Schweiz - Suisse - Svizzera - Switzerland
1. Legal Gazette
1.1. Overview
Amtliche Sammlung des Bundesrechts/Recueil officiel du droit fédéral/Raccolta ufficiale delle leggi federali
Official compilation of federal legislation
Published by:
Bundeskanzlei, Kompetenzzentrum Amtliche Veröffentlichungen/Chancellerie fédérale, Centre des publications officielles/Cancelleria federale, Centro delle pubblicazioni ufficiali
(Federal Chancellery, Centre for official Publications)
Feldeggweg 1 — 3003 Bern
Switzerland
Tel. +41 313222453
Fax +41 313225851
E-mail: kavweb@bk.admin.ch
Website: http://www.bk.admin.ch
| Official journal / legal gazette |
In Switzerland, there are two legal gazettes, the Amtliche Sammlung des Bundesrechts/Recueil officiel du droit fédéral/Raccolta ufficiale delle leggi federali (‘official compilation of federal legislation’, not to be confused with the ‘Classified compilation of federal legislation’, see point 2) and the Bundesblatt/Feuille fédérale/Foglio federale (Federal Gazette) and an official gazette, the Schweizerisches Handelsamtsblatt/Feuille officielle suisse du commerce/Foglio ufficiale svizzero di commercio (Swiss official Gazette of Commerce); see point 1.2 for details. |
| First edition |
1848 |
| First online edition |
September 1998 |
| Paper edition |
Amtliche Sammlung des
Bundesrechts/Recueil officiel du droit fédéral/Raccolta ufficiale delle leggi federali
Federal Gazette
Price
Official compilation of federal legislation and Federal Gazette (combined): CHF 295 (EUR 186)
Official compilation of federal legislation: CHF 145 (EUR 91.50) Federal Gazette: CHF 150 EUR 94.70).
All prices shown are per year.
Legally binding |
| Online edition |
http://www.admin.ch/ch/f/as/index.html
(Official compilation of federal legislation)
http://www.admin.ch/ch/f/ff/index.html
(Federal Gazette)
Available texts
Official compilation: since September 1998 (PDF)
Federal Gazette: since 1849
Access and price
Free
The electronic edition is considered authentic but not legally binding. |
| CD/DVD edition |
see point 2 |
1.2. Details on the legal gazette in general
| Content |
Amtliche Sammlung des Bundesrechts/Recueil officiel du droit fédéral/Raccolta ufficiale delle leggi federali
(Official compilation of federal legislation):
- Federal constitution and laws, ordinances and decrees adopted by parliament, government and administration, international treaties binding on Switzerland (with some exceptions), conventions between the confederation and cantons (in some cases), other normative acts
- Legislation is published in chronological order according to the date of coming into force. Only amendments are published (the consolidated texts are available through the classified compilation, see point 2).
Published weekly
Bundesblatt/Feuille fédérale/Foglio federale
(Federal Gazette):
Draft legislation with preparatory work, federal acts or decrees subject to referendum, other official communications and reports of government and other institutions
Published weekly
|
| Legal basis |
Federal act on the compilations of federal legislation and on the Federal Gazette (official Publications Act, 170.51, 18 June 2004)
Ordinance on the Compilations of Federal Legislation and on the Federal Gazette
(Publications Ordinance, 170.512.1, 17 November 2004) |
| Legally binding |
- Texts published in the official compilation are legally binding and also have a ‘negative obligatory force’, meaning that an act that has not been published in the official compilation is not applicable (with the exception of international treaties and decrees that need to be kept secret in the interest of national defence issues).
- Both the paper and online editions are equally authentic but only the paper edition is legally binding. The three language versions (French, German and Italian) are equally legally binding, while editions in other languages are only informative.
|
| Financing |
Mainly from the state budget, but also from sales revenue |
| Other gazettes |
The Swiss official Gazette of Commerce (Schweizerisches Handelsamtsblatt/Feuille officielle suisse du commerce/Foglio ufficiale svizzero di commercio) is published five times a week and covers economic subjects with information relevant to specific business environments. More details can be found online (http://www.shab.ch, see also http://www.simap.ch for the platform of public procurement).
