Swiss Federal Council Commences Blockchain Law Consultation Period

An official announcement of Swiss Federal Council indicates that the association has begun its consultation period on the adoption of country’s law for blockchain advancement.

The Federal Council seeks to enhance constitutional surety over blockchain applications by pursuing the series of meetings in order to create a justification for the industry’s regulatory framework in Switzerland, especially in the financial industry. The review process by the Federal Council will continue until the end of June 2019, according to the document.

A study on the legal structure for blockchain in the financial industry was embraced by the Swiss Federal Council in mid-December 2018 asserting that the country’s prevailing financial law is appropriate for the blockchain sector, but deserves some unique tweaks.

The authority championed greater constitutional visibility on a blockchain network for copyright owners and guaranteeing that distributed ledger trading platforms are highly susceptible to the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Act of the country.

Following the release, the Council has indeed published a draft consultation report suggesting a range of modifications, including the introduction of electronic rights registration under the Swiss Code of Obligations, as well as the isolation of crypto-assets in the occurrence of bankruptcy under the Federal Debt Collection and Bankruptcy Law.

In order to establish a regulated capital market, the Council also advocated the creation of a new licensing group for distributed ledger technology (DLT) trading platform in the law related to market infrastructure. The authority also mentioned that the long term Financial Institutions Act be adapted to establish a license to operate a trading platform as a securities company.

The Swiss Federal Council indicated that as a component of the overall reevaluation of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, AML policies are to be integrated into the scheduled alteration of the Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance. The Swiss government’s Federal Assembly authorized a motion earlier this week to notify the Federal Council to conform existing legislation related to cryptocurrency regulation.