The FOPH shall in cooperation with other federal agencies and the competent cantonal bodies operate systems for the early detection and monitoring of communicable diseases. It shall ensure coordination with international systems.

¹ Doctors, hospitals and other public or private healthcare institutions shall report observations on communicable diseases, including the information required to identify the persons who are ill, infected or have been exposed and to establish the route of transmission:

a.

to the competent cantonal authority;

b.

in the case of certain pathogens, directly to the FOPH as well.

² Laboratories shall report laboratory analysis findings on communicable diseases including the information required to identify the persons who are ill or infected to the competent cantonal authority and the FOPH.

³ The Federal Council may require that measures taken to prevent and control the disease as well as their effect are reported and that samples and test results are sent to the laboratories designated by the responsible authorities.

⁴ The competent cantonal authorities shall report observations that indicate a risk to public health to the FOPH.

⁵ Any person piloting a ship or an aircraft shall report observations that indicate a risk to public health to the port or airport operator.

⁶ Observations must be reported if they relate to communicable diseases that:

a.

may cause epidemics;

b.

may cause serious consequences;

c.

are novel or unexpected; or

d.

are subject to monitoring by international agreement.

¹ The Federal Council shall stipulate the observations on communicable diseases that must be reported, together with the methods, criteria and time limits for reporting.

² In the case of specific report content, it may restrict the duty to report to selected doctors, to hospitals and other public or private healthcare institutions and to laboratories.

¹ The FOPH may agree for the purpose of epidemiological monitoring and for research purposes with doctors, laboratories, hospitals and other public or private healthcare institutions that they report observations that are not subject to the duty to report to a body designated by the FOPH.

² The report must be made in anonymised form.

¹ The competent cantonal authorities shall ensure the required epidemiological investigations, in particular on the nature, cause, source of infection and spread of a detected or suspected disease. They shall coordinate their activities and inform the FOPH about the results.

² The competent federal authority shall provide the cantonal authorities with professional support with the epidemiological investigations. It may conduct such investigations itself, particularly if the canton concerned requests it to do so.

¹ Laboratories that conduct microbiological tests for detecting communicable diseases require a licence from the competent federal authority.

² The Federal Council shall carry out the following tasks:

a.

designating the competent federal authority.

b.

regulating the requirements and procedure for granting the licence.

c.

specifying the licence holder's obligations.

d.

regulating supervision and in particular provide for the possibility of unannounced inspections.

³ Laboratories in doctors' practices, hospital laboratories, pharmacy dispensaries and other laboratories that conduct analyses as part of the universal provision of services under the Federal Act of 18 March 1994³ on Health Insurance (Health Insurance Act) are exempted from the licence requirement.

The FOPH may designate individual laboratories as national reference centres or as confirmation laboratories and entrust the same with special tests and other special tasks.

The cantons shall operate a network of regional laboratories and ensure cooperation with the competent federal authorities and the high security laboratories.

¹ The Confederation and the cantons shall take measures to control, reduce and eliminate the risks of disease transmission.

² The Federal Council may issue the following regulations:

a.

It may require hospitals, clinics and other healthcare institutions to decontaminate, disinfect and sterilise their medical devices.

b.

It may require businesses and event organisers whose activities increase the risk of transmitting the disease to provide prevention and information materials and comply with a specific code of conduct.

c.

It may require public health and education institutions to offer information on the dangers of communicable diseases and advice on their prevention and control.

d.

It may require public and private institutions that have a special obligation to protect the health of people in their care to take suitable preventive measures.

e.

It may make technical installations that can spread communicable diseases subject to a registration requirement.

¹ The FOPH, in cooperation with the Federal Commission for Vaccination, shall draw up and publish vaccination recommendations in the form of a national vaccination plan.

² Doctors and other healthcare specialists shall assist in implementing the national vaccination plan as part of their activities.

³ They shall inform the persons addressed by the vaccination recommendations about the national vaccination plan.

