Piercing The Corporate Veil In Swiss Enforcement Proceedings

Under Swiss law, a company’s assets and liabilities are generally separate from those of its shareholders. However, Swiss courts may exceptionally disregard this separation where reliance on the company’s legal personality constitutes an abuse of rights. This article examines the requirements for piercing and reverse piercing the corporate veil, with a particular focus on Swiss debt enforcement and attachment proceedings.

Prerequisites

According to the settled case law of the Federal Supreme Court, a legal entity’s separate legal personality may be disregarded where reliance on that separation amounts to an abuse of rights. This may be the case where the corporate structure is used to frustrate, avoid or unduly impede the creditor’s access to either the person standing behind the company or, conversely, to assets formally held by a company but economically attributable to the debtor. Piercing the corporate veil requires two cumulative elements: