Additional transparency obligations for charitable associations 

As part of revising the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2021, changes were made to the law on associations. This will result in additional duties for numerous associations. These other duties and their exceptions were specified in the implementing provisions published on 31 August 2022. The new law on associations will come into force on 1 January 2023. 

In 2016, the Financial Action Task Force published its fourth country report on Switzerland. The report criticized the Swiss transparency regulations on charitable organizations. Specific mentionend were incomplete regulations that pose a particular risk in connection with terrorist financing.. Together with this report, corresponding recommendations were also made.

At its meeting on August 31. 2022, the Federal Council enacted the revised Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA), with the revised Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance (AMLO), which includes amendments to association law, coming into force on January 1. 2023.

Extended obligation to register

In principle, an association may refrain from being entered into the commercial register as long as it does not conduct a business for its purpose commercially or is subject to an audit. With the audit, an association also becomes subject to registration if it “mainly collects or distributes assets abroad, directly or indirectly, which are intended for charitable, religious, cultural, educational or social purposes” (Art. 61 para. 2 no. 3 nZGB; Art. 90 para. 1 let. c nHRegV). Exceptions to this rule exist if neither the assets collected annually nor the assets distributed annually in the last two years exceed CHF 100,000, the assets are distributed through a financial intermediary, or at least one person authorized to represent the association is resident in Switzerland. If one of these exceptions applies, the association remains exempt from its obligation to register. 

Register of members 

Another significant change is the introduction of a register of members. Henceforth, associations subject to registration must also keep a record of members. This must contain the full names/companies of the persons and their addresses. In addition, the register must be kept in such a way that it can be accessed in Switzerland at any time. All data on members must be retained for five years after a member has been removed from the register.

Furthermore, all associations subject to registration must be represented by a person domiciled in Switzerland. The revision will result in numerous additional obligations for many associations as of January 1. 2023, which will affect charitable associations in particular. They are advised to check their registration obligation early to avoid penalties. The transition period for implementing the new requirements is 18 months as of the effective date (January 1. 2023.).