¹ The Federal Council determines the aims of its government policy and the means to achieve them.

² It gives priority to the fulfilment of its obligations of government.

³ It takes all the measures required to ensure the continuation of government activities at all times.

⁴ It works to maintain the unity of the state and the cohesion of the country while protecting the diversity of the federal system. It helps the other state institutions to fulfil the duties assigned to them by the Constitution and the law in a timely and appropriate manner.

The Federal Council conducts the preliminary legislative proceedings, subject to the parliamentary right to an initiate legislation. It submits drafts of constitutional amendments, federal acts and decrees to the Federal Assembly and issues ordinances, provided it is authorised to do so under the Constitution and by law.

¹ The Federal Council may conclude, amend or withdraw from treaties under international law at its own behest in as far as it is authorised to do so by a federal act or by an international treaty approved by the Federal Assembly. Authorisation to conclude an international treaty includes authorisation to amend or withdraw from it.⁶

^1bis It may withdraw from an international treaty at its own behest in as far as the Federal Constitution provides for withdrawal.⁷

² It may conclude international treaties of limited scope at its own behest. It may likewise independently make amendments of limited scope to treaties or withdraw from international treaties of limited scope.⁸

³ International treaties or amendments of limited scope are those that:⁹

a.

do not create new obligations for Switzerland and do not constitute a waiver of existing rights;

b.

serve to implement treaties approved by the Federal Assembly and simply provide more detail on rights, obligations or organisational principles that are already set out in the main treaty;

c.

primarily concern the authorities and involve technical administrative issues.¹⁰

⁴ International treaties or amendments of limited scope do not include those that:¹¹

a.

meet any of the requirements for an optional referendum on an international treaty under Article 141 paragraph 1 letter d of the Federal Constitution;

b.

contain provisions on matters the regulation of which falls solely under cantonal jurisdiction;

c.

cause non-recurring expenditure exceeding five million francs or recurring expenditure of more than two million francs per year.¹²

¹ Where the Federal Assembly is responsible for approving the conclusion of or amendment to an international treaty, the Federal Council may determine or agree the provisional application of the treaty without the approval of the Federal Assembly when it is necessary to safeguard important Swiss interests and the matter is of particular urgency.¹⁴

^1bis It shall refrain from applying the treaty provisionally if the competent committees of both Councils are against doing so.¹⁵

² The provisional application of an international treaty ends if the Federal Council fails to present the Federal Assembly with a draft of a federal decree on the treaty in question within six months.

³ The Federal Council shall notify the parties to the treaty of the termination of the provisional application.

¹ Where the Federal Assembly is responsible for approving withdrawal from an international treaty, the Federal Council may withdraw from the treaty without the approval of the Federal Assembly if it is necessary to do so in order to safeguard important interests of Switzerland and if there is a particular urgency in doing so.

² It may not withdraw urgently if the responsible committees of both chambers object to withdrawal.

¹ The Federal Council, in direct application of Article 184 paragraph 3 of the Federal Constitution, may when necessary issue an ordinance to safeguard the interests of the country.

² It shall limit the period of validity of the ordinance appropriately; the period of validity may not exceed four years.

³ It may extend the period of validity once. In this case, the ordinance ceases to apply six months after the beginning of the extension if the Federal Council fails to present the Federal Assembly with a bill establishing a legal basis for the content of the ordinance.

⁴ The ordinance ceases to apply:

a.

if the bill mentioned in paragraph 3 is rejected by the Federal Assembly; or

b.

at the latest with introduction of the legal basis provided for in paragraph 3.

¹ The Federal Council may, in direct application of Article 185 paragraph 3 of the Federal Constitution, issue an ordinance to counter existing or imminent threats of serious disruption to public order or internal or external security.

² The ordinance ceases to apply:

a.

six months after its commencement if the Federal Council fails to submit to the Federal Assembly:

1.

a bill establishing a legal basis for the content of the ordinance, or

2.

a bill containing a Federal Assembly ordinance under Article 173 paragraph 1 letter c of the Federal Constitution which replaces the Federal Council's ordinance;

b.

if the bill is rejected by the Federal Assembly; or

c.

if the legal basis or the replacement ordinance issued by the Federal Assembly comes into force.

