{"id":12979,"date":"2026-09-09T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/my-swiss-company.com\/?p=12979"},"modified":"2026-09-02T14:23:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T12:23:19","slug":"start-engineering-firm-switzerland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/my-swiss-company.com\/en\/start-engineering-firm-switzerland\/","title":{"rendered":"Start an Engineering Consultancy in Switzerland: The Complete Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Starting an engineering consultancy in Switzerland requires no federal licence: the Confederation does not regulate the engineering profession at all. The barrier sits elsewhere, and it catches most foreign founders by surprise. In six cantons, only an engineer entered on a cantonal register or holding a cantonal authorisation may sign a building permit application. That entry belongs to a person, never to the company: a Swiss firm whose partners are not registered cannot file anything.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Contents<\/h3>\n
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  1. Engineer or civil engineer: what is regulated, and what is not<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. The six cantons that gate the signature<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. The REG register: three levels, individuals only<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. Legal form, capital and shareholders’ agreement<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. SIA fee regulations, contracts and professional liability<\/a><\/li>\n
  6. VAT for a consultancy, foreign mandates included<\/a><\/li>\n
  7. Payroll and collective agreements<\/a><\/li>\n
  8. The pitfalls that stall a file<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n

    Engineer or civil engineer: what is regulated, and what is not<\/h2>\n

    The starting point is a sentence from the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) in its note on practising engineering in Switzerland: the engineering profession as such is not regulated, only certain facets of it, civil engineering being the prime example. There is no federal legislation governing the practice of engineering, which means each canton decides whether to set criteria or leave practice free.<\/p>\n

    In practice, a mechanical engineer, a software engineer, an environmental engineer or a life sciences engineer may open a consultancy anywhere in Switzerland with no prior authorisation, and with an unrecognised foreign degree if clients accept it. What is regulated is civil engineering, and only in some cantons, because it touches the safety of structures. One engineering profession is regulated nationwide, the patented land surveyor, which falls under the Federal Commission of Land Surveyors and is outside the scope of this guide.<\/p>\n

    The practical consequence: your project will never stall at incorporation. It may stall, if at all, the day you file your first building permit application in a canton that requires recognised qualifications.<\/p>\n

    The six cantons that gate the signature<\/h2>\n

    Six cantons have used their power to regulate civil engineering. In every other canton, including Zurich, Bern, Basel, Zug and Aargau, the profession is free.<\/p>\n

    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Requirements in the six cantons regulating civil engineering (SERI notes, January 2017 and May 2023)<\/caption>\n
    Canton<\/th>\nRequirement<\/th>\nWhat it unlocks<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
    Geneva<\/td>\nEntry on the table of professionally qualified agents (MPQ) under cantonal act L 5 40: degree plus two years of practice, or REG A or B registration<\/td>\nSigning building permit applications and supervising works<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Vaud<\/td>\nAuthorisation to practise, in practice through REG registration (three years of experience)<\/td>\nSigning construction drawings<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Neuch\u00e2tel<\/td>\nEntry on the cantonal register of architects, civil engineers, urban planners and spatial planners, on a bachelor’s or master’s degree from a Swiss university of applied sciences, UNIL or EPF<\/td>\nPreparing, signing and having plans executed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Fribourg<\/td>\nREG registration (three years of experience); a service provider without an establishment receives no formal authorisation but must evidence recognition when filing<\/td>\nSigning building permit applications<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Ticino<\/td>\nAuthorisation issued by the Ordine degli ingegneri e degli architetti del Cantone Ticino (OTIA) under the LEPIA act<\/td>\nFiling the application, supervising works, bidding for public contracts<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Lucerne<\/td>\nFormal training, but no registration procedure, no professional order, no licence to practise<\/td>\nCase-by-case verification, usually at municipal level, when the application is filed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

    Two points matter for a firm entering the market. First, the authorisation is required whatever the mode of practice: permanent establishment in Switzerland, but also temporary provision of services, capped at 90 working days per calendar year under the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons. A French, German or Italian firm working occasionally in Geneva or Ticino faces the same requirements as a local one.<\/p>\n

    Second, the reverse also holds. If your firm does not sign permit applications, because your engineers work as subcontractors and the lead consultant signs, practice remains possible without recognition even in regulated cantons. That is a business model decision as much as a legal one, and it must be settled before the first mandate.<\/p>\n

    Ticino deserves separate mention: it is the only canton regulating every facet of engineering. Beyond civil engineering, the fields of technology and industry, and those of water, air and soil, are subject to authorisation. Life sciences engineers working in health or medical research are not covered.<\/p>\n

    The REG register: three levels, individuals only<\/h2>\n

    REG, the Foundation of the Swiss Registers of professionals in engineering, architecture and environment, has nothing to do with the commercial register despite the similar wording. It is a private professional register recognised by regulated cantons as proof of qualification, and it acts as the gateway for foreign degrees.<\/p>\n

    Its registration rules set out three levels. REG A covers holders of a master’s degree from a Swiss federal institute of technology, university or university of applied sciences, or an equivalent title validated through the Foundation’s examination procedure, with sufficient professional practice. REG B is open by direct registration to holders of a professional bachelor’s degree with three years of experience gained after graduation, and to holders of former-law HES or ETS diplomas on the same terms. The examination route opens REG B to further profiles: a foreign bachelor’s degree deemed equivalent with three years, a non-professional bachelor’s degree with four years, existing REG C registration plus two years, a higher professional education diploma with four years, a federal VET certificate or baccalaureate with six years, and knowledge acquired by other means with twelve years. REG C covers holders of a college of higher education diploma or an advanced federal professional examination.<\/p>\n

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    My Swiss Company tip<\/h4>\n

    The REG rules are explicit on a point many founders discover too late: only natural persons may be entered in the registers, engineering and architecture firms are excluded. The same applies to Geneva’s MPQ table. Your company will therefore never be registered: you are, or the engineer you hire is. If that person leaves, the ability to sign leaves with them. Plan the succession on the day you hire, not on the day you receive the resignation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    For a degree obtained in the European Union, the fastest route runs through SERI. An engineer fully qualified in their country of origin, whose degree is listed in the annexes to the applicable EU directive, receives a SERI letter within two to three weeks, which opens automatic entry in the cantonal registers. If the degree is not listed, the procedure becomes a comparison of curricula taking three to four months, before any compensation measures. An engineer who is not fully qualified at home, an Italian engineer without the esame di stato for instance, has no legal basis for recognition in Switzerland.<\/p>\n

    Legal form, capital and shareholders’ agreement<\/h2>\n

    No statute prescribes a legal form for an engineering consultancy. A sole practitioner may trade as a sole proprietorship with no minimum capital, with mandatory commercial register entry from CHF 100,000 of annual revenue. A GmbH, from CHF 20,000 of fully paid-in capital, suits one or two engineers separating private assets from professional risk. An AG, from CHF 100,000 with at least CHF 50,000 paid in, becomes the natural choice once several partners join.<\/p>\n

    The Confederation’s SME Portal illustrates exactly this case with four partners founding a company limited by shares with CHF 400,000 of capital, and stresses a point rarely anticipated: the shareholders’ agreement, covering pre-emption rights, buy-back rights, board composition and deadlock clauses. It is settled before incorporation, not at the first disagreement. The same guide notes that no issuance stamp duty is due while capital stays below CHF 1 million, and that registration with the Federal Tax Administration must follow within 30 days of becoming liable. The general incorporation steps are set out in our guide to the incorporation of a company in Switzerland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    The corporate purpose deserves attention. Draft it broadly enough to cover studies, works supervision, expert opinions and consulting, and precisely enough to match the professional categories in which you will apply for cantonal registration. Geneva’s MPQ table distinguishes six categories, and recognition extends only to those in the file.<\/p>\n

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    Your Swiss engineering consultancy<\/p>\n

    Cantonal registration is prepared before incorporation, not after<\/p>\n

    Choosing the canton against its regime, drafting a corporate purpose aligned with your registration categories, the shareholders’ agreement, the recognition timeline for foreign degrees, VAT registration: the order of operations decides how soon your first mandate can be signed. My Swiss Company structures your company from Geneva, Lucerne or Zug.<\/p>\n

    Scope your project<\/a>
    \n Swiss Corporate Services Provider in Geneva, Lucerne and Zug, serving clients in more than 20 countries.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

    SIA fee regulations, contracts and professional liability<\/h2>\n

    The Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects issues the construction standards that contain the recognised rules of the art, and SERI stresses that every engineer working in Switzerland must comply with them, whether or not the profession is regulated in their canton. For the contractual relationship, the reference documents are the regulations on services and fees: SIA 103 in its 2020 edition for civil engineers, SIA 102 for architects, SIA 108 for building services engineers, and SIA 112 as a service model. They describe the phases of a mandate, the allocation of services and the basis for calculating fees. They are not statutory: they apply because the parties incorporate them into the contract, which virtually every public and institutional client does.<\/p>\n

    Professional indemnity insurance follows the same logic. None of the cantonal acts cited above requires it as a registration condition. But a consultancy carries liability for defects that surface years after handover, and no serious mandate is signed without a certificate of cover. Treat it as a condition of market access, not as a budget option.<\/p>\n

    VAT for a consultancy, foreign mandates included<\/h2>\n

    VAT liability starts at CHF 100,000 of annual turnover from taxable supplies, computed on Swiss and foreign revenue combined. The standard rate has been 8.1% since 1 January 2024, and registration with the Federal Tax Administration must follow within 30 days of becoming liable.<\/p>\n

