Swiss Parliament Adopts Innovative DLT Legislation

On 10 September 2020, the Swiss Council of States (the small chamber of Swiss parliament) unanimously resolved to approve the new Federal Act on the Adaptation of Federal Law to Developments in the Technology of Distributed Electronic Registers (the "DLT Act").¹ Previously, the National Council (the large chamber of Swiss parliament) had already passed the draft DLT Act with a few amendments, also unanimously. It is expected that the law will be passed in the final parliamentary vote scheduled for the end of September and that the DLT Act will come into force early next year.

The DLT Act is a framework act comprising a bundle of revisions to various existing Swiss federal acts. In a bold move demonstrating Switzerland's openness to the use of cutting edge technology, the new law is aimed at enhancing legal certainty, removing obstacles for applications of distributed ledger technology ("DLT") and limiting the risk of misuse.