³ The Federal Assembly ordinance provided for in paragraph 2 letter a number 2 ceases to apply three years at the latest from its commencement.

¹ The Federal Council may, in direct application of Article 184 paragraph 3 or Article 185 paragraph 3 of the Federal Constitution, issue a ruling:

a.

if required to protect the country's interests; or

b.

in order to counter existing or imminent threats of serious disruption to public order or internal or external security.

² The Federal Council shall inform the competent organ of the Federal Assembly within 24 hours of its resolution on the ruling.

¹ The Federal Council determines the appropriate organisation of the Federal Administration and adapts it to circumstances. It may diverge from the organisational provisions of other federal acts unless the Federal Assembly expressly places limitations on its organisational powers.²¹

² It shall encourage efficiency and innovative ability within the Federal Administration.

³ It supervises the Federal Administration in a continuous and systematic manner.

⁴ It monitors the decentralised administrative bodies and other bodies charged with carrying out federal administrative tasks which are not themselves part of the Federal Administration.

⁵ It determines, as appropriate, the strategic goals for the following autonomous units:

a.

entities under public or private law which:

1.

are not part of the central Federal Administration,

2.

were created under federal legislation or over which the Confederation has control by virtue of its capital or voting rights, and

3.

are delegated federal administrative duties;

b.

the ETH Domain.²²

¹ The Federal Council ensures that the legislation and other decisions of the Federal Assembly are implemented.

² It shall ensure the administration of administrative justice in as far as it is required to do so by legislation.

¹ The Federal Council ensures that the Federal Assembly, the cantons and the general public are suitably informed.

² It ensures that consistent information on its assessments, plans, decisions and provisions is provided promptly and regularly.

³ Special provisions to protect overriding public or private interests are reserved.

¹ The Federal Council appoints a leading member of the Federal Chancellery as Federal Council spokesperson.

² The Federal Council spokesperson:

a.

provides information on behalf of the Federal Council to the general public;

b.

advises the Federal Council and its members on information and communication issues;

c.

coordinates the information activities of the Federal Council, the departments and the Federal Chancellery.

The Federal Council maintains contact with the general public and ensures they are informed of the opinions and concerns discussed in the public domain.

¹ The Federal Council reaches its decisions as a collegial body.

² The members of the Federal Council shall represent the decisions of the whole.

¹ The members of the Federal Council and the Federal Chancellor inform the Federal Council regularly about their business and in particular about related risks and possible challenges.

² The Federal Council may request specific information from its members and from the Federal Chancellor.

¹ The Federal Council members shall make decisions of major importance or political scope jointly and at the same time.

² The Federal Council may decide on other items of business in a simplified procedure.

³ The essential content of Federal Council deliberations and decisions are recorded in writing at all times. The Federal Council minutes guarantee transparency and aid the Federal Council as a management instrument.²⁵

In preparing items of business of major importance or political scope, the Federal Council shall, if necessary, outline the relevant aims and guidelines.

¹ Items of business on which the Federal Council must decide are presented to the members of the Federal Council in a joint reporting procedure.

² The Federal Chancellery regulates the joint reporting procedure.

¹ The Federal Council convenes as frequently as its business requires.

² The Federal Council is convened by the Federal Chancellor on behalf of the President of the Confederation.

³ Each member of the Federal Council may at any time ask for the Council to convene.

⁴ In cases of urgency the President of the Confederation may make an exception to the regular procedure for convening the Council and conducting negotiations.

The Federal Council holds special discussions and closed-door meetings on issues of far-reaching importance.

¹ The President of the Confederation chairs the discussions in the Federal Council.

² In addition to the members of the Federal Council, the Federal Chancellor also participates in the deliberations of the Federal Council in an advisory capacity. He or she has the right to make proposals in order to fulfil the tasks of the Federal Chancellery.²⁶

³ The Vice-Chancellors shall be present at the discussions unless otherwise specified by the Federal Council.

