Energy Act (Switzerland)

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Basic data
Title: Energy law
Abbreviation: Closely
Type: Federal law
Scope: Switzerland
Legal matter: Energy law
Systematic
legal collection (SR) :		 730
Original version from: September 30, 2016
Entry into force on: 1st January 2018
Please note the note on the applicable legal version.

The Energy Act (EnG) is a federal act of the Swiss Confederation , which regulates the energy industry on a national level . Its aim is to provide Switzerland with sufficient, diversified, secure, economical and environmentally compatible energy supplies. The provision, distribution and use of energy should be economical, environmentally friendly, economical and rational, and domestic and renewable energy sources should be used more intensively.

With a few exceptions, the earlier version of the EnG of June 26, 1998 also applied in Liechtenstein . A corresponding announcement of the takeover is still pending for the new version of the EnG.

history

→ See also: Swiss energy policy

As a result of the oil crisis in the 1970s, there was increasing discussion in Switzerland about the importance of the energy supply. Nevertheless, in 1983 a first attempt to include energy supply as a national task in the Swiss federal constitution failed . It was not until the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 that the issue became more of a public interest again, and in 1990 energy policy was enshrined in the Federal Constitution for the first time with the energy article (then Article 24, now Article 89). On this basis, some cantons first passed corresponding cantonal energy laws (see also below) and other energy policy regulations. It was not until 1998 that the Energy Act (EnG) drafted under the leadership of the Federal Office for Energy and the associated Energy Ordinance (EnV) followed at federal level. Both came into force at the beginning of 1999.

In the years that followed, the Energy Act and Ordinance were revised several times, with particular emphasis on the use of renewable energies. In 2000 it was also supplemented by the CO 2 Act , which also had a major impact on Swiss energy policy.

In 2016, parliament passed a new, totally revised energy law. The starting point for the complete overhaul was the reactor disaster in Fukushima and the subsequent decision of principle by the Federal Council and Parliament in 2011 to phase out nuclear energy. To implement this fundamental decision and to take into account further changes, the Federal Council developed the Energy Strategy 2050 . In 2013 the Federal Council presented the dispatch on the first package of measures of the Energy Strategy 2050, which in particular contained the legislative proposal to revise the Energy Act. The Federal Assembly passed the new Energy Act on September 30, 2016. A referendum was taken against the law. On May 21, 2017, 58.2% of those entitled to vote approved the new Energy Act. The new energy law was put into effect by the Federal Council on January 1, 2018.

Cantonal energy laws

In the Energy Act, the federal government has left the more precise regulations to the cantons in some areas. On this basis, after 1999, all cantons successively drafted a new cantonal energy law (KEnG or EnergG) or, if a corresponding law had already existed, revised it and coordinated it with the national energy law. To harmonize the cantonal energy laws, the Conference of Cantonal Energy Directors (EnDK) prepared a template as a recommendation.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c EnG, Art. 1
  2. ↑ Announcement of November 21, 2017 of the Swiss legal provisions applicable in the Principality of Liechtenstein based on the customs treaty (Annexes I and II)
  3. ↑ a b Important turning points in the Swiss history of energy supply . In: energeia. Newsletter of the Federal Office of Energy SFOE . No. 3 , May 2013, p. 4–8 ( online as PDF ).
  4. ↑ a b energy policy. Federal Office of Energy , accessed on September 10, 2013 .
  5. ↑ BBl 2013 7561
  6. ↑ Voting results for the referendum of May 21, 2017
  7. ^ Cantonal energy laws. Response of the Federal Council to a simple request from Hans-Jürg Fehr to the National Council. Curia Vista - Business database of the Federal Assembly, March 19, 2003, accessed on September 13, 2013 .