With the publication of a new guideline on green marketing, the Swiss Unfair Competition Commission has provided greater clarity in the assessment of the admissibility of marketing communications with environmental or climate-related content. In particular, the Guideline sets out clear rules on the requirements for admissible marketing communications with an environmental reference and the associated requirements for evidence. In a legal environment characterized by vague legal provisions and considerable discretion given to the competent authorities, this new Guideline provides important clarification.

The legal framework for the labelling of vegan and vegetarian alternatives to meat is continuously evolving and also differs from country to country. In Switzerland, the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office had put forward a very strict interpretation, deeming as deceptive and thus prohibited any use of animal designations in the labelling of vegan and vegetarian meat alternatives. In a recent decision, the Administrative Court of the Canton of Zurich rejected this strict approach and deemed the use of the terms “planted.chicken”, “like chicken”, “like pork”, “pulled pork”, “vegan pork” or “chicken from plants” on the packaging of vegan meat alternatives as not deceptive.

Several providers of online games of luck and chance were recently confronted with the blocking of their websites by Swiss authorities. In two recent decisions, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court approved these blockings, confirming that foreign providers need to take appropriate technical measures from the outset to prevent their website from being blocked in Switzerland. Below, we provide a short overview of the legislative background of such blockings and the reasoning of the SFSC in its decisions. Moreover, we set out the most important considerations for foreign providers of online games of luck and chance in Switzerland.

It is well known that online booking platforms often contractually restrict the freedom of accommodation providers to set their own prices for the accommodation offered (so-called “price-fixing clauses”). A newly adopted amendment to the Swiss Act against Unfair Competition (UCA) now limits these as well as other practices of online booking platforms