¹ The cantons shall encourage people to be vaccinated by:

a.

informing the persons addressed by the vaccination recommendations about the national vaccination plan;

b.

regularly reviewing the vaccination status of children and young people who are in compulsory education;

c.

ensuring that the persons addressed by the vaccination recommendations are fully vaccinated.

² They may in particular:

a.

offer vaccinations as part of school health services;

b.

administer vaccines free of charge or supply vaccines at below the market price.

The cantons may declare vaccinations to be mandatory for population groups at high risk, persons who are particularly exposed to infection and persons that carry out certain activities, provided there is a significant risk.

¹ The Federal Council may introduce a registration or licensing obligation for vaccinations for which an international certificate of vaccination or other prophylaxis under Article 36 of the International Health Regulations (2005) of 23 May 2005⁴ is required.

² The Federal Council shall carry out the following tasks:

a.

designating the competent authority;

b.

regulating the requirements and the procedure for granting licences;

c.

indicating the vaccination procedure and the permitted vaccines.

¹ The competent federal authorities shall in consultation with the cantons regularly review the appropriateness and effectiveness of the vaccination measures.

² The competent cantonal authorities shall collect data on the numbers of persons who have been vaccinated and inform the FOPH regularly about the vaccination rate and about the measures taken to increase the rate.

³ The FOPH shall regularly draw up reports on monitoring and evaluation and publish these in a suitable form.

Any person who handles pathogens or their toxic products must take all the measures required to ensure that no one can come to any harm.

¹ In the case of activities with pathogens in contained systems, all the containment measures that are required to prevent a risk to the population must be taken.

² The Federal Council shall introduce a registration or licensing obligation; it shall regulate the requirements and the procedure.

³ It may simplify the registration or licensing obligation or provide for exceptions in the case of specific pathogens and activities if current scientific knowledge and experience indicate that there is no risk to health.

¹ Any person who wishes to release or market pathogens for experimental purposes shall require a licence from the Confederation.

² The Federal Council shall regulate the requirements and the procedure for granting the licence as well as the provision of information to the public on experimental releases.

³ It may provide for exceptions from the licensing obligation for specific pathogens if current scientific knowledge and experience indicate that there is no risk to health.

Any person who markets pathogens must inform customers about their health-related properties and risks and about the required precautionary and preventive measures.

The Federal Council may issue the following regulations:

a.

It may regulate the transport of pathogens and introduce a licensing requirement for their import, export and transit.

b.

It may restrict or prohibit the handling of specific pathogens.

c.⁵

It may specify requirements for contained system equipment and the training of persons handling pathogens.

d.

It may require the marking of containers that hold pathogens.

¹ A measure in accordance with Articles 33-38 may only be ordered if:

a.

less stringent measures to prevent the spread of a communicable disease are not sufficient or appropriate; and

b.

the measure serves to avert a serious risk to the health of other persons.

² The measure must be necessary and reasonable.

¹ The competent cantonal authorities shall order the measures in accordance with Articles 33-38.

² The competent federal authorities shall support the cantons in identifying and notifying persons, in particular persons travelling on international transport services.

³ When ordering measures, the persons concerned must be given an explanation of why the measures are being ordered and how long they are expected to apply.

⁴ The measures may only apply for as long as is necessary to prevent the spread of a communicable disease and to avert a serious risk to the health of other persons. They must be regularly reviewed.

The competent cantonal authorities may compulsorily enforce their orders relating to medical monitoring, quarantine, isolation or medical testing.

Any person who is ill, suspected of being ill, infected or suspected of being infected or who is spreading pathogens may be identified and notified.

¹ Any person who is ill, suspected of being ill, infected or suspected of being infected or who is spreading pathogens may be made subject to medical monitoring.

² The person concerned is required to inform the doctor responsible about their state of health and their contacts with other persons.

¹ If medical monitoring is insufficient, the following measures may be taken:

a.

a person who suspected of being ill or suspected of being infected may be placed in quarantine;

b.

a person who is ill or infected or who is spreading pathogens may be placed in isolation.

² The person concerned may if necessary be admitted to a hospital or another suitable institution.

³ The hospital or the institution must ensure that its staff and other persons at risk are protected against infection.