⁴ The Federal Council may call on the expertise of its administrative staff and qualified persons from within and outside of the Federal Administration when it considers this necessary in order to acquire information and form an opinion.

¹ The Federal Council may only reach a decision if at least four of its members are present.

² Decisions are taken by a majority vote. Federal Councillors are permitted to abstain from voting but a valid decision requires the votes of at least three members.

³ The chairperson of the Federal Council takes part in the vote. In the event of a tie, his or her vote is worth double. This does not apply in the case of elections.

¹ Members of the Federal Council and the persons mentioned in Article 18 shall recuse themselves if they have an immediate personal interest in the matter at hand.

² If the Council is making a ruling or deciding on an appeal, the provisions on recusal of the Federal Act of 20 December 1968²⁷ on Administrative Procedure apply.

The discussions of the Federal Council and the joint reporting procedure mentioned in Article 15 are not public. The public are informed in accordance with Article 10.

¹ The Federal Council appoints a deputy for each Federal Councillor from among its members.

² Each member of the Federal Council shall ensure that in the event of unforeseen incidents his or her deputy is notified quickly and comprehensively about important business and the issues to be decided.

³ Each member of the Federal Council and his or her deputy shall ensure the orderly handover of business.

¹ The Federal Council may appoint committees from among its members for certain items of business. These committees are normally made up of three members.

² The committees prepare discussions and decisions for the Federal Council or conduct discussions on behalf of the collegial body with other internal or external administrative bodies or private individuals. They have no decision-making powers.

³ They inform the Federal Council regularly about their discussions.

⁴ The Federal Chancellery runs the secretariat, which in particular keeps minutes of the discussions in the committee and manages the documentation.

The Federal Council sets out in detail how it exercises its functions in an ordinance.

¹ The head of department bears political responsibility for running a department.

² The head of department:

a.

sets the guidelines for running the department;

b.

delegates where necessary the immediate fulfilment of the department's tasks to administrative units and employees under its authority;

c.

determines the organisation of the department within the terms of this act.

In principle, the head of department has the unrestricted right to issue instructions, to lead his or her department and intervene personally in a matter. Special provisions for individual administrative units and the attribution of certain powers under federal legislation are reserved.

¹ The departments shall manage the following with annual service agreements:

a.

the administrative units of the central federal administration;

b.

the administrative units of the decentralised federal administration, if they do not keep their own accounts.

² The Swiss Federal Audit Office is exempted from management by service agreement. The Federal Council may provide for further exceptions.

³ Where groups and offices manage administrative units with their own global budgets, the department may delegate the power to them to conclude the service agreements with these administrative units.

⁴ In the service agreement, the tasks of the administrative units are set out according to projects and service groups. They must be given measurable goals.

⁵ The administrative units report annually on the achievement of their goals. At the start of each legislature plan, they shall review the structure and goals of their service groups.

The heads of department may employ personal staff and assign tasks to them.

In consultation with the Federal Chancellery, the heads of department take the measures required to inform the public of the departments' activities and decide who is responsible for disseminating that information.

¹ Each department has a general secretariat as its general administrative office. The general secretariat may also conduct other tasks.

² The Secretary General is the department's chief of staff.

¹ The General Secretariat supports the head of department in the planning, organisation and coordination of the department's activities and in the decisions that he or she is required to make.

² It plays a supervisory role as instructed by the head of department.

³ It ensures that the planning and activities of the department are coordinated with those of the other departments and of the Federal Council.

⁴ It supports the head of department in preparing Federal Council discussions.

¹ The offices are the administrative units charged with dealing with the business of the Administration.

² The Federal Council sets out in ordinances the way in which the Federal Administration is organised into offices. It assigns the offices areas of business which are closely related if possible and determines their tasks.

³ The Federal Council assign the offices to the departments according to the criteria of management, coherence of tasks and material and political balance. It may reassign the offices at any time.

⁴ The heads of department determine the organisational structure of the offices in their department. With the consent of the Federal Council, they may organise the offices into groups.

⁵ The office directors determine the detailed organisation of their offices.

