 2005 4545; BBl 200381538191).

103 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 8 Oct. 2004 (Law on Found­a­tions), in force since 1 Jan. 2006 (AS 20054545; BBl 2003 81538191).

Art. 82  

III. Chal­lenge

 

A found­a­tion may be chal­lenged by the founder’s heirs or cred­it­ors in the same man­ner as a gift.

Art. 83104  

B. Or­gan­isa­tion

I. In gen­er­al

 

The found­a­tion charter shall stip­u­late the found­a­tion’s gov­ern­ing bod­ies and the man­ner in which it is to be ad­min­istered.

104 Amended by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on lim­ited li­ab­il­ity com­pan­ies and modi­fic­a­tions to the law on com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares, co­oper­at­ives, the com­mer­cial re­gister and com­pany names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

Art. 83a105  

II. Book­keep­ing

 

1 The su­preme gov­ern­ing body of the found­a­tion shall main­tain its busi­ness ledgers. The provisions of the Code of Obligations106on commercial bookkeeping and accounting applymutatis mutandis.

105 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 8 Oct. 2004 (Law on Found­a­tions) (AS 20054545; BBl 2003 81538191). Amended by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 23 Dec. 2011 (Ac­count­ing Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2012 6679; BBl 2008 1589).

106 SR 220

Art. 83b107  

III. Aud­it­ors

1. Duty of audit and ap­plic­able law

 

1 The board of trust­ees shall ap­point ex­tern­al aud­it­ors.

2 The su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity may ex­empt a found­a­tion from the duty to ap­point ex­tern­al aud­it­ors. The Fed­er­al Coun­cil de­term­ines the con­di­tions for such ex­emp­tion.

3 Where there are no spe­cial pro­vi­sions for found­a­tions, the pro­vi­sions of the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions108 on ex­tern­al aud­it­ors for pub­lic lim­ited com­pan­ies ap­ply mu­tatis mutandis.

4If the found­a­tion has a duty to carry out a lim­ited audit, the su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity may re­quire a full audit where ne­ces­sary for a re­li­able as­sess­ment of the found­a­tion’s fin­an­cial situ­ation.

107 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 8 Oct. 2004 (Law on Found­a­tions) (AS 2005 4545; BBl 200381538191). Amended by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on lim­ited li­ab­il­ity com­pan­ies and modi­fic­a­tions to the law on com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares, co­oper­at­ives, the com­mer­cial re­gister and com­pany names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

108 SR 220

Art. 83c109  

2. Su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity

 

The ex­tern­al aud­it­ors must provide the su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity with a copy of the audit re­port and all im­port­ant com­mu­nic­a­tions with the found­a­tion.

109 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on lim­ited li­ab­il­ity com­pan­ies and modi­fic­a­tions to the law on com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares, co­oper­at­ives, the com­mer­cial re­gister and com­pany names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

Art. 83d110  

IV. Or­gan­isa­tion­al de­fects

 

1 If the planned sys­tem of or­gan­isa­tion proves in­ad­equate, if the found­a­tion lacks one of the pre­scribed gov­ern­ing bod­ies or one such body is not law­fully con­sti­tuted, or if the found­a­tion is no longer leg­ally dom­i­ciled at its seat, the su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity must take the ne­ces­sary meas­ures. In par­tic­u­lar it may:111

1.
set a time lim­it with­in which the found­a­tion must re­store the leg­ally re­quired situ­ation; or
2.
ap­point the body which is lack­ing or an ad­min­is­trat­or.

2 In the event that the found­a­tion is un­able to or­gan­ise it­self ef­fect­ively, the su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity shall trans­fer its as­sets to an­oth­er found­a­tion with as sim­il­ar ob­jects as pos­sible.

3 The found­a­tion bears the cost of such meas­ures. The su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity may re­quire the found­a­tion to make an ad­vance pay­ment to the per­sons ap­poin­ted.

4 For good cause, the found­a­tion may re­quest the su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity to re­move per­sons whom it has ap­poin­ted.

110 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on lim­ited li­ab­il­ity com­pan­ies and modi­fic­a­tions to the law on com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares, co­oper­at­ives, the com­mer­cial re­gister and com­pany names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

111 Amended by An­nex No I of the FA of 17 March 2017 (Com­mer­cial Re­gister Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2021 (AS 2020 957; BBl 2015 3617).

Art. 84  

C. Su­per­vi­sion

 

1 Found­a­tions are su­per­vised by the state au­thor­ity (Con­fed­er­a­tion, can­ton, com­mune) to which they are as­signed.

1bis The can­tons may sub­ject found­a­tions at com­mun­al level to su­per­vi­sion at can­ton­al level.112

2 The su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity must en­sure that the found­a­tion’s as­sets are used for their de­clared pur­pose.

3 Be­ne­fi­ciar­ies or cred­it­ors of the found­a­tion, the founder, donors and cur­rent and former mem­bers of the found­a­tion board who have an in­terest in en­sur­ing that the ad­min­is­tra­tion of the found­a­tion com­plies with the law and the found­a­tion charter may ap­peal to the su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity against acts or omis­sions of the found­a­tion’s gov­ern­ing bod­ies.113

112 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 8 Oct. 2004 (Law on Found­a­tions), in force since 1 Jan. 2006 (AS 2005 4545; BBl 2003 81538191).

113 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 17 Dec. 2021 (Strength­en­ing Switzer­land as a Found­a­tion Loc­a­tion), in force since 1 Jan. 2024 (AS 2022 452; BBl 2021 485, 1169).

Art. 84a114  

Cbis. Im­min­ent in­solv­ency and over­indebted­ness

 

1 In the event of im­min­ent in­solv­ency or over­indebted­ness, the board of trust­ees must no­ti­fy the su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity im­me­di­ately.