    The rule that genuinely changes the picture for an engineering consultancy is article 8 paragraph 1 of the VAT Act: the place of a supply of services is where the recipient has the seat of its business activity or the permanent establishment for which the service is supplied. A study performed for a client established abroad is therefore located abroad and carries no Swiss VAT. The SME Portal makes the same point differently, noting that study mandates for foreign clients do not fall under the export rules applicable to goods. One caveat: no VAT charged does not mean no registration. A consultancy with substantial export revenue often benefits from registering voluntarily in order to reclaim input tax on its Swiss costs, from calculation software to office rent.<\/p>\n

    Payroll and collective agreements<\/h2>\n

    Engineering consultancies are not covered by a national collective agreement, but by cantonal ones. In Geneva, the collective agreement for construction and building services engineering firms is generally binding at cantonal level, in force from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2027, concluded between the Geneva association of engineers represented by FER Gen\u00e8ve and the Unia R\u00e9gion Gen\u00e8ve and SIT unions. It sets weekly working time at 42.5 hours and a scale of minimum salaries by professional category and years of experience, with an extension raising entry-level minima under way. Vaud has its own agreement for architecture and engineering firms.<\/p>\n

    Your cantonal location therefore drives both the registration regime and the payroll regime. A Zurich firm avoids mandatory registration and works without an extended agreement; a Geneva firm combines the MPQ table with a generally binding agreement. Those are two different cost structures, to be modelled before choosing the seat.<\/p>\n

    The pitfalls that stall a file<\/h2>\n

    The first pitfall is structural: incorporating, leasing offices and hiring, then discovering that nobody on the team may sign a permit application in the target canton. Registration is personal, it takes weeks with a Swiss degree and months without one. Start it alongside incorporation, not after.<\/p>\n

    The second concerns foreign firms. Working 90 days a year under the free provision of services does not remove the need for recognition in regulated cantons: the permit file will be reviewed against the same requirements as a local firm’s. The third relates to the degree itself: an engineer who is not fully qualified in their home country has no legal basis for recognition in Switzerland, whatever their actual level.<\/p>\n

    The fourth is a vocabulary trap that costs time: REG is neither the commercial register nor a business directory. Nobody registers a company with REG. The fifth is reasoning by analogy with other jurisdictions. Switzerland has no national order of engineers, no compulsory professional chamber and no equivalent of the German right to submit plans. As with construction companies<\/a> or electrical businesses<\/a>, the Swiss regime is made of precise, local rules that must be read canton by canton.<\/p>\n

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    FAQ: starting an engineering consultancy in Switzerland<\/h2>\n
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    Do I need a licence to start an engineering consultancy in Switzerland?<\/h3>\n

    No. There is no federal licence, because the Confederation does not regulate the engineering profession. Six cantons, Geneva, Vaud, Neuch\u00e2tel, Fribourg, Ticino and Lucerne, regulate civil engineering, and the requirement attaches to the person signing building permit applications, not to the company. In every other canton the profession is free.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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    Can a company be registered on a cantonal register or with REG?<\/h3>\n

    No. The REG rules state that only natural persons may be entered in the registers, and firms are expressly excluded; Geneva’s MPQ table works the same way. Your company therefore relies on the registration of an individual, whether a partner or an employee. If that person leaves, the firm loses the ability to sign permit applications until another registered engineer is in place.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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    What are REG A, REG B and REG C?<\/h3>\n

    They are the three levels of the Swiss professional registers. REG A covers master’s degree holders from a federal institute of technology, a university or a university of applied sciences, with sufficient practice. REG B covers professional bachelor’s degree holders with three years of experience after graduation, with additional routes through an examination procedure. REG C covers holders of a college of higher education diploma or an advanced federal professional examination. Vaud and Fribourg rely on REG to allow drawings to be signed; Geneva and Ticino accept it as a route to their own authorisation.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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    How is a foreign engineering degree recognised?<\/h3>\n

    Through SERI. Where the degree appears in the annexes to the applicable EU directive, SERI issues a letter within two to three weeks that opens automatic entry in the cantonal registers. Where it does not, the procedure becomes a comparison of curricula lasting three to four months, before any compensation measures. The applicant must be fully qualified in their country of origin to rely on the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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    Which legal form suits an engineering consultancy?<\/h3>\n

    A sole proprietorship works for a single engineer starting out, with commercial register entry from CHF 100,000 of revenue. A GmbH, from CHF 20,000 of capital, protects private assets, which matters where liability outlives project handover. An AG, from CHF 100,000 with CHF 50,000 paid in, is the standard choice for several partners, with a shareholders’ agreement covering pre-emption rights, governance and deadlock clauses.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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    Does a Swiss consultancy charge VAT on foreign mandates?<\/h3>\n

    No. Under article 8 paragraph 1 of the VAT Act, the place of a supply of services is where the recipient has the seat of its business activity, so a study for a client established abroad carries no Swiss VAT. Voluntary registration often remains worthwhile, since it allows input tax on Swiss costs to be reclaimed. The CHF 100,000 registration threshold is itself computed on worldwide turnover.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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    Sources<\/h2>\n