Any person who is ill, suspected of being ill, infected or suspected of being infected or who is spreading pathogens may be required to undergo a medical examination and to allow samples to be taken.

Any person who is ill, suspected of being ill, infected or suspected of being infected or who is spreading pathogens may be required to undergo medical treatment.

¹ Any person who is ill, suspected of being ill, infected or suspected of being infected or who is spreading pathogens may be wholly or partly prohibited from carrying out certain activities or practising their profession. They may be required to give notice of any change in their canton of residence, their activity or profession to the competent cantonal authority without delay.

² If a person is wholly or partly prohibited from carrying out certain activities or from practising their profession and if they have been required to give notice of a change in their canton of residence, their activity or profession, the competent cantonal authority shall notify the competent authority in the canton concerned about the prohibition or restriction.

Doctors who are treating or monitoring a person who is ill, suspected of being ill, infected or suspected of being infected or who is spreading pathogens shall take all the measures available to them to prevent the spread of a communicable disease. If official measures are required, this must be reported to the competent cantonal authority.

¹ The competent cantonal authorities shall order measures to prevent the spread of communicable diseases among the population or within specific groups of persons. They shall coordinate their measures.

² They may in particular take the following measures:

a.

prohibit or restrict events;

b.

close schools, other public institutions and private businesses or issue regulations on their operation;

c.

revoke or restrict the right to enter or leave certain buildings or areas and to carry out specific activities at defined locations.

³ The measures may only apply for as long as is necessary to prevent the spread of a communicable disease. They must be regularly reviewed.

¹ The Federal Council shall issue regulations on international travel to prevent communicable diseases spreading from one country to another.

² If required to prevent the spread of a communicable disease, the FOPH may require persons entering or leaving Switzerland:

a.

to make their identity, travel route and contact details known;

b.

to present a certificate of vaccination or other prophylaxis;

c.

to provide information on their state of health;

d.

to present proof of a medical test;

e.

to undergo a medical examination.

³ The FOPH may require persons entering Switzerland to submit to a measure in accordance with Articles 34, 35, 37 and 38; Articles 30-32 apply in an analogous manner. If required, the Federal Council may extend these measures temporarily to all persons entering Switzerland from regions considered to pose a risk.

⁴ The FOPH may temporarily deny any person who is ill, suspected of being ill, infected or suspected of being infected or who is spreading pathogens the right to leave Switzerland if this is required to prevent the spread of a communicable disease.

¹ Operators of ports and airports shall make the required operational preparations for implementing the measures under Article 41. They shall have their own emergency plans.

² The Federal Council shall designate the operators of ports and airports that must provide the required capacities in accordance with Annex 1 B of the International Health Regulations (2005) of 23 May 2005⁶.

¹ Companies that transport persons by rail, bus, ship or air internationally, airport operators, port operators, railway and bus stations and travel businesses are required to cooperate in carrying out the measures under Article 41. They may within the limits of their operational and technical capacities be required:

a.

to inform travellers about the dangers of communicable diseases and the options for preventing and controlling such diseases;

b.

to collect the information required for the identification or early detection of persons who are ill, suspected of being ill, infected or suspected of being ill and persons suspected of spreading pathogens;

c.

to provide the competent authorities with lists of passengers or goods;

d.

to enable passengers to undergo medical tests;

e.

to enable the transport of persons who are ill, suspected of being ill, infected, suspected of being infected or who are spreading pathogens to a hospital or other suitable institution.

² They must provide the operational and staff capacities necessary to carry out the measures under paragraph 1.

¹ The Federal Council shall ensure that the population is supplied with the most important therapeutic products that are suitable for controlling communicable diseases, insofar as it is unable to guarantee supply by means of measures under the National Economic Supply Act of 8 October 1982⁷.

² It may issue regulations on:

a.

allocating therapeutic products;

b.

distributing therapeutic products;

c.

facilitating the import and restricting or prohibiting the export of therapeutic products, provided this is necessary in order to avert a public health risk;

d.

maintaining stocks of therapeutic products in hospitals and other healthcare institutions.