2 If the ex­tern­al aud­it­ors es­tab­lish that the found­a­tion is in­solv­ent or over­indebted, they shall no­ti­fy the su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity.

3 The su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity shall dir­ect the board of trust­ees to take the ne­ces­sary meas­ures. If it fails to do so, the su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity shall take such meas­ures it­self or shall no­ti­fy the court.

4 The provisions of company law on establishing overindebtedness and on the revaluation of land, buildings and equity participations apply accordingly.

114 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 8 Oct. 2004 (Law on Found­a­tions) (AS 2005 4545; BBl 2003 81538191). Amended by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

Art. 84b115  

Cter. Dis­clos­ure of re­mu­ner­a­tion

 

The board of trust­ees must sep­ar­ately no­ti­fy the su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity an­nu­ally of the total amount of re­mu­ner­a­tion with­in the mean­ing of Art­icle 734a para­graph 2 of the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions116 that is paid, dir­ectly or in­dir­ectly, to the board of trust­ees and, if ap­plic­able, to the ex­ec­ut­ive board.

115 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 8 Oct. 2004 (Law on Found­a­tions) (AS 2005 4545; BBl 2003 81538191). Amended by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

116 SR 220

Art. 85118  

D. Modi­fic­a­tion of the found­a­tion

I. Re­or­gan­isa­tion at the re­quest of the su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity

 

At the re­quest of the su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity and hav­ing heard the board of trust­ees, the com­pet­ent fed­er­al or can­ton­al au­thor­ity may modi­fy the found­a­tion’s or­gan­isa­tion where such a step is ur­gently re­quired in or­der to pre­serve the found­a­tion’s as­sets or safe­guard the pur­suit of its ob­jects.


118 Amended by No I of the FA of 8 Oct. 2004 (Law on Found­a­tions), in force since 1 Jan. 2006 (AS 2005 4545; BBl 2003 81538191).

Art. 86  

II. Amend­ment of ob­jects at the re­quest of the su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity or the board of trust­ees

 

1 At the re­quest of the su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity or the board of trust­ees, the com­pet­ent fed­er­al or can­ton­al au­thor­ity may amend the ob­jects of the found­a­tion where the ori­gin­al ob­jects have altered in sig­ni­fic­ance or ef­fect to such an ex­tent that the found­a­tion has plainly be­come es­tranged from the founder’s in­ten­tions.120

2 Sub­ject to the same re­quire­ments, con­di­tions that are det­ri­ment­al to the ob­jects of the found­a­tion may be re­voked or amended.

120 Amended by No I of the FA of 8 Oct. 2004 (Law of Found­a­tions), in force since 1 Jan. 2006 (AS 2005 4545; BBl 2003 81538191).

Art. 86a122  

III. Amend­ment of ob­jects or or­gan­isa­tion­al form as a res­ult of a re­ser­va­tion by the founder

 

1 The com­pet­ent fed­er­al or can­ton­al au­thor­ity shall amend the ob­jects of the found­a­tion or its or­gan­isa­tion­al form at the founder’s re­quest or in ac­cord­ance with his or her test­a­ment­ary dis­pos­i­tion, provided that the charter re­serves the right to amend the ob­jects or the or­gan­isa­tion­al form and that at least ten years have elapsed since the found­a­tion was es­tab­lished or since the last amend­ment to the ob­jects or the or­gan­isa­tion­al form was re­ques­ted by the founder. The lim­it­a­tion peri­ods run in­de­pend­ently of each oth­er.123

2 Where the found­a­tion pur­sues pub­lic or char­it­able ob­jects with­in the mean­ing of Art­icle 56 let­ter g of the Fed­er­al Act of 14 Decem­ber 1990 on Dir­ect Fed­er­al Tax­a­tion124, such new ob­jects must like­wise be pub­lic or char­it­able.

3 The right to amend a found­a­tion’s ob­jects or or­gan­isa­tion­al form is neither trans­fer­able nor her­it­able.125 If the founder is a leg­al en­tity, the right ex­tin­guishes at the latest 20 years after the es­tab­lish­ment of the found­a­tion.

4 Joint founders may only jointly re­quest an amend­ment of the found­a­tion’s ob­jects or or­gan­isa­tion­al form.126

5 The pro­bate au­thor­ity shall in­form the com­pet­ent au­thor­ity of any test­a­ment­ary dis­pos­i­tion con­cern­ing the amend­ment of the found­a­tion’s ob­jects or or­gan­isa­tion­al form.127

122 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 8 Oct. 2004 (Law of Found­a­tions), in force since 1 Jan. 2006 (AS 2005 4545; BBl 2003 81538191).

123 Amended by No I of the FA of 17 Dec. 2021 (Strength­en­ing Switzer­land as a Found­a­tion Loc­a­tion), in force since 1 Jan. 2024 (AS 2022 452; BBl 2021 485, 1169).

124 SR 642.11

125 Amended by No I of the FA of 17 Dec. 2021 (Strength­en­ing Switzer­land as a Found­a­tion Loc­a­tion), in force since 1 Jan. 2024 (AS 2022 452; BBl 2021 485, 1169).

126 Amended by No I of the FA of 17 Dec. 2021 (Strength­en­ing Switzer­land as a Found­a­tion Loc­a­tion), in force since 1 Jan. 2024 (AS 2022 452; BBl 2021 485, 1169).

127 Amended by No I of the FA of 17 Dec. 2021 (Strength­en­ing Switzer­land as a Found­a­tion Loc­a­tion), in force since 1 Jan. 2024 (AS 2022 452; BBl 2021 485, 1169).

Art. 86b128  

IV. Minor amend­ments to the charter

 

Hav­ing heard the board of trust­ees, the su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity may make minor amend­ments to the found­a­tion charter provided these are ob­ject­ively jus­ti­fied and do not im­pair the rights of any third party.

128 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 8 Oct. 2004 (Law of Found­a­tions) (AS 2005 4545; BBl 2003 81538191). Amended by No I of the FA of 17 Dec. 2021 (Strength­en­ing Switzer­land as a Found­a­tion Loc­a­tion), in force since 1 Jan. 2024 (AS 2022 452; BBl 2021 485, 1169).

Art. 86c129  

V. Form of the amend­ments

 

Amend­ments to the found­a­tion charter in ac­cord­ance with Art­icles 85–86b shall be sub­ject to a rul­ing from the com­pet­ent fed­er­al or can­ton­al au­thor­ity from the su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity. A pub­lic deed is not re­quired for the amend­ments.

129 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 17 Dec. 2021 (Strength­en­ing Switzer­land as a Found­a­tion Loc­a­tion), in force since 1 Jan. 2024 (AS 2022 452; BBl 2021 485, 1169).

Art. 87  

E. Fam­ily and ec­cle­si­ast­ic­al found­a­tions

 

1 Fam­ily and ec­cle­si­ast­ic­al found­a­tions are not sub­ject to su­per­vi­sion, un­less oth­er­wise provided by pub­lic law.

1bis They are ex­empt from the duty to ap­point ex­tern­al aud­it­ors.130

2 Private law dis­putes are de­cided by the courts.

130 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 8 Oct. 2004 (Law of Found­a­tions), in force since 1 Jan. 2006 (AS 2005 4545; BBl 2003 81538191).

Art. 88131  

F. Dis­sol­u­tion and de­le­tion from the re­gister

I. Dis­sol­u­tion by the com­pet­ent au­thor­ity

 

1 The com­pet­ent fed­er­al or can­ton­al au­thor­ity shall dis­solve the found­a­tion on ap­plic­a­tion or of its own ac­cord if:

1.
its ob­jects have be­come un­at­tain­able and the found­a­tion can­not be main­tained by modi­fy­ing its charter; or
2.
its ob­jects have be­come un­law­ful or im­mor­al.

2 Fam­ily and ec­cle­si­ast­ic­al found­a­tions shall be dis­solved by court or­der.


131 Amended by No I of the FA of 8 Oct. 2004 (Law of Found­a­tions), in force since 1 Jan. 2006 (AS 2005 4545; BBl 2003 81538191).

Art. 89132  

II. Right to ap­ply for dis­sol­u­tion, de­le­tion from the re­gister

 

1 Any in­ter­ested party may file an ap­plic­a­tion or bring an ac­tion for the dis­sol­u­tion of a found­a­tion.

2 Dis­sol­u­tion must be re­por­ted to the com­mer­cial re­gis­trar so that the entry may be de­leted.

132 Amended by No I of the FA of 8 Oct. 2004 (Law of Found­a­tions), in force since 1 Jan. 2006 (AS 2005 4545; BBl 2003 81538191).

Art. 89a134  

G. Em­ploy­ee be­ne­fits schemes

 

1 The fol­low­ing ad­di­tion­al pro­vi­sions ap­ply to em­ploy­ee be­ne­fits schemes es­tab­lished in ac­cord­ance with Art. 331 of the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions135 in the form of a found­a­tion.136

2 The found­a­tion’s gov­ern­ing bod­ies must fur­nish the be­ne­fi­ciar­ies with the ne­ces­sary in­form­a­tion con­cern­ing the found­a­tion’s or­gan­isa­tion, activ­it­ies and as­sets.

3 If em­ploy­ees pay con­tri­bu­tions in­to the be­ne­fits scheme, they are en­titled to par­ti­cip­ate in its ad­min­is­tra­tion at least in pro­por­tion to their con­tri­bu­tions; wherever pos­sible, the em­ploy­ees must elect their rep­res­ent­at­ive from among their em­ploy­er’s per­son­nel.137

4 ...138

5 The be­ne­fi­ciar­ies may sue the found­a­tion for the dis­tri­bu­tion of be­ne­fits if they have paid con­tri­bu­tions in­to it or if ac­cord­ing to the found­a­tion’s reg­u­la­tions they have a leg­al en­ti­tle­ment to such be­ne­fits.

6 For em­ploy­ee be­ne­fits schemes provid­ing old age, sur­viv­ors’ and in­valid­ity pen­sions which are sub­ject to the Ves­ted Be­ne­fits Act of 17 Decem­ber 1993139 (VBA), the pro­vi­sions of the Fed­er­al Act of 25 June 1982 on Oc­cu­pa­tion­al Old Age, Sur­viv­ors’ and In­valid­ity Pen­sion Pro­vi­sion (OPA)140 on the fol­low­ing mat­ters ap­ply:141

