Cet article décrit les problématiques du blanchiment d’argent et du financement du terrorisme associées aux monnaies virtuelles. Sur la base l’entrée en vigueur le 1er janvier 2020 du « Blockchain Act » au Liechtenstein, cet article illustre l’approche des mécanismes de compliance du Liechtenstein envers les prestataires de services liés aux monnaies virtuelles, comme les tokens. Il traite enfin de la réception de la nouvelle loi au Liechtenstein. Cette approche pionnière du Liechtenstein pourra servir de modèle pour des régulations nationales futures des services liés aux technologies blockchain et aux crypto-monnaies.

La présente contribution propose au lecteur une tentative de décryptage des avancées apportées par le Guide Stablecoin de la FINMA du 11 septembre 2019. L’auteur analyse ensuite l’application de la régulation au cas de Libra, ainsi que les aspects de droits privés qui lie ses parties prenantes.

Swiss data protection law has changed significantly as a result of the introduction of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and will change even further with the entry into force of the revised Swiss Data Protection Act. The author presents three instruments that will be important for Switzerland's new understanding of data protection: The introduction of privacy by default, legal rules for automated individual case decisions and data portability. These are compared with the applicable law in Switzerland and the GDPR. (ph)

The German Society for Law and Informatics (DGRI) met for its annual conference from 7 to 9 November 2019 in Berlin. Time, place and conference title were carefully chosen by the board. All contributions to «Data, Freedom, Security» stood in the context of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. (ph)

Lootboxes and skin gambling represent growing trends in the video game industry. At the same time, such activities show some parallels to the «classical» gambling industry and therefore are becoming more and more the focus of authorities all over the world. In Switzerland, there is still no official jurisprudence on this subject. According to the analysis done in this contribution, lootboxes in certain video games are subject to the Swiss Money Games Act (Geldspielgesetz BGS), depending on their design and the respective environment. Therefore, such activity would need to be blocked in Switzerland by the time of the entry into force of Art. 86-93 BGS on 1 July 2019.

CJEU – It is, however, required to carry out that de-referencing on the versions corresponding to all the Member States and to put in place measures discouraging internet users from gaining access, from one of the Member States, to the links in question which appear on versions of that search engine outside the EU. (Judgement C-507/17)

CJEU – EU law does not preclude a host provider such as Facebook from being ordered to remove identical and, in certain circumstances, equivalent comments previously declared to be illegal In addition EU law does not preclude such an injunction from producing effects worldwide, within the framework of the relevant international law which it is for Member States to take into account. (Judgement C-18/18)

CJEU – A pre-ticked checkbox is therefore insufficient.(Judgment C-673/17)

BGH – The 8th Civil Senate of the German Federal Court of Justice has made a fundamental decision on which activities a company is permitted to carry out on the basis of registration as a debt collection service provider under the Legal Services Act. (Judgment VIII ZR 285/18) (ph)

During its meeting on 27 November 2019, the Federal Council adopted the dispatch on the further improvement of the framework conditions for DLT/blockchain. The proposal is aimed at increasing legal certainty, removing barriers for applications based on distributed ledger technology (DLT) and reducing the risk of abuse.

At its meeting on 20 November 2019, the Federal Council adopted the Swiss eGovernment Strategy 2020–2023. Its implementation should make the digital channel the first choice for contacting the public administration. The Conference of Cantonal Governments and the executive boards of the Association of Towns and Municipalities will give their views on the strategy presented in December. (ph)