Swiss Civil Code

¹The fol­low­ing ad­di­tion­al pro­vi­sions ap­ply to em­ploy­ee be­ne­fits schemes es­tab­lished in ac­cord­ance with Art. 331 of the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions³ in the form of a found­a­tion.⁴

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

³If 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.⁵

⁴...⁶

⁵The 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.

⁶For em­ploy­ee be­ne­fits schemes provid­ing old age, sur­viv­ors’ and in­valid­ity pen­sions which are sub­ject to the Ves­ted Be­ne­fits Act of 17 Decem­ber 1993⁷ (VBA), the pro­vi­sions of the Fed­er­al Act of 25 June 1982 on Oc­cu­pa­tion­al Old Age, Sur­viv­ors’ and In­valid­ity Pen­sion Pro­vi­sion (OPA)⁸ on the fol­low­ing mat­ters ap­ply:⁹

1.¹⁰

the defin­i­tion and prin­ciples of oc­cu­pa­tion­al pen­sion ar­range­ments and the in­sur­able salary or in­come (Art. 1, 33a and 33b);

2.¹¹

the re­quire­ment of be­ing sub­ject to OASI (Art. 5 para. 1);

3.

the be­ne­fi­ciar­ies in the case of sur­viv­ors’ be­ne­fits (Art. 20a);

3a.¹²

the ad­just­ment of the in­valid­ity pen­sion fol­low­ing the equit­able di­vi­sion of oc­cu­pa­tion­al pen­sions (Art. 24 para. 5);

3b.¹³

the pro­vi­sion­al con­tinu­ation of in­sur­ance and of the en­ti­tle­ment to be­ne­fits on the re­duc­tion or ter­min­a­tion of the in­valid­ity pen­sion (Art. 26a);

4.¹⁴

the ad­just­ment of plan be­ne­fits to in­fla­tion (Art. 36 para. 2–4);

4a.¹⁵ the agree­ment on a lump sum pay­ment (Art. 37a);

5.

the pre­scrip­tion of claims and the safe­keep­ing of in­sur­ance doc­u­ments (Art. 41);

5a.¹⁶

the use, pro­cessing and dis­clos­ure of the OASI num­ber for the Old Age and Sur­viv­ors’ In­sur­ance (Art. 48 para. 4, Art. 85a lit. f and Art. 86a para. 2 lit. b^bis);

6.

li­ab­il­ity (Art. 52);

7.¹⁷

the li­cens­ing and du­ties of the su­per­vis­ory bod­ies (Art. 52a–52e);

8.¹⁸

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);

10.¹⁹

ter­min­a­tion of con­tracts (Art. 53e);

11.

the guar­an­tee fund (Art. 56 para. 1 lit. c and para. 2–5, Art. 56a, 57 and 59);

12.²⁰

su­per­vi­sion and over­sight (Art. 61–62a and 64–64c);

13.²¹

...

14.²²

fin­an­cial se­cur­ity (Art. 65 para. 1, 3 and 4, Art. 66 para. 4, Art. 67 and Art. 72a–72g);

15.

trans­par­ency (Art. 65a);

16.

re­serves (Art. 65b);

17.

in­sur­ance con­tracts between oc­cu­pa­tion­al be­ne­fits schemes and in­sur­ance in­sti­tu­tions (Art. 68 para. 3 and 4);

18.

as­set man­age­ment (Art. 71);

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).²³

⁷For 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. b^bis);

3.

li­ab­il­ity (Art. 52);

4.

the li­cens­ing and du­ties of the aud­it­ors (Art. 52a, 52b and 52c para. 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).²⁴

⁸For 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.²⁵