The directors of the groups and offices are responsible to their superiors for directing the administrative units under them and for carrying out the duties assigned to them.

¹ The Federal Council may appoint as state secretaries the directors of offices or groups that are responsible for important fields of responsibility of a department. An office or group that is headed by a state secretary may be known as a state secretariat.

² State secretaries support and relieve the burden on heads of department particularly in their dealings with foreign authorities.

The Federal Council may temporarily award the title of «State Secretary» to persons in the Federal Administration who represent Switzerland on its behalf in high-level international negotiations.

¹ The Federal Council and departments may consult organisations and persons which are not part of the Federal Administration.

² …⁶³

¹ Extra-parliamentary commissions advise on a permanent basis the Federal Council and the Federal Administration on accomplishing their tasks.

² They make decisions insofar as they are authorised to by a federal act.

Extra-parliamentary commissions may be established when tasks:

a.

require specialist knowledge that is not available in the Federal Administration;

b.

require the cantons or additional interested circles to be involved at an early stage; or

c.

are to be carried out by a decentralised unit of the Federal Administration which is not bound by directives.

¹ A committee is not established if the task can be more appropriately carried out by a unit of the central Federal Administration or an organisation or person from outside the Federal Administration.

² The Federal Council establishes extra-parliamentary commissions and elects their members.

³ The members are appointed for a term of office of four years.

⁴ If a seat becomes vacant, a replacement is elected.

Every four years, when an extra-parliamentary commission is elected, the necessity for the committee, its tasks and composition shall be reviewed.

¹ Extra-parliamentary commissions may normally have no more than 15 members.

² Among the members there must a balance between the sexes, languages, regions, age groups and interest groups, with due consideration of the committee's tasks.

³ Members the Federal Administration may only be elected as members of a committee in exceptional cases and with due reason.

¹ Committee members must disclose their interests before election. The Federal Council shall issue the relevant implementing provisions.

² Any person who refuses to disclose their interests is not eligible for election to a committee.

¹ The Federal Council sets out uniform criteria for the remuneration of committee members.

² The amount of remuneration is made public.

¹ The Federal Administration's units and the Parliamentary Services shall operate electronic records and process management systems for their business processes and to manage documents, including correspondence.

² Insofar as required within the business processes, they may grant federal authorities and bodies outside the Federal Administration access to their own records and process management systems.

¹ Personal data, including sensitive personal data in terms of the Data Protection Act of 25 September 2020⁶⁹ (FADP), and legal entities' data, including sensitive data in terms of Article 57r paragraph 2 of this Act, may be processed in records and process management systems, provided they serve:

a.

to process items of business;

b.

to organise operational processes;

c.

to determine whether data on a specific person are being processed;

d.

to facilitate access to documentation.

² Other federal authorities and bodies outside the Federal Administration may be granted access to personal data, including sensitive personal data in terms of the FADP, and to legal entities' data, including sensitive legal entities' data in terms of Article 57r paragraph 2 of this Act, provided disclosure is permitted by law.

³ Records and process management systems may contain sensitive personal data in terms of the FADP and sensitive legal entities' data in terms of Article 57r paragraph 2 of this Act, provided the data results from the correspondence or from the nature of the business or the document.

⁴ Access to sensitive personal data in terms of the FADP and to sensitive legal entities' data in terms of Article 57r paragraph 2 of this Act may only be granted to persons who require access in order to fulfil their task.

The Federal Council shall issue implementing provisions, in particular on the organisation and operation of the records and process management systems and on the protection of personal data and legal entities' data.

The regulations in this section do not apply if another federal act regulates the processing of personal data and legal entities' data linked to the use of electronic infrastructure.

¹ Under the FADP⁷⁴, federal bodies may not record and evaluate personal data and legal entities' data linked to the use of their electronic infrastructure or to any electronic infrastructure operated by them unless this is necessary for one or more of the purposes set out in Articles 57l-57o of this Act.

² Data processing as described in this Section may also involve personal data in terms of the FADP and sensitive legal entities' data in terms of Article 57r paragraph 2 of this Act.

Electronic infrastructure includes all stationary or mobile installations and devices capable of recording personal data and legal entities' data; it includes in particular:⁷⁵

a.

data processing systems, network components and software;

b.

data storage units;

c.

telephones;

d.

printers, scanners, fax and photocopying machines;

e.

timekeeping systems;

f.

access and video surveillance systems;

g.

geopositioning systems.

The federal bodies may record personal data and legal entities' data associated with the use of electronic infrastructure for the following purposes:⁷⁷

a.

all data, including of the content of electronic correspondence: for back-up purposes;

b.

data linked to the use of electronic infrastructure:

1.

to ensure the security of information and services,

2.

to ensure that electronic infrastructure is maintained on a technical level,

3.

to verify compliance with licensing regulations,

4.

to trace access to data collections,

4.⁷⁸

to trace access to the electronic infrastructure,

5.

to record any costs arising from the use of electronic infrastructure;

c.

data on staff working hours: to manage working hours;

d.

data on persons entering, leaving and remaining on federal premises: for security purposes.

Evaluation of recorded data which does not relate to persons is permitted for the purposes stated in Article 57l.

Evaluation of recorded data which does not relate to named persons is permitted by random sampling for the following purposes:

a.

to monitor the use of electronic infrastructure;

b.

to monitor staff working hours.

¹ Evaluation of recorded data which relates to named persons is permitted for the following purposes:

a.

to investigate specific suspicion regarding abuse of electronic infrastructure and to take action against proven abuse;

b.

to analyse and eliminate disruptions to electronic infrastructure and protect against clear threats to this infrastructure;

c.

to provide required services;

d.

to determine and invoice services rendered;

e.

to monitor individual working hours.

² Evaluation according to paragraph 1 letter a may only be carried out:

a.

by federal bodies;

b.

once the person concerned has been informed in writing.

The federal authority takes the required preventive technical and organisational measures to prevent abuses.

¹ The Federal Council regulates in particular:

a.

the recording, safeguarding and destruction of data;

b.

the data processing procedure;

c.

access to data;

d.

the technical and the organisational measures to guarantee data security.

² Data may only be kept as long as is necessary.

³ Unless otherwise determined by an Ordinance issued by the Federal Assembly, these implementing provisions where appropriate apply to data relating to members of the Federal Assembly and the staff of the Parliamentary Services.

¹ Federal bodies may process legal entities' data, including sensitive data, provided this is required to fulfil their tasks as defined in a formal act of parliament.

² Sensitive legal entities' data are:

a.

data relating to administrative and criminal prosecutions and sanctions;

b.

data on professional, business and manufacturing secrets.

¹ Federal bodies may disclose legal entities' data if this is permitted by law.

² They may only disclose sensitive legal entities' data if a formal act of parliament so provides.

³ They may disclose legal entities' data in an individual case in derogation from paragraphs 1 and 2 if any one of the following requirements is met:

a.

The disclosure of data is essential for the federal body or for the recipient in order to fulfil a statutory task.

b.

The legal entity concerned has consented to disclosure.

c.

The recipient credibly demonstrates that the legal entity concerned refuses consent or objects to disclosure in order to prevent the recipient from enforcing legal claims or from safeguarding other legitimate interests; the legal entity concerned shall be given the opportunity to state its position in advance, unless this is impossible or requires disproportionate effort.

⁴ They may also disclose legal entities' data when providing the public with official information or in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act of 17 December 2004⁸⁰, provided:

a.

the data are connected with the fulfilment of public tasks; and

b.

there is an overriding public interest in disclosure.

⁵ They may make legal entities' data generally accessible using automated information and communications services if the publication of such data is permitted by law or if they disclose the data on the basis of paragraph 4. If there is no longer a public interest in making the data generally accessible, the data concerned shall be deleted from the automated information and communications service.

⁶ The federal bodies shall refuse to permit, or shall restrict or impose conditions on disclosure if:

a.

essential public interests or the clearly legitimate interests of the legal entity concerned so require; or

b.

statutory confidentiality duties or specific regulations on the protection of legal entities' data so require.

The applicable procedural law regulates the rights of the legal entities concerned.