Legislative procedure (Switzerland)

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The legislative procedure described below regulates how a new law is created in Switzerland .

Initiative phase

Various actors, parties, interest groups, associations, the government ( Federal Council ), the cantons , the federal administration , the commissions and parliamentary groups of the Federal Assembly or individual parliamentarians can initiate an enactment ( federal constitution , law , parliamentary ordinance , federal resolution ). Depending on the actor, the following instruments are possible:

This first step is known as the initiative phase.

Elaboration phase

In the second step, a preliminary draft of the decree is drawn up. This is called the drafting phase (pre-legislative process). In the case of a popular initiative in the form of the elaborated draft, the elaboration phase is skipped.

If the Federal Assembly has commissioned the Federal Council to draw up a draft decree or if the initiative stems from administrative activities, the Federal Council is responsible for leading the procedure. This commissions a department to prepare a preliminary draft. Alternatively, the Federal Council can first instruct a commission of experts to formulate a first draft.

If a parliamentary initiative or a professional initiative is followed, the process is directed by the responsible commission of the National Council or Council of States . She instructs her commission secretariat to prepare a preliminary draft; this usually involves the competent authorities of the federal administration.

The draft decree then goes to the cantons, parties, associations and other interest groups for consultation . They can comment on the draft decree and propose changes. This process is known as the consultation process.

On the basis of the results of the consultation process, the draft decree is checked again by the responsible department or by the responsible parliamentary commission and revised if necessary. A commission submits its draft together with its report to its council. A department submits its draft to the Federal Council. If the Federal Council agrees with the wording, it forwards the draft together with the Federal Council's message to the Federal Assembly . Otherwise the draft goes back to the administration for further revision.

Review phase

The third step, the review phase , is a parliamentary procedure ( Art. 71-95 Parliament Act). In the case of a popular initiative , the competence of the Federal Assembly is limited to checking the validity of the popular initiative and submitting it to the people and the cantons with the recommendation of approval or rejection to vote. The text of the proposed constitutional amendment cannot be changed.

Choose the President of the National Council and the Council of States, to be in which the Council of the draft decree debated first (so-called first chamber ). If the draft was drawn up by a committee of the National Council or the Council of States, the membership of the committee determines the first council.

After the presidents have determined the first council, the office of that council assigns the draft decree to the commission responsible for the matter. This commission discusses the text and proposes to the plenary session.

The Commission and the Federal Council as well as later during the discussion in the Council also every Council member can request the Council to adopt the following resolutions:

  1. he decides not to apply (i.e. he considers the draft decree to be unnecessary) or rejects the draft after the individual provisions have been discussed in the overall vote , which equates to not being applied,
  2. He sends the draft back to the Commission or the Federal Council with the mandate to submit a revised draft,
  3. He takes up the proposal, provides detailed advice on its individual provisions, decides on changes if necessary and accepts the draft decree in the overall vote .

These decisions go to the second council (with the exception of the rejection by the first council to its own commission) and are discussed in advance by the commission of the second council, which applies to its council.

If one council has decided to refer it back to the Federal Council, the discussion of the other council is initially limited to the question of whether or not it agrees to the rejection. If he does not agree, the rejection will take effect if the first council sticks to it.

If the first councilor has accepted the proposal in the overall vote or if it has not acted on it, the second councilor has the same options and the same decision-making power as the first councilor.

If the council decisions differ, the so-called difference adjustment procedure follows .

If the councils do not agree on the assessment of the bill as a whole (i.e. when it entered or in the overall vote), a simplified procedure for adjusting the differences takes place. The council that does not appear for the second time or rejects it in the overall vote finally decides that the proposal should fail.

If, after the adoption of a draft decree by both councils, there are differences in the enactment texts adopted, the divergent resolutions of one council are returned to the other council. After preliminary consultation by its commission, each council can stick to its decisions, agree to the other council or decide on a new compromise text.

If after three deliberations in both councils still no agreement has been reached, the unification conference meets , which consists of 13 members of the commissions of both councils. She works out a compromise solution, the motion for agreement , which comes about through majority decision.

The application for agreement is then presented to the first and second councils for voting one after the other. If one of the parliamentary chambers rejects the unification conference's motion, the deal has failed.

If the application for agreement is accepted by both chambers, after the text of the enactment has been appropriately adjusted, the two chambers will have a final vote on the entire proposal, which will be held on the same day . With the approval of both councils, the decree becomes valid; otherwise it failed. The parliamentary procedure is concluded with the final vote. If accepted, the decree will be published in the Federal Gazette .

Post-decision phase and entry into force

The new decree can now come into force, with the exception of:

  • an amendment to the federal constitution or joining organizations for collective security or supranational communities. These decrees are subject to a mandatory referendum and then can only enter into force if the people and objects in the vote at the ballot box have been adopted;
  • a federal law or certain international treaties. These decrees are subject to an optional referendum and can only come into force if the referendum period has expired without being used or if the referendum that has come about is unsuccessful, i. H. if the decree has been adopted in the referendum. The optional referendum can be requested within 100 days of the publication of the decree in the Federal Gazette by 50,000 voters or eight cantons. In contrast to the compulsory referendum, only a majority vote by the electorate is required , but not the so-called number of estates . The Federal Assembly can urgently declare a federal law and put it into effect immediately (see Urgency Law ). The possibility of an optional referendum remains; the suspensive referendum , which usually postpones the enactment, becomes a subsequent (abrogative) referendum in this special case .

The new decree will be published in the official collection of federal law . There must be an appropriate period between publication and entry into force ( legislative vacancy ).

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