Sanctions and Export Control — conclusion

Conclusion of Part E

Part E has examined the legal framework within which the commodity trade of Zug operates today. Chapter I described the financing of the trade, its instruments, the retreat of the European banks, the requirements of Swiss law for security over goods and receivables and the risks of fraud. Chapter II examined the integrity of the trade: the bribery of foreign officials, the corporate liability under Article 102 of the Criminal Code and its application in the cases of Gunvor, Glencore and Trafigura, the anti-money-laundering framework and the obligations of transparency and due diligence. Chapter III set out the Swiss sanctions regime, its alignment with the European Union since 2022, the measures that concern the commodity trade, their enforcement and the reach of foreign sanctions.

The common thread is the end of the legal exceptionalism that once made Switzerland attractive to traders who wished to operate beyond the reach of other states' laws. Swiss law now punishes the bribery of foreign officials, holds companies liable for their failure to prevent it, treats aggravated tax offences as predicate offences for money laundering and adopts the sanctions of the European Union. Its authorities, moreover, cooperate with foreign prosecutors. The traders of Zug have adapted, with compliance programmes designed to meet the strictest of the regimes that apply to them. The enforcement of the rules, above all of the sanctions, remains a subject of criticism. The convictions and investigations described in this part show that the risks of the trade remain real.

In five sentences

1. The commodity trade depends on external financing secured by the goods and receivables, part of which has shifted to less regulated lenders since the retreat of European banks from commodity finance after 2020.

2. Swiss law punishes the bribery of foreign public officials under Article 322septies of the Criminal Code and holds companies liable under Article 102 for failing to take the organisational measures required to prevent it, with fines of up to five million francs and compensation claims that can far exceed them.

3. Gunvor in 2019, Glencore in 2024 and Trafigura in 2025 were convicted under Article 102 for bribery in the Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola, in cases that established the monitoring of intermediaries as the core of the required compliance measures.

4. Since 28 February 2022, Switzerland has adopted the European Union's sanctions against Russia up to the twentieth package of August 2026, including the prohibitions on Russian oil, gold and metals and the oil price cap, while the twenty-first European package of July 2026 extends the European import prohibitions to copper, nickel, lead and zinc.

5. SECO and the Office of the Attorney General have opened proceedings against commodity traders, including a trader in Zug in 2025, for the suspected circumvention of the Russian sanctions, while the reach of American and European sanctions obliges the traders of Zug to comply with the strictest of the applicable regimes.

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.