1.142
the defin­i­tion and prin­ciples of oc­cu­pa­tion­al pen­sion ar­range­ments and the in­sur­able salary or in­come (Art. 1, 33a and 33b);
2.143
the re­quire­ment of be­ing sub­ject to OASI (Art. 5 para. 1);
2a.144
the draw­ing of re­tire­ment be­ne­fits (Art. 13 para. 2, Art. 13a and 13b),
3.
the be­ne­fi­ciar­ies in the case of sur­viv­ors’ be­ne­fits (Art. 20a);
3a.145
the ad­just­ment of the in­valid­ity pen­sion fol­low­ing the equit­able di­vi­sion of oc­cu­pa­tion­al pen­sions (Art. 24 para. 5);
3b.146
the pro­vi­sion­al con­tinu­ation of in­sur­ance and of the en­ti­tle­ment to be­ne­fits on the re­duc­tion or ter­min­a­tion of the in­valid­ity pen­sion (Art. 26a);
4.147
the ad­just­ment of plan be­ne­fits to in­fla­tion (Art. 36 para. 2–4);
4a.148 the agree­ment on a lump sum pay­ment (Art. 37a);
4b.149
the meas­ures in the case of neg­lect of main­ten­ance ob­lig­a­tions (Art. 40);
5.
the pre­scrip­tion of claims and the safe­keep­ing of in­sur­ance doc­u­ments (Art. 41);
5a.150
the use, pro­cessing and dis­clos­ure of the OASI num­ber (Art. 48 para. 4, Art. 85a lit. f and Art. 86apara. 2 lit. bbis);
6.
li­ab­il­ity (Art. 52);
7.151
the li­cens­ing and du­ties of the su­per­vis­ory bod­ies
(Art. 52a–52e);
8.152
the in­teg­rity and loy­alty of the per­sons re­spons­ible, trans­ac­tions with close as­so­ci­ates and con­flicts of in­terest
(Art. 51b, 51c and 53a);
9.
par­tial or total li­quid­a­tion (Art. 53b–53d);
10.153
ter­min­a­tion of con­tracts (Art. 53e–53f);
11.154
the guar­an­tee fund (Art. 56 para. 1 let. c and i and para. 2–5, Art. 56a, 57 and 59);
12.155
su­per­vi­sion and over­sight (Art. 61–62a and 64–64c);
13.156
...
14.157
fin­an­cial se­cur­ity (Art. 65 para. 1, 3 and 4, Art. 66 para. 4, Art. 67 and Art. 72a–72g);
15.
trans­par­ency (Art. 65a);
16.158
re­serves and fluc­tu­ation re­serves (Art. 65b);
17.
in­sur­ance con­tracts between oc­cu­pa­tion­al be­ne­fits schemes and in­sur­ance in­sti­tu­tions (Art. 68 para. 3 and 4);
18.159
as­set man­age­ment (Art. 71) and the share­hold­er’s re­quire­ment to vote (Art. 71a and 71b);
19.
leg­al re­course (Art. 73 and 74);
20.
crim­in­al pro­vi­sions (Art. 75–79);
21.
buy-in (Art. 79b);
22.
in­sur­able salary and in­come (Art. 79c);
23.
pro­vi­sion of in­form­a­tion to in­sured per­sons (Art. 86b).160

7 For em­ploy­ee be­ne­fits schemes provid­ing old age, sur­viv­ors’ and in­valid­ity pen­sions but which are not sub­ject to the VBA, such as em­ploy­er-sponsored wel­fare funds with dis­cre­tion­ary be­ne­fits and fin­an­cing found­a­tions, only the fol­low­ing pro­vi­sions of the OPA ap­ply:

1.
the re­quire­ment of be­ing sub­ject to OASI (Art. 5 para. 1);
2.
the use, pro­cessing and dis­clos­ure of the OASI num­ber (Art. 48 para. 4, 85a let. f and 86a para. 2 let. bbis);
3.
li­ab­il­ity (Art. 52);
4.
the li­cens­ing and du­ties of the aud­it­ors (Art. 52a, 52b and 52cpara. 1 let. a–d and g, 2 and 3);
5.
the in­teg­rity and loy­alty of the per­sons re­spons­ible, trans­ac­tions with close as­so­ci­ates and con­flicts of in­terest (Art. 51b, 51c and 53a);
6.
total li­quid­a­tion (Art. 53c);
7.
su­per­vi­sion and over­sight (Art. 61–62a and 64–64b);
8.
leg­al re­course (Art. 73 and 74);
9.
crim­in­al pro­vi­sions (Art. 75–79);
10.
tax treat­ment (Art. 80, 81 para. 1 and 83).161

8 For em­ploy­ee be­ne­fits schemes un­der para­graph 7, the fol­low­ing pro­vi­sions also ap­ply:

1.
they man­age their as­sets so that se­cur­ity, an ad­equate yield on in­vest­ments and the re­quired li­quid­ity for their tasks are guar­an­teed.
2.
the su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity shall rule on par­tial li­quid­a­tion mat­ters re­lated to em­ploy­er-sponsored wel­fare funds with dis­cre­tion­ary be­ne­fits at the re­quest of the found­a­tion board.
3.
they shall re­spect the prin­ciples of equal treat­ment and fair­ness mu­tatis mutandis.162

134In­ser­ted by No II of the FA of 21 March 1958, in force since 1 Ju­ly 1958 (AS 1958 379; BBl 1956 II 825). Ori­gin­ally Art. 89bis, un­til the entry in­to force of the FA of 19 Dec. 2008 (Adult Pro­tec­tion Law, Law of Per­sons and Law of Chil­dren), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2011 725; BBl 20067001).

135SR 220

136Amended by No II Art. 2 No 1 of the FA of 25 June 1971, in force since 1 Jan. 1972 (AS 1971 1465; BBl 1967 II 241).

137Amended by No II Art. 2 No 1 of the FA of 25 June 1971, in force since 1 Jan. 1972 (AS 1971 1465; BBl 1967 II 241).

138Re­pealed by No III of the FA of 21 June 1996, with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 1997 (AS 1996 3067; BBl 1996 I 564580).

139 SR 831.42

140 SR 831.40

141 Amended by No I of the FA of 25 Sept. 2015 (Em­ploy­ee Be­ne­fits Schemes), in force since 1 April 2016 (AS 2016 935; BBl 2014 61436649).

142 Amended by No II 1 of the FA of 11 Dec. 2009 (Meas­ures to Fa­cil­it­ate the Em­ploy­ment of Older Per­sons), in force since 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 4427; BBl 2007 5669).

143 Amended by No I of the FA of 25 Sept. 2015 (Em­ploy­ee Be­ne­fits Schemes), in force since 1 April 2016 (AS 2016 935; BBl 2014 61436649).

144 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 17 Dec. 2021 (OASI 21), in force since 1 Jan. 2024 (AS 2023 92; BBl 2019 6305).

