In the summer session, parliament adopted the law on the Corporate Identification Number (UID) and the Federal Department of Home Affairs then immediately conducted a consultation on the ordinance including the implementing provisions.

The UID is part of the e-Government strategy for Switzerland. The UID is a non-speaking number consisting of 9 digits, the last of which is a check digit. The number is preceded by the national identifier “CHE”.

The UID is intended to be used as a standard identifier through Switzerland, which will gradually replace the various ID numbers currently used in the administration in order to simplify communication between authorities and companies. This provides advantages for companies particularly in the areas of social security, VAT and the commercial register, since identification activities, multiple data entries and comparisons will be made much easier or eliminated altogether.

The central component of the UID system will be a register accessible via the internet in which the holders of a UID (known as UID units) are registered with their respective core characteristics, but only if the respective user of the UID has agreed to the publication or has already made the data publicly accessible on the basis of other statutory rules (e.g. in the commercial register). The core characteristics consist of name/company and address, status of the commercial register entry, and status of the entry in the VAT register with start and end of tax liability. The UID holders may be described in greater detail using other data, known as additional characteristics. However, the additional characteristics may be accessed only by administrative agencies and are not available to the public.

According to the current planning, the law is expected to enter in force at the beginning of 2011, and the ordinance on it by 1.4.2011. The UID is to be introduced gradually from 2011. Certain registers, such as – for example – the commercial register, the professional medical register, the cantonal registers of attorneys or the VAT register, must have completed the introduction of the UID by the end of 2013. The deadline for the other administrative agencies is the end of 2015.