Following parliamentary debate, a new law of succession will come into effect in 2023 in Switzerland. The new legal provisions will apply to all estates of persons who die on or after January 1, 2023.

Today, the system provides, among other things, that the legal reserve allocated to a descendant is ¾ of his or her inheritance right; that of the surviving parents is ½ each; and the legal reserve of the surviving spouse or registered partner is 1/2 (art. 471 CC).

The major changes planned for 2023 are in the legal allocation of the hereditary reserves. Indeed, the reserve share of the descendants is reduced to half of the legal share (½), thus ¼ of the estate; and the reserve share of the surviving parents will be eliminated.

I- Presentation of the new tax

A novelty in the world of taxation: on July 2021, an agreement was reached at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) concerning the harmonization of a global corporate tax. This decision and its implementation were also confirmed in late October 2021 at the G 20 summit. 

After negotiations nearly 130 states have agreed to reform the taxation of multinationals based on two pillars: on the one hand a new distribution of rights to tax that would no longer tax exclusively according to the location of the headquarters of the company. On the other hand, a minimum tax rate of 15% on profits would be introduced. This would affect companies with a turnover of at least 750 million euros, this reform is mainly aimed at GAFAM companies (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft).

By Erwin Chemerinsky: Dean and professor of law at the UC Berkeley Law School

Qualified immunity is a type of legal immunity. The defense of qualified immunity protects "government officials from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." [Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818 (1982)].

Qualified immunity only applies to suits against government officials as individuals, not suits against the government for damages caused by the officials’ actions. Although qualified immunity frequently appears in cases involving police officers, it also applies to most other executive branch officials. This article presents the analysis of Professor Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law, from his August 2021 webinar about the legal framework of qualified immunity as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Swiss President, Guy Parmelin, announced on May 26, 2021 the end of negotiations with the European Union. This abandonment took place following the Summit in Brussels on May 23, 2021, where Mr. Parmelin and Ms. Von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, met. None of the discussions were able to bring satisfactory results to the points of disagreement.

Currently, there are 5 bilateral agreements between Switzerland and the European Union dealing with the following subjects: free movement of persons, land transport, air transport, technical barriers to trade and agriculture.

These agreements remain up to date thanks to the voluntary nature of the Swiss government, which integrates the new provisions into its law while maintaining its freedom to refuse.

Professor Duncan Fairgrieve, Senior Fellow in Comparative Law, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, and Professor of Comparative Law, Université Paris Dauphine PSL and Professor Gilles Cuniberti of the Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance at the University of Luxembourg will present a debate at the end of the month organized by Global Justice Network (GJN). The focus of this debate is on the practical implications of Brexit and the current state of the law. Two positions will be defended during this debate: a pro-Brexit side on one side and a counter-Brexit side on the other.

The moderator of this debate will be Carlos Villacorta of BCV Lex (Madrid, Bordeaux), member of the GJIN committee.

The Lugano Convention was signed on 16 September 1988. It concerns jurisdiction and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters. Its role is parallel to the 1968 Brussels Convention.

Switzerland is a party to this convention, which entered into force in January 1992.

In 2007, the new version of the Convention was signed, succeeding the 1988 Convention: it is commonly referred to as the "Revised Lugano Convention". The Convention is concluded between the EU and other third countries including Switzerland. One of the main novelties is its application to all EU Member States, with the possibility for third countries to join, according to Articles 70 and 72 of the Convention.

The Convention applies to civil and commercial matters, which excludes customs, fiscal and administrative matters, according to its first article.

Primarily, the Convention makes it possible to settle conflict-of-law issues in a case where there is a foreign connection. This means that when the dispute has an international dimension it determines, on the one hand, the competent Tribunal (forum) to decide on the dispute and on the other hand it settles the rules for the applicable law.

 In recent years, Greece has been dynamically trying to become an attraction for foreigners, competing with other European countries such as Malta, Cyprus, and Portugal, which are organized in similar incentive practices.

The "Golden Visa" plan in combination with the residence permit in Greece (and consequently with free movement throughout the Schengen area) that accompanied it, had paid off, especially during 2019. Foreigners Investors who wanted to acquire it could do so either by investing in real estate in our country, but also in bond shares and mutual funds. However, the coronavirus pandemic seems to have slowed its rise and the relative numbers have dropped significantly.

As a result, new tax incentives were designed targeting both the repatriation of young Greek immigrants (many of them being highly specialized or dispose of qualified scientific training) in order to achieve a reversal of the "brain drain" of the last decade but also aiming at Greece to attract citizens from third countries ready to settle and work or even invest in Greece.

The Depakine (also known as Depakote) is a medicine used in case of epilepsy or as a preventive treatment from child fever convulsions. But, if the Depakine is used during pregnancy, it could cause defects and brain troubles to a born child.

 On November, 12th 2020, a family who decided to intent an action against Sanofi (the French pharmaceutical company), appeared for the first time before the Geneve Court. This family claimed that the French company is liable for the lack of information regarding the medicine. In this particular case, Sanofi recognizes its liability but claim as a defense that the action is time-barred. Nevertheless, this case follows many more cases as it is established that around forty Swiss children have been victims of this lack of information from the medical system.

By Erwin Chemerinsky: Dean and professor of law at the UC Berkeley Law School

The law is clear: the government has broad power in a public health emergency to take the steps needed to stop the spread of a communicable disease. In 1905, the Supreme Court declared: “Upon the principle of self-defense, of paramount necessity, a community has the right to protect itself against an epidemic of disease which threatens the safety of its members.”Some conservative voices are now questioning the legality of stay-at-home orders. One conservative commentator called stay-at-home orders “totalitarian” and cast doubt on their constitutionality. These claims have no basis in law.There is no right to put the health of others in danger and to act in a way that risks the collapse of our health care system. The government can, if it chooses, impose criminal penalties on those who willfully disobey orders designed to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

Leaving your wealth behind to your family members or other persons is always a complicated issue. Even those who inherit it, with or without a will, are not spared.

The inheritance tax varies between 0 and 50% and depends on the degree of kinship, but also on whether it is real estate, securities, bank deposits or valuables. It also plays a role if the assets are registered in the country of residence, in the EU or in another state, but also the nationality of the heirs, etc. Special rules apply in particular to life insurance policies, joint-stock companies, etc.