145 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 2 of the FA of 18 March 2011 (6th InvI Re­vi­sion, first set of meas­ures) (AS 2011 5659; BBl 2010 1817). Amended by No I of the FA of 19 June 2015 (Equit­able Di­vi­sion of Pen­sions on Di­vorce), in force since 1 Jan. 2017 (AS 2016 2313; BBl 2013 4887).

146 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 19 June 2015 (Equit­able Di­vi­sion of Pen­sions on Di­vorce), in force since 1 Jan. 2017 (AS 2016 2313; BBl 2013 4887).

147 Amended by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 18 June 2004, in force since 1 Jan. 2005 (AS 2004 4635; BBl 20036399).

148 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 19 June 2015 (Equit­able Di­vi­sion of Pen­sions on Di­vorce), in force since 1 Jan. 2017 (AS 2016 2313; BBl 2013 4887).

149 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 20 March 2015 (Child Main­ten­ance), in force since 1 Jan. 2022 (AS 2015 4299, 2020 5; BBl 2014529).

150 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 23 June 2006 (New OASI In­sur­ance Num­ber), in force since 1 Dec. 2007 (AS 2007 5259; BBl 2006 501).

151 Amended by No II 1 of the FA of 19 March 2010 (OPA Struc­tur­al Re­form), in force since 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 3393; BBl 2007 5669).

152 Amended by No II 1 of the FA of 19 March 2010 (OPA Struc­tur­al Re­form), in force since 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 3393; BBl 2007 5669).

153 Amended by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 17 June 2022 (Mod­ern­isa­tion of Su­per­vi­sion), in force since 1 Jan. 2024 (AS 2023 688; BBl 20201).

154 Amended by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 17 June 2022 (Mod­ern­isa­tion of Su­per­vi­sion), in force since 1 Jan. 2024 (AS 2023 688; BBl 20201).

155 Amended by No II 1 of the FA of 19 March 2010 (OPA Struc­tur­al Re­form), in force since 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 3393; BBl 2007 5669).

156 Re­pealed by No II 1 of the FA of 19 March 2010 (OPA Struc­tur­al Re­form), with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 3393; BBl 2007 5669).

157 Amended by No II 1 of the FA of 17 Dec. 2010 (Fund­ing of be­ne­fits schemes for pub­lic cor­por­a­tions), in force since 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 3385; BBl 2008 8411).

158 Amended by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 17 June 2022 (Mod­ern­isa­tion of Su­per­vi­sion), in force since 1 Jan. 2024 (AS 2023 688; BBl 20201).

159 Amended by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

160In­ser­ted by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 25 June 1982 on Old Age, Sur­viv­ors’ and Dis­ab­il­ity In­sur­ance (AS 1983 797; BBl 1976I 149). Amended by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 3 Oct. 2003 (1st re­vi­sion of OPA), No 6, 7, 10–12, 14(with the ex­cep­tion of Art. 66 para. 4), 15, 17–20 and 23 in force since 1 April 2004, No 3–5, 8, 9, 13, 14(Art. 66 para. 4) and 16 in force since 1 Jan. 2005, No 1, 21and 22 in force since 1 Jan. 2006 (AS 2004 1677; BBl 2000 2637).

161 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 25 Sept. 2015 (Em­ploy­ee Be­ne­fits Schemes), in force since 1 April 2016 (AS 2016 935; BBl 2014 61436649).

162 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 25 Sept. 2015 (Em­ploy­ee Be­ne­fits Schemes), in force since 1 April 2016 (AS 2016 935; BBl 2014 61436649).

Title Two : Collective Assetsbis163164

163 Corrected by the Federal Assembly Drafting Committee (Art. 58 Abs. 1 ParlA; SR 171.10).

164 Inserted by No I 2 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2008 (Adult Protection Law, Law of Persons and Law of Children), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2011 725; BBl 20067001).

Art. 89b  

A. No man­age­ment

 

1 In the case of a pub­lic col­lec­tion for char­it­able pur­poses, if no ar­range­ments have been made for the man­age­ment or use of the col­lect­ive as­sets, the com­pet­ent au­thor­ity shall take the re­quired meas­ures.

2 It may ap­point an ad­min­is­trat­or for the col­lect­ive as­sets or al­loc­ate the as­sets to an as­so­ci­ation or a found­a­tion with ob­jects that are as sim­il­ar as pos­sible.

3 The ad­min­is­trat­or is sub­ject, mu­tatis mutandis, to the reg­u­la­tions on deputy­ships in con­text of adult pro­tec­tion.

Art. 89c  

B. Jur­is­dic­tion

 

1 The can­ton in which the main part of the col­lect­ive is man­aged has jur­is­dic­tion.

2 Un­less the can­ton provides oth­er­wise, the au­thor­ity that su­per­vises the found­a­tions has jur­is­dic­tion.

Part Two: Family Law

Division One: Marital Law

Title Three: Marriage165

165 Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 26 June 1998, in force since 1 Jan. 2000 (AS 1999 1118; BBl 1996 I 1).

Chapter One: Engagement

Art. 90  

A. Be­troth­al

 

1 En­gage­ment is con­sti­tuted by mu­tu­al prom­ises to marry.

2 Minors in­cur no ob­lig­a­tion through be­troth­al without the con­sent of their leg­al rep­res­ent­at­ive.166

3 En­gage­ment does not give rise to any ac­tion­able ob­lig­a­tion to marry.

166 Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2008 (Adult Pro­tec­tion Law, Law of Per­sons and Law of Chil­dren), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2011 725; BBl 20067001).

Art. 91  

B. End­ing the en­gage­ment

I. Gifts

 

1 If the en­gage­ment is ended, the en­gaged parties may de­mand the re­turn of gifts made to each oth­er, with the ex­cep­tion of the usu­al oc­ca­sion­al gifts, un­less the en­gage­ment has ended as a res­ult of death.

