# VSB 20 Art. 14 — Validity period of commercial register extracts and equivalent documents - **Rubric (DE):** Aktualität des Handelsregisterauszuges oder eines gleichwertigen Ausweises - **Rubric (EN):** Validity period of commercial register extracts and equivalent documents - **Chapter:** 2. Kapitel — Identifizierung des Vertragspartners (3. Abschnitt: Juristische Personen und Personengesellschaften) - **Scope:** Banks & securities firms (incorporated via [[GwV-FINMA Art. 35 - Identification, controlling person and beneficial|GwV-FINMA Art. 35]]) - **Status:** In force (since 1 January 2020) ## Description The commercial register extract or the equivalent document (*gleichwertiger Ausweis*) may not be older than twelve months. An older document may be used together with an attestation (*Testat*) of an audit firm (*Prüfgesellschaft*) that is up to twelve months old. ## Context & interpretation The SBA commentary states that the VSB itself sets no content requirements for the attestation; the legislation, regulation and practice of the state concerned are decisive. It adds that some associations (*Vereine*) are neither entered in the commercial register nor audited by an audit firm; these can usually be identified only by their statutes or other association documents, which can reflect the current circumstances even if they are older than 12 months. If an association is entered in the commercial register, the register extract may not be older than 12 months. ## FATF - [[FATF R.10 - Customer due diligence|FATF R.10]] — related: currency of the document used to identify a legal-person or partnership customer. ## Swiss counterparts - [[GwV-FINMA Art. 47 - Legal entities, partnerships and authorities|GwV-FINMA Art. 47]] — Abs. 4 sets the same twelve-month limit, stated as at most twelve months old at the time of identification, and also requires the document to correspond to the current circumstances; it applies to the register extract, the auditor's confirmation and the directory or database extract. It does not contain VSB Art. 14's second sentence (older document combined with an up-to-twelve-month-old attestation). - [[VSB 20 Art. 12 - Identification of registered entities|VSB 20 Art. 12]] — the register extracts and database extracts to which this age limit applies. - [[VSB 20 Art. 13 - Unregistered entities and authorities|VSB 20 Art. 13]] — the identification documents for entities without a register entry (the Art. 14 commentary discusses associations without such an entry). ## Part of - [[VSB 20]] ## Sources - VSB 20 (Vereinbarung vom 13. Juni 2018, in force 1.1.2020), Art. 14 - SBVg Kommentar zur VSB 20 (2020), Art. 14