Company email signature: the mandatory details in Switzerland and the EU

An email signature is first of all a way to be reached: name, job title, phone. For a company, it also has a legal side that is often overlooked: in Switzerland as in the European Union, certain details must appear in business correspondence, and an email is part of it. Here are the key points, followed by a method to apply them across the whole team without relying on everyone’s goodwill.

This article gives general guidance; it is not legal advice. Your accountant or lawyer can tell you what applies to your legal form and your markets.

In Switzerland: the business name, in full and unaltered

The Swiss Code of Obligations (art. 954a CO) requires the business name or name entered in the commercial register to appear in full and unaltered in correspondence, order forms, invoices and business communications. An email sent on behalf of the company is part of this.

In practice:

• the exact name, legal form included: “Example Consulting Ltd” rather than “Example” or “Example Consulting” if the registered name includes the legal form;
• no in-house variant: a logo, an abbreviation or a slogan may be added, but they do not replace the registered name;
• the same name for everyone: a signature that each person writes in their own way almost always ends up existing in several versions.

For emails, Swiss law does not set out a list of details as long as some neighbouring countries do. Many companies nevertheless add the address of the registered office and the UID number (CHE-…), which lets anyone look the company up in the commercial register, for example on Zefix. Do not confuse this with invoices: those of a VAT-registered company follow their own rules, VAT number included.

In the European Union: register, registered office, legal form

For limited companies (public and private limited companies and their equivalents), EU company law (Directive (EU) 2017/1132, art. 26) provides that letters and order forms, on paper or in any other medium, state:

• the register in which the company is entered and its registration number;
• its name, its legal form and the location of its registered office;
• where applicable, the fact that it is being wound up;
• and, if capital is mentioned, the subscribed and paid-up capital.

Each country has transposed these rules, sometimes going further. Two examples close to Switzerland:

• Germany: for a GmbH, the legal form, registered office, registry court and registration number, as well as all managing directors (§ 35a GmbHG), on every business letter addressed to a specific recipient, whatever its form: business emails are included.
• France: the Commercial Code requires, among other things, the registration number with the “RCS” mention and the town of the registry, as well as the registered office, on correspondence; for a company, its name together with its legal form and share capital.

A Swiss company with a subsidiary in the EU therefore often needs two signatures: one for the Swiss company and one for the European company, with the details required in its country.

What is not mandatory, but often included

• The confidentiality notice (“This message is confidential…”): no general rule requires it, and its legal effect is debated. Some professions use it by custom; if you keep it, keep it short.
• The photo, social links, the banner: useful for the business relationship, with no legal weight.
• The unsubscribe link: it has no place in an individual email, but it becomes essential in mass marketing emails. In Switzerland, the Unfair Competition Act (art. 3 para. 1 let. o UCA) requires for such mailings, in principle, the recipients’ prior consent, correct identification of the sender and a simple, free way to opt out.

A structure that covers the essentials

For a Swiss company, a complete yet sober signature can follow this order:

1. first and last name, job title;
2. direct phone and email;
3. exact business name (“Example Consulting Ltd”);
4. address of the registered office;
5. website and, if you wish, UID number;
6. optional: link to the digital business card, short confidentiality notice.

For the European company, add its country’s legal line: register, number, registered office, legal form and, in Germany, the managing directors.

Applying these details across the team

The hard part is not writing a good signature, but getting every colleague to use the same one and keep it up to date. That is what the VisitCard email signature is for (see the help centre article Email signature generated from your card):

• The details come from the card: each colleague’s name, title, phone, email and link to their digital business card, with nothing to retype.
• Free, on Starter, a simple signature to copy (Classic, Bar or Minimal, basic fields), with a small VisitCard mention. With Pro, you choose any layout (Classic, Centred, Bar, Minimal) and all the fields shown, address included, with no mention. The Custom layout lets you write your own HTML template, with variables replaced by the card’s data: a fixed legal line fits in naturally.
• With the Team plan, the admin sets a team template: layout, fields, logo, company address and confidentiality notice, a free-text field that can also hold your legal line. The admin can lock this template: colleagues can no longer change the business name or the legal details.
• Shared addresses: signatures for the team’s shared addresses (info@…, customer service), chosen according to the sending address.

Outlook, Gmail, Apple Mail: how the signature gets there

• Outlook (Microsoft 365): when the Microsoft 365 administrator deploys the VisitCard add-in for the organisation, the signature is inserted automatically into every new message, reply and forward, including in Outlook on the web, the new Outlook for Windows and Outlook for Mac. The add-in re-reads the signature for every message: a change to the template or the card is picked up (see Automatic insertion in Outlook).
• Without deployment by the administrator, or with Outlook 2016 or 2019 perpetual licences, or a personal Outlook.com account: no automatic insertion. The “Insert my signature” button in the add-in pane and copy and paste remain available.
• Gmail, Apple Mail and others: the “Copy signature” button gives you the formatted signature, to paste once into the settings. It is a copy: after a change in the legal details, everyone has to paste it again.

Keep in mind: if your details change (new registered office, new business name), only the signatures inserted by the Outlook add-in follow automatically. Plan a reminder for the other mail apps.

Checklist

1. Check the exact business name in the commercial register and copy it as it is.
2. List the companies that write to the outside world (Swiss company, EU subsidiary) and the details each one needs.
3. Write one template per company, with a fixed legal line.
4. Lock it for the team and have your Microsoft 365 administrator deploy the Outlook add-in.
5. Review the details whenever the register entry changes.

A simple signature is free from the Starter plan, with the VisitCard mention. For a legal line, an address or a custom template, you need the full signature, synchronised with Outlook: it is included with Pro, one per card, and in every seat of the Team plan. Details are on the pricing page.