2 Where such gifts are no longer at hand, resti­tu­tion is sub­ject to the pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing un­just en­rich­ment.

Art. 92167  

II. Duty to con­trib­ute

 

If one of the en­gaged couple has in good faith in­curred ex­pense in an­ti­cip­a­tion of the mar­riage ce­re­mony and the en­gage­ment is then ended, he or she may claim a reas­on­able con­tri­bu­tion from the oth­er where this is not in­equit­able in the over­all cir­cum­stances.

167 Amended by No I of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

Art. 93  

III. Pre­scrip­tion

 

Claims arising from the en­gage­ment pre­scribe one year from the end­ing of the en­gage­ment.

Chapter Two: Requirements for Marriage

Art. 94168  

A. Ca­pa­city to marry

 

Mar­riage may be entered in­to by two per­son who have reached 18 years of age and have ca­pa­city of judge­ment.

168 Amended by No I of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

Art. 95  

B. Im­ped­i­ments

I. Kin­ship

 

1 Mar­riage between lin­eal re­l­at­ives and between sib­lings or half-sib­lings, wheth­er re­lated to each oth­er by par­ent­age or ad­op­tion, is pro­hib­ited.170

2 Ad­op­tion does not re­move the im­ped­i­ment to mar­riage con­sti­tuted by kin­ship between the ad­op­ted child and his is­sue on the one hand and his ad­opt­ive fam­ily on the oth­er.

170 Amended by An­nex No 8 of the Civil Part­ner­ships Act of 18 June 2004, in force since 1 Jan. 2006 (AS 20055685; BBl 20031288).

Art. 96171  

II. Pre­vi­ous mar­riage or re­gistered part­ner­ship

 

A per­son wish­ing to marry must prove that any pre­vi­ous mar­riage or any re­gistered part­ner­ship with a third party has been an­nulled or dis­solved.

171 Amended by No I of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

Chapter Three: Preparation and Wedding Ceremony

Art. 97  

A. Gen­er­al prin­ciples

 

1 The wed­ding ce­re­mony takes place in the pres­ence of the civil re­gis­trar after the pre­par­at­ory pro­ced­ure has been taken.

2 The en­gaged couple may marry in the civil re­gister dis­trict of their choice.

3 No re­li­gious wed­ding ce­re­mony is per­mit­ted pri­or to the civil ce­re­mony.

Art. 97a172  

Abis. Cir­cum­ven­tion of the le­gis­la­tion on for­eign na­tion­als

 

1 The civil re­gis­trar shall not con­sider a re­quest for mar­riage if either of the pro­spect­ive spouses clearly has no in­ten­tion of liv­ing with the oth­er but wishes to cir­cum­vent the pro­vi­sions on the ad­mis­sion and res­id­ence of for­eign na­tion­als.

2 The civil re­gis­trar shall grant a hear­ing to the pro­spect­ive spouses and may ob­tain in­form­a­tion from oth­er au­thor­it­ies or third parties.

172 In­ser­ted by An­nex No II 4 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 on For­eign Na­tion­als (AS 20075437; BBl 20023709). Amended by No I of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

Art. 98  

B. Pre­par­at­ory pro­ced­ure

I. Re­quest

 

1 The pre­par­at­ory pro­ced­ure shall be car­ried out at the civil re­gister of­fice at the dom­i­cile of either of the pro­spect­ive spouses at their re­quest.173

2 They must ap­pear in per­son. If they may show that they clearly can­not be re­quired to do so, the pre­par­at­ory pro­ced­ure may be car­ried out in writ­ing.

3They must fur­nish doc­u­ment­ary proof of iden­tity and per­son­ally de­clare at the civil re­gister of­fice that they sat­is­fy the leg­al re­quire­ments for mar­riage; they must also pro­duce any ne­ces­sary con­sent.

4 En­gaged couples who are not Swiss cit­izens must prove dur­ing the pre­par­at­ory pro­ced­ure that they are law­fully res­id­ent in Switzer­land.174

173 Amended by No I of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

174 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 12 June 2009 (Pre­ven­tion of Mar­riages in the event of Un­law­ful Res­id­ence), in force since 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 3057; BBl 2008 24672481).

Art. 99  

II. Con­duct and com­ple­tion of the pre­par­at­ory pro­ced­ure

 

1 The civil re­gister of­fice veri­fies that:

1.
the re­quest has been duly sub­mit­ted;
2.
the iden­tity of the en­gaged couple has been es­tab­lished; and
3.175
the re­quire­ments for mar­riage are sat­is­fied, and in par­tic­u­lar wheth­er there are any cir­cum­stances that sug­gest that the re­quest clearly does not re­flect the free will of the en­gaged couple.

2 Provided these re­quire­ments are ful­filled, the civil re­gister of­fice shall in­form the be­trothed parties that the pre­par­at­ory pro­ced­ure has been com­pleted and of the leg­ally pre­scribed time lim­its for hold­ing the wed­ding ce­re­mony.176

3 After con­sult­ing the en­gaged couple and in con­form­ity with can­ton­al reg­u­la­tions, the civil re­gister of­fice sets the date of the wed­ding ce­re­mony or, upon re­quest, au­thor­ises that it may be con­duc­ted in an­oth­er civil re­gister dis­trict.

4 The civil re­gister of­fice must in­form the com­pet­ent au­thor­ity of the iden­tity of any en­gaged couple who have not proven that they are law­fully res­id­ent in Switzer­land.177

175 Amended by No I 3 of the FA of 15 June 2012 on Meas­ures against Forced Mar­riages, in force since 1 Ju­ly 2013 (AS 2013 1035; BBl 2011 2185).