Each of the 26 cantons belonging to the Swiss Confederation has its own compilation of cantonal legislation and cantonal gazette (names vary). Links to the official websites of the cantons can be found online (http://www.ch.ch or http://www.lexfind.ch). |
1.3. Details on the online edition
1.4. Details on the publishing institution
Bundeskanzlei, Kompetenzzentrum Amtliche Veröffentlichungen/Chancellerie fédérale, Centre des publications officielles/Cancelleria federale, Centro delle pubblicazioni ufficiali
(Federal Chancellery, Centre for Official Publications)
For contact details, please refer to point 1.1
| Form and nature |
The Centre for Official Publications is part of the Federal Chancellery, which is the Staff Office of the Federal Government as a whole. The head of the centre is appointed by the Chancellery. |
| Basic tasks |
- Pre-press: yes
- Printing: no
- Dissemination/distribution: no
- Legal gazette online: yes
- Legislation database: yes
- Consolidation: yes
|
| Other services offered |
On demand, the centre can provide texts in other electronic formats(subject to payment). |
1.5. Drafting and publishing procedures
Text processing
systems |
- There is no special text processing system; normal software products (such as MS Word, Adobe PDF, Internet Explorer or other browsers) are used. MS Word has been specifically adapted with a number of macros.
- The same system applies for primary and secondary legislation.
|
| Workflow |
A single integrated workflow system is used, based on intranet web applications. |
| Publishing |
- The centre is in charge of proofreading and editing.
- The minimum period between reception of the draft by the publishing workflow and availability of the published text is one week.
- The paper and electronic editions derive from the same final text file and are published at the same time.
|
2. Collections of consolidated Legislation
See full details >>
Systematische Sammlung des Bundesrechts (SR)/Recueil systématique du droit fédéral (RS)/Raccolta sistematica del diritto federale (RS)
(Classified compilation of federal legislation)
http://www.admin.ch/ch/e/rs/rs.html
For details, see point 3.2
Body carrying out
consolidation |
Federal Chancellery, Centre for Official Publications |
| Content |
The classified compilation collection, structured by subject, contains the consolidated version of the legislative acts in force which are published in the official compilation (see point 1.2): Federal Constitution and legislation, international treaties binding on Switzerland, conventions between Confederation and cantons, cantonal constitutions. The collection contains all legislative acts in French, German and Italian. The most important acts (40) are translated into English. These are therefore official translations, but they have no legal force and are provided for information purposes only. |
Status of the
consolidated texts |
semi-official collection. |
Deadline for
consolidation |
The online edition is continuously updated, whereas the paper and DVD editions are updated every three months. |
3. Legislative portals and online databases
3.1. Official portals
Swiss legislation sub-portal within the website of Switzerland’s federal authorities
http://www.admin.ch/ch/e/rs/rs.html
Organisation
responsible |
Federal Chancellery |
| Content |
- Classified compilation of federal legislation (see point 2)
- Official compilation of federal legislation (see point 1.2)
- Federal Gazette
- Bilateral treaties
- Certain preparatory works
- Case law
- Other official texts
|
| Access |
Free of charge |
3.2. Official databases
For the legal gazettes online, see point 1.3
Schweizerisches Handelsamtsblatt / Feuille officielle suisse du commerce / Foglio ufficiale svizzero di commercio
(Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce)
www.shab.ch
Informationssystem über das öffentliche Beschaffungswesen in der Schweiz / Système d'information sur les marchés publics en Suisse / Sistema informativo sulle commesse publiche in Svizzera
(The information platform for public procurement in Switzerland)
www.simap.ch
Systematische Sammlung des Bundesrechts (SR) / Recueil systématique du droit fédéral (RS) / Raccolta sistematica del diritto federale (RS)
(Classified compilation of federal legislation)
http://www.admin.ch/ch/e/rs/rs.html
Organisation
responsible |
Federal Chancellery, Centre for official Publications |
| Content |
Consolidated legislation |
| Access |
Free online |
3.3. Additional information: other commonly used legal databases
The following hosts disseminate an online edition of EUR-Lex under licence from the Publications Office:
