Facts
The Federal Department of Justice and Police filed an administrative appeal against the decision of the Government of the Canton of Nidwalden of 25 November 1985, which ordered the commercial register to register the board member "Dr. Marc Ronca" with the first name "Marc". The dispute concerned the question of whether the first name to be registered in the commercial register must correspond to the entry in the civil registry.Considerations
The Federal Tribunal considered that the view of the Federal Department was justified. According to Art. 40 of the Ordinance on the Commercial Register (CRO), the first name to be registered must correspond to the entry in the civil registry. This interpretation is based on a public interest in ensuring that the spelling of personal names registered in federal public registers is uniform. The Federal Tribunal rejected the appellant's argument that he should be free to use his common name "Marc" rather than his official first name "Markus Andreas" in the entries in the commercial register. Such a practice could lead to misleading information in the…