176 Amended by No I of the FA of 28 Sept. 2018, in force since 1 Jan. 2020 (AS 2019 3813; BBl 2017 6769).

177 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 12 June 2009 (Pre­ven­tion of Mar­riages in the event of Un­law­ful Res­id­ence), in force since 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 3057; BBl 2008 24672481).

Art. 100178  

III. Time lim­its

 

The wed­ding ce­re­mony may take place with­in three months fol­low­ing no­ti­fic­a­tion of com­ple­tion of the pre­par­at­ory pro­ced­ure.

178 Amended by No I of the FA of 28 Sept. 2018, in force since 1 Jan. 2020 (AS 2019 3813; BBl 2017 6769).

Art. 101  

C. Wed­ding ce­re­mony

I. Ven­ue

 

1 The wed­ding ce­re­mony takes place at the wed­ding ven­ue of the civil re­gister dis­trict chosen by the en­gaged couple.

2 Where the pre­par­at­ory pro­ced­ure was con­duc­ted in a dif­fer­ent civil re­gister dis­trict, the en­gaged couple must pro­duce a mar­riage li­cence.

3 If the en­gaged couple show that they can­not reas­on­ably be re­quired to ap­pear at the of­fi­cial ven­ue, the wed­ding may take place at an­oth­er loc­a­tion.

Art. 102  

II. Form

 

1 A wed­ding is a pub­lic ce­re­mony that takes place in the pres­ence of two adult wit­nesses who are cap­able of judge­ment.179

2 The civil re­gis­trar asks the pro­spect­ive spouses in­di­vidu­ally wheth­er each wishes to marry the oth­er.180

3 If both an­swer in the af­firm­at­ive, they are pro­nounced mar­ried by mu­tu­al con­sent.

179 Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2008 (Adult Pro­tec­tion Law, Law of Per­sons and Law of Chil­dren), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2011 725; BBl 20067001).

180 Amended by No I of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

Art. 103  

D. Im­ple­ment­ing pro­vi­sions

 

The Fed­er­al Coun­cil and, with­in the scope of their powers, the can­tons shall en­act the ne­ces­sary im­ple­ment­ing pro­vi­sions.

Chapter Four: Annulment of Marriage

Art. 104  

A. Gen­er­al prin­ciple

 

A mar­riage con­trac­ted be­fore a civil re­gis­trar may be an­nulled only on one of the grounds provided in this chapter.

Art. 105  

B. An­nul­ment not sub­ject to a time lim­it

I. Grounds

 

Grounds for an­nul­ment are:

1.181
that one of the spouses was already mar­ried or liv­ing in a re­gistered part­ner­ship with a third party at the time of the wed­ding and the pre­vi­ous mar­riage or re­gistered part­ner­ship has not been dis­solved;
2.
that one of the spouses lacked ca­pa­city of judge­ment at the time of the wed­ding and has not re­gained such ca­pa­city since;
3.182
that the mar­riage was pro­hib­ited due to kin­ship;
4.183
one of the spouses has no in­ten­tion of liv­ing with the oth­er, but wishes to cir­cum­vent the pro­vi­sions on the ad­mis­sion and res­id­ence of for­eign na­tion­als;
5.184
a spouse has not mar­ried of his or her own free will;
6.185
one of the spouses is a minor, un­less the con­tinu­ation of the mar­riage is in the over­rid­ing in­terest of this spouse.

181 Amended by No I of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

182 Amended by No 8 of the Civil Part­ner­ships Act of 18 June 2004, in force since 1 Jan. 2006 (AS 20055685; BBl 20031288).

183 In­ser­ted by An­nex No II 4 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 on For­eign Na­tion­als, in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 20075437; BBl 20023709).

184 In­ser­ted by No I 3 of the FA of 15 June 2012 on Meas­ures against Forced Mar­riages, in force since 1 Ju­ly 2013 (AS 2013 1035; BBl 2011 2185).

185 In­ser­ted by No I 3 of the FA of 15 June 2012 on Meas­ures against Forced Mar­riages, in force since 1 Ju­ly 2013 (AS 2013 1035; BBl 2011 2185).

Art. 106  

II. Ac­tion for an­nul­ment

 

1 An ac­tion for an­nul­ment is brought ex of­fi­cio by the com­pet­ent can­ton­al au­thor­ity at the dom­i­cile of the spouses; in ad­di­tion, any in­ter­ested party is en­titled to bring such ac­tion. Provided this is com­pat­ible with their du­ties, the fed­er­al and can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies shall con­tact the au­thor­ity com­pet­ent for the ac­tion if they have reas­on to be­lieve that there are grounds for an­nul­ment.186

2 If the mar­riage has been oth­er­wise dis­solved, the au­thor­ity may no longer seek an an­nul­ment ex of­fi­cio; however, any in­ter­ested party may seek a de­clar­a­tion of an­nul­ment.

3 An ac­tion for an­nul­ment may be brought at any time.

186 Last sen­tence in­ser­ted by No I 3 of the FA of 15 June 2012 on Meas­ures against Forced Mar­riages, in force since 1 Ju­ly 2013 (AS 2013 1035; BBl 2011 2185).

Art. 107  

C. An­nul­ment sub­ject to a time lim­it

I. Grounds

 

A spouse may seek a de­clar­a­tion of an­nul­ment if he or she:

1.
tem­por­ar­ily lacked ca­pa­city of judge­ment at the time of the wed­ding;
2.
mar­ried in er­ror, wheth­er be­cause he or she did not wish to marry at all or did not wish to marry the oth­er per­son;
3.
con­trac­ted the mar­riage be­cause he or she was in­ten­tion­ally de­ceived with re­gard to es­sen­tial per­son­al at­trib­utes of the oth­er spouse;
4.187
...

