Digital Business Law Bites # 27
With the "Digital Business Law Bites" series, we give a small insight into our abundant experience and client projects in the field of digital business processes.
Switzerland's current legislation embraces new business models and makes it an attractive business location for companies of the Sharing Economy. The Sharing Economy uses digital platforms to create a virtual market place. This provides consumers access to a wide variety of goods and services in various industries. Uber and Airbnb are the most prominent examples of companies in the Sharing Economy. The emergence of new business models, however, also presents legal challenges and the need to analyse existing regulations thoroughly.
In its report on 'the Digital Economy' of January 2017, The Swiss Federal Council's concludes that Switzerland's legislation provides enough operational flexibility for new business models. Moreover, as the examination has shown, Switzerland is already fit and well equipped for the Digital Economy. Legal challenges of the Sharing Economy apply to certain areas such as consumer protection, Swiss competition law and labour law. Therefore, the current Swiss legislation shall be amended only selectively, also to avoid any premature and unsuitable regulation in the fastly developing Digital Economy.
Authors: Rolf Auf der Maur, Jonas D. Gassmann
