RISTER News & Insights

Starting a cosmetics brand in Geneva requires no permit: the SCAV, the cantonal service in charge of consumer goods, issues neither sales licences nor certificates of conformity, and no federal register lists creams or perfumes. Responsibility sits entirely with the...

Opening an AI agency in Geneva requires no permit: neither the cantonal trade police nor the Confederation regulates the business, and Switzerland has no AI statute yet. The real constraints come from your clients. A private bank, a law firm or a medical practice in...

A director or managing officer who sits professionally, on behalf of third parties, on the board of a domiciliary company already falls under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA): this officer activity is financial intermediation under the Anti-Money Laundering...

In Geneva the question almost always arrives in the same form: do we need a portfolio manager licence or a securities firm licence? Both statuses sit in the same act, both are granted by the same regulator, and they are not alike. The difference comes down to one...

Since 1 October 2026, the Swiss Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) has applied to domiciliation. Anyone who, on a professional basis, provides a legal entity with an address or premises as its domicile or registered office for more than six months is deemed an “adviser”...

Founders arriving in Geneva with a crypto exchange, custody or payment project almost always open with the same question: how do we get the Swiss crypto licence? There isn't one. Switzerland has never created a crypto licence, a crypto exchange licence or a VASP...

Geneva did not become one of the world's commodity trading capitals because of a licence, but because of the absence of one. No Swiss authority authorises commodity trading, no register records it, and no minimum capital attaches to the activity. A company that buys a...

Opening a marketing agency in Geneva needs no permit. The cantonal trade police publishes the list of activities it licenses, and communication, advertising and marketing agencies are not on it; the industry regulates itself and no title is protected. An art director,...

Setting up a telecom company in Geneva usually starts with the wrong question: which OFCOM licence do we need? None. Since 1 January 2021 the Federal Office of Communications no longer authorises anyone to provide telecommunications services. It registers the...

Launching a food supplement brand from Geneva needs no product authorisation and no product registration: the canton says so in plain terms. What does need to be ready is the organisation, from the first day of activity: the notification to the Consumer Affairs and...

Setting up a medical practice in Geneva as a GmbH (Sàrl) or an AG (SA) is common among international doctors, group practices and doctors who live in neighbouring France. Yet the company does not carry any of the rights that matter most. Each doctor needs a Geneva...

A medical device company in Geneva usually starts from one of two situations. A manufacturer based in the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States or Asia wants to sell to Swiss hospitals and clinics and needs an entity established in Switzerland to do...