³ It may provide for measures to supply Swiss citizens living abroad with therapeutic products.

¹ The Federal Council may issue regulations on the transport and on the import, export and transit of goods that may be carriers of pathogens. It may in particular:

a.

issue requirements for preventive measures relating to the transport of goods;

b.

require the testing of goods for specific pathogens;

c.

issue restrictions and bans on transport and on the import, export and transit of goods.

² It may instruct the cantons to take individual measures.

¹ The Federal Council shall issue the required regulations on the transport and the burial of dead bodies.

² It shall regulate the transport of dead bodies through Switzerland, from another country to Switzerland and from Switzerland to another country.

¹ If organisms occur that can transmit pathogens to human beings, the competent federal and cantonal bodies shall coordinate any measures required to control such organisms or to prevent their occurrence.

² Companies that transport persons by rail, bus, ship or air, airport operators, port operators, railway and bus stations and travel businesses are required to cooperate in carrying out these measures.

¹ The competent cantonal authorities shall ensure that disinfection and disinfestation, in particular of means of transport and goods, are carried out to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.

² Companies that transport persons by rail, bus, ship or air, airport operators, port operators, railway and bus stations and travel businesses are required to cooperate in carrying out disinfection and disinfestation measures.

The competent cantonal authorities shall issue the required health certificates for international shipping.

¹ Each canton shall appoint a chief medical officer. Cantons may appoint a joint chief medical officer.

² Chief medical officers shall coordinate their activities with other authorities and institutions involved in controlling communicable diseases. If a communicable disease arises in connection with a foodstuff, the chief medical officer shall notify the cantonal chemist.

³ The Federal Council shall specify the required qualifications for chief medical officers.

¹ The Confederation and the cantons shall establish a body to promote cooperation (coordination body). Subsidiary bodies may be established to deal with specific fields, in particular detecting and monitoring, preventing and combating zoonoses.

² The coordination body and its subsidiary bodies shall be made up of federal and cantonal representatives. They may also include other specialists, as required.

³ Their tasks shall include the following:

a.

coordinating measures to prepare for situations that pose a particular risk to public health;

b.

coordinating measures to detect, prevent and control the disease;

c.

encouraging uniform implementation;

d.

coordinating the provision of information and communication;

e.

supporting the Federal Task Force in managing special or extraordinary situations.

⁴ The Federal Council shall regulate the establishment and management of the coordination body and its subsidiary bodies.

¹ The Federal Council shall have a task force at its disposal for events that may pose a special risk to public health, in particular to manage a special or extraordinary situation.

² The Task Force shall have the following tasks:

a.

advising the Federal Council;

b.

supporting the Confederation and the cantons in coordinating the measures.

¹ Federal Commission for Vaccination shall advise the Federal Council on issuing regulations and the authorities on implementing this Act.

² The Commission's tasks shall include the following:

a.

drawing up vaccination recommendations for submission to the FOPH;

b.

devising medical criteria for assessing the severity of a vaccination reaction;

c.

advising the FDHA on matters related to compensation (Art. 64) or satisfaction (Art. 65).

³ It shall comprise specialists from outside the administration who have scientific or practical knowledge of vaccination matters.

⁴ It shall work with other federal and cantonal bodies that deal with vaccination matters.

The Swiss Expert Committee for Biosafety shall advise the Federal Council on issuing regulations and the authorities on implementing this Act.

¹ Insofar as is required in order to identify persons who are ill, suspected of being ill, infected, suspected of being infected and persons suspected of spreading pathogens, the FOPH, the competent cantonal authorities and the public and private institutions entrusted with tasks under this Act may process or arrange for the processing of personal data, including health data, with a view to taking measures to protect public health, in particular to detect, monitor and control communicable diseases.

² They shall be responsible for complying with the data protection regulations.

³ The data may be retained for a maximum of ten years, unless the specifics of the disease require a longer retention period. Thereafter they shall be destroyed or anonymised.