187 Re­pealed by No I 3 of the FA of 15 June 2012 on Meas­ures against Forced– Mar­riages, with ef­fect from 1 Ju­ly 2013 (AS 2013 1035; BBl 2011 2185).

Art. 108  

II. Ac­tion for an­nul­ment

 

1 An ac­tion for an­nul­ment must be brought with­in six months of learn­ing of the grounds for an­nul­ment or of the date on which the threat ceased, but in any event with­in five years of the wed­ding.

2 The right to bring an ac­tion for an­nul­ment does not pass to heirs; however, an heir may con­tin­ue an ac­tion already brought.

Art. 109  

D. Ef­fects of judg­ment

 

1 A mar­riage does not be­come in­val­id un­til a court has de­clared it an­nulled; pri­or to such judg­ment it has all the ef­fects of a val­id mar­riage with the ex­cep­tion of claims un­der in­her­it­ance law, which in any event the sur­viv­ing spouse loses.

2 The pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing di­vorce ap­ply mu­tatis mutandis to the ef­fects of a court de­clar­a­tion of an­nul­ment on the spouses and their chil­dren.

3 The pre­sump­tion of pa­tern­ity in fa­vour of the hus­band does not ap­ply if the mar­riage is an­nulled be­cause it served to cir­cum­vent the pro­vi­sions on the ad­mis­sion and res­id­ence of for­eign na­tion­als.188

188 In­ser­ted by An­nex No II 4 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 on For­eign Na­tion­als, in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 20075437; BBl 20023709).

Art. 110189  
 

189 Re­pealed by An­nex 1 No II 3 of the Civil Pro­ced­ure Code of 19 Dec. 2008, with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 1739; BBl 2006 7221).

Title Four: Divorce and Separation190

190 Amended by No I 3 of the FA of 26 June 1998, in force since 1 Jan. 2000 (AS 1999 1118; BBl 1996 I 1).

Chapter One: Requirements for Divorce

Art. 111191  

A. Di­vorce by joint re­quest

I. Com­pre­hens­ive agree­ment

 

1 Where the spouses jointly re­quest di­vorce and sub­mit a com­pre­hens­ive agree­ment on the con­sequences of the di­vorce along with any ne­ces­sary doc­u­ments and with joint ap­plic­a­tions in re­spect of the chil­dren, the court shall hear the spouses both sep­ar­ately and to­geth­er. The hear­ing may com­prise two or more ses­sions.

2 If the court is per­suaded that de­sire for di­vorce and the agree­ment are the product of free will and care­ful re­flec­tion and that the agree­ment with the ap­plic­a­tions in re­spect of the chil­dren may be ap­proved, the court shall is­sue the di­vorce de­cree.

191 Amended by No I of the FA of 25 Sept. 2009 (Re­flec­tion Peri­od in Di­vorce Pro­ceed­ings by joint Ap­plic­a­tion), in force since 1 Feb. 2010 (AS 2010 281; BBl 200819591975).

Art. 112  

II. Par­tial agree­ment

 

1 The spouses may jointly re­quest di­vorce and ask the court to de­cide mat­ters on which they can­not reach agree­ment.

2 As in the case of com­pre­hens­ive agree­ment, the court shall hear the parties on those con­sequences of the di­vorce on which they have reached agree­ment and on their re­quest that the re­main­ing con­sequences be de­cided by the court.

3 ...192

192 Re­pealed by An­nex 1 No II 3 of the Civil Pro­ced­ure Code of 19 Dec. 2008, with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 1739; BBl 2006 7221).

Art. 113193  
 

193 Re­pealed by An­nex 1 No II 3 of the Civil Pro­ced­ure Code of 19 Dec. 2008, with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 1739; BBl 2006 7221).

Art. 114194  

B. Di­vorce at the pe­ti­tion of one spouse

I. After liv­ing apart

 

A spouse may pe­ti­tion for di­vorce if, at the time the pe­ti­tion is filed or at the time the di­vorce re­quest is re­placed by a di­vorce pe­ti­tion, the spouses have lived apart for at least two years.

194 Amended by No I of the FA of 19 Dec. 2003 (Sep­ar­a­tion Peri­od in Di­vorce Law), in force since 1 June 2004 (AS 2004 2161; BBl 2003 39275825).

Art. 115195  

II. Ir­re­triev­able break­down

 

Pri­or to the ex­piry of the two-year peri­od, a spouse may pe­ti­tion for di­vorce if the mar­riage has ir­re­triev­ably broken down for com­pel­ling reas­ons for which he or she is not re­spons­ible.

195 Amended by No I of the FA of 19 Dec. 2003 (Sep­ar­a­tion Peri­od in Di­vorce Law), in force since 1 June 2004 (AS 2004 2161; BBl 2003 39275825).

Art. 116196  
 

196 Re­pealed by An­nex 1 No II 3 of the Civil Pro­ced­ure Code of 19 Dec. 2008, with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 1739; BBl 2006 7221).

Chapter Two: Separation

Art. 117  

A. Re­quire­ments and pro­ced­ure

 

1 Spouses may pe­ti­tion for a sep­ar­a­tion de­cree sub­ject to the same re­quire­ments as ap­ply to di­vorce.

2 ...197

3 The right to pe­ti­tion for di­vorce is un­af­fected by the sep­ar­a­tion de­cree.

197 Re­pealed by An­nex 1 No II 3 of the Civil Pro­ced­ure Code of 19 Dec. 2008, with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 1739; BBl 2006 7221).

Art. 118  

B. Ef­fects of sep­ar­a­tion

 

1 By op­er­a­tion of the law, the sep­ar­a­tion de­cree im­ple­ments the mar­it­al prop­erty sep­ar­a­tion of prop­erty re­gime.

2 Oth­er­wise, the pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing meas­ures for the pro­tec­tion of the mar­it­al uni­on ap­ply mu­tatis mutandis.

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