Practitioner's note: advising a trader in Zug

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The practitioner who advises a commodity trader in Zug must combine several fields of law. The corporate and tax structure of the trader, with its principal company in Zug, its subsidiaries and offices abroad and its intra-group arrangements, must satisfy the international standards on substance and transfer pricing described in Part C. The trading contracts, usually governed by English law and subject to arbitration in London or to the standard terms of the trade associations, must be negotiated and enforced. The financing arrangements with the banks, examined in Part E, must be structured and documented. The sanctions and export control rules of Switzerland, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States must be applied to every transaction. The anti-corruption rules, including Article 102 of the Swiss Criminal Code, the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the United Kingdom Bribery Act, must be reflected in the trader's compliance programme. The anti-money-laundering rules apply to the trader's banks and, in certain cases, to the trader itself.

The convictions of Glencore in 2022 and 2024 show the consequences of failures in these fields. For the trader, the most important lesson is that its exposure is global. A bribe paid by an agent in West Africa, a manipulation of a price benchmark in a port in the United States or a breach of sanctions in a transaction with Russia can lead to proceedings in several jurisdictions at once, with penalties that run into hundreds of millions of dollars and with monitors who oversee the company's compliance for years. For the practitioner, the lesson is that the advice given in Zug must anticipate the view of prosecutors in Washington, London, Brasília and Bern. Part E examines these questions in detail.

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of September 2025.

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Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP

Rechtsanwalt/Attorney-at-Law

I am a Swiss attorney-at-law and also admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong and in England & Wales, with almost 25 years of experience.

Together with my multilingual team, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Ukrainian and French native speakers, I advise companies and their owners from around the world on the full range of banking, corporate, commercial and tax law matters in Switzerland, including international tax planning, fiduciary services, and legal family office services including immigration & relocation or real estate investments. My practice has a particular focus on clients from growth and frontier markets in Greater China, Central Asia and the Caucasus, the rest of Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, and I equally advise clients from Europe and North America. Through an affiliated Swiss trust company, we also take care of the incorporation and ongoing administration of their companies and other structures, including accounting, tax returns and corporate secretarial services, and I serve as a professional director where required. With the support of a network of first-class cooperation partners, I also implement solutions worldwide.

My approach is to act as a trusted advisor who works directly with decision-makers, on an equal footing: I start from what you want to achieve and shape every structure, contract and tax decision around your commercial goals and how it improves your after-tax return. As “lawyers who make it happen”, my team and I stay involved until your company is set up, your structure is in place and your transaction has closed, and we remain available for any follow-on work that may be required. You benefit from bespoke solutions and personal attention, and sound, friendly and practical advice. We are not the lowest-cost provider in the market, nor do we intend to be; our aim is to deliver well-founded, proper solutions and excellent value for money.

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Practitioner's note: advising a trader in Zug

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