¹ The federal and cantonal bodies responsible for implementing this Act may disclose to each other personal data, including data on health, which they require in order to carry out the tasks assigned to them under this Act.

² In particular the following data may be disclosed:

a.

surname, first name, address, date of birth and occupation;

b.

details of travel routes, places of stay and contacts with persons, animals and objects;

c.

results of medical tests;

d.

results of epidemiological investigations;

e.

details of belonging to a specific risk category;

f.

details of measures to prevent and combat a communicable disease.

³ The FOPH and the cantonal authorities responsible for implementing this Act may disclose personal data, including data on health, which are required to prevent the spread of a communicable disease to the following persons and authorities:

a.

doctors required to treat communicable diseases;

b.

cantonal authorities that carry out tasks related to detecting, monitoring, preventing and controlling communicable diseases;

c.

other federal authorities, insofar as it is necessary in order to implement the legislation applied by those authorities.

¹ The FOPH shall operate an information system for storing data relating to persons who are ill, suspected of being ill, infected or suspected of being infected or who are spreading pathogens.

² The information system shall contain the following data:

a.

identification data that enable a person to be uniquely identified and to be contacted;

b.

details of travel routes, places of stay and contacts with persons, animals and objects;

c

results of medical tests;

d.

details of measures to prevent and control a communicable disease.

³ The information system shall be used to:

a.

identify and notify persons who are ill, suspected of being ill, infected or suspected of being infected or who are spreading pathogens;

b.

organise measures in relation to individual persons in accordance with Articles 33-38.

⁴ It shall also assist with the uniform processing of data by the responsible authorities, the production of statistics and checks on implementation.

⁵ The FOPH is responsible for the security of the information system and the legality of the processing of personal data. The cantons shall take appropriate organisational and technical measures to secure personal data in their area of responsibility.

⁶ The FOPH shall check whether the data it receives are accurate. It shall correct inaccurate data and destroy unnecessary data and notify the data providers concerned.

⁷ The information system shall be made available online to the FOPH, the cantonal bodies responsible for implementing this Act and the Coordinated Medical Services for tasks within their area of responsibility.

⁸ The Federal Council shall stipulate the requirements for safeguarding and deleting data and regulate the access rights.

⁹ The right to receive information on the data in the information system and the right to have the data corrected are governed by Articles 25 and 41 of the Data Protection Act of 25 September 2020⁸.⁹ Requests for information on personal data and for corrections to be made to the data must be sent to the FOPH.

The Swiss Federal Statistical Office shall, for statistical purposes, provide the FOPH each year with data from the statistics on causes of death and the medical statistics from hospitals.

¹ In order to implement this Act, the FOPH and the competent cantonal authorities may provide foreign authorities that have corresponding tasks and supranational and international organisations with personal data, including data on health, provided the state concerned and in particular its legislation or the supranational or international organisation guarantees an appropriate level of privacy protection for the person concerned:

a.

the legislation of the state concerned or the supranational or international organisation guarantees an appropriate level of data protection in accordance with Article 16 paragraph 1 FADP¹¹; or

b.

the personal data are disclosed with specific guarantees in accordance with Article 16 paragraph 2 letter c FADP.¹²

² In particular the following data may be disclosed:

a.

surname, first name, address, date of birth and occupation;

b.

details of travel routes, places of stay and contacts with persons, animals and objects;

c.

results of medical tests;

d.

results of epidemiological investigations;

e.

details of belonging to a specific risk category;

f.

details of measures to prevent and combat a communicable disease.

³ In derogation from paragraph 1, personal data may only be disclosed abroad if:¹³

a.¹⁴

...

b.

the person concerned has consented in the given case;

c.

disclosure in the given case is essential in order to safeguard public health; or

d.¹⁵

disclosure in the given case is required to protect the life or physical integrity of the person concerned and it is not possible to obtain consent from the person concerned within a reasonable time.

The ordering authority may compensate persons who suffer loss or damage as a result of official measures in accordance with Articles 33-38 and 41 paragraph 3, taking account of the financial circumstances of the persons concerned, insofar as the loss or damage is not otherwise covered.

