Association right of appeal

The Swiss law is natural , home and environmental organizations under certain conditions the right to appeal against construction projects. The legal basis is the Federal Act on Environmental Protection ( Environmental Protection Act , USG) and the Federal Act on Nature Conservation and Home Protection (NHG).

History and functioning

The right of association complaints was established in order to create a counterweight to the authorities, which were not very sensitive to environmental issues in the 1960s. For an association to be able to lodge a complaint, certain conditions must be met:

• An association entitled to appeal must have been active at the national level for ten years
• The Swiss Federal Council must grant the association the right to lodge a complaint
• The subject matter challenged by the complaint must have been part of the purpose of the association for at least ten years.
• In the event of complaints under the USG, the contested project must be subject to an environmental impact assessment (minimum criteria, e.g. more than 500 parking spaces, more than 7500 m ^{2 of} retail space, etc.). Correspondingly, many complaints concern the same determinants linked to the environmental impact assessment (e.g. number of parking spaces).

Current discussion

The benefits and effectiveness of the right of appeal are controversial in Switzerland. Scientific studies come to different conclusions. What is certain is that the legal disputes between investors and associations often drag on for a long time and are cost-intensive. Contrary to various rumored figures, it cannot be conclusively determined which side is more successful on average in court.

In 2004/2005, the fall of the combined shopping center and stadium in Zurich caused a heated public dispute over the right of association complaints. Residents and the Swiss Transport Club (VCS) filed a complaint against the project after the population of the city of Zurich had spoken out in favor of this project. The subsequent political dispute led to numerous parliamentary advances, which resulted in a partial restriction of the right of association complaints.

On November 30, 2008, the Swiss people rejected a federal popular initiative of the Zurich Cantonal Section of the Free Democratic Party , which wanted to exclude the right of association complaints after democratic decisions, with 66% no