¹ Any person who is harmed by an officially ordered or officially recommended vaccination has the right to compensation.

² Compensation shall only be awarded if the loss or damage cannot otherwise be covered through reasonable effort.

¹ Any person who is harmed by an officially ordered or officially recommended vaccination has the right to satisfaction if the harm is sufficiently serious to justify this; Articles 47 and 49 of the Code of Obligations¹⁷ apply by analogy.

² The satisfaction is determined by the seriousness of the harm.

³ It may not exceed 70,000 francs.

⁴ Satisfaction shall only be awarded if no payment or an insufficient payment is made by other persons. The satisfaction shall be reduced by the amount of any satisfaction payments made by other persons.

¹ Any person who wishes to claim compensation or satisfaction must file a claim with the FDHA.

² Any person who has been harmed by a vaccination must file the claim for compensation or satisfaction before reaching the age of 21 or within five years of the vaccination.

³ No interest shall be payable on the compensation or the satisfaction.

The FDHA may reduce the compensation or satisfaction or forego making any payment if the person suffering harm was substantially to blame for the harm suffered.

¹ In the case of recommended vaccinations, the Confederation and the canton in which the vaccination takes places shall each pay one half of the costs of the compensation or satisfaction.

² In the case of compulsory vaccinations, the entire costs of the compensation or satisfaction shall be paid by:

a.

the Confederation if it has declared the vaccination to be mandatory;

b.

the canton that declared the vaccination to be mandatory.

¹ The FDHA decides after consulting the Federal Commission for Vaccination and the canton concerned whether compensation or satisfaction is to be paid.

² Any person who claims compensation or satisfaction must credibly demonstrate that other persons have not made any payments or that the payments made by other persons are inadequate.

³ Appeal proceedings are governed by the general provisions on the administration of federal justice.

¹ The Confederation may undertake to cover any loss or damage for which the manufacturer of a therapeutic product under Article 44 may be held liable as the consequence of the product being used as recommended or ordered by the Confederation in a special or extraordinary situation.

² The extent and the modalities of the cover shall be set out in an agreement between the Confederation and the manufacturer.

The cantons shall implement this Act, unless the Confederation is responsible.

¹ The cantons shall report to the FDHA on the implementation of the Act.

² The Federal Council shall regulate the frequency, form and content of the reports.

¹ The Confederation shall supervise the implementation of this Act by the cantons.

² It shall coordinate the implementing measures taken by the cantons, insofar as there is an interest in uniform implementation.

³ It may for this purpose:

a.

specify the measures that the cantons must take to achieve uniform implementation;

b.

instruct the cantons to take specific implementing measures in response to risks to public health;

c.

require the cantons to inform the Confederation about implementing measures;

d.

specify the requirements the cantons must meet in their preparatory and emergency plans.

¹ The Federal Council shall issue the implementing provisions.

² It may delegate the issuing of implementing provisions to the responsible federal office, taking account of their scope.

¹ The Federal Council may delegate implementation tasks to public or private organisations.

² It shall supervise the organisations and persons entrusted with implementation tasks.

³ Public or private organisations that carry out implementation tasks under paragraph 1 are entitled to compensation. The Federal Council shall regulate the extent and modalities of compensation.

¹ The Federal Council may enter into international agreements on:

a.

the exchange of data used for epidemiological monitoring;

b.

the mutual provision of information on the outbreak and spread of communicable diseases;

c.

immediate notification where there is an imminent risk of communicable diseases crossing the national border;

d.

the harmonisation of measures for detecting, monitoring, preventing and controlling communicable diseases;

e.

the transport of dead bodies beyond the national border;

f.²¹

…

² The competent federal agencies shall work with foreign authorities and institutions and with international organisations.

³ The FOPH shall carry out the tasks of the National IHR Focal Point in accordance with the International Health Regulations (2005) of 23 May 2005²². In particular, it shall report events to the WHO that could lead to a public health emergency of international concern.

The Federal Council shall periodically review the effectiveness, appropriateness and financial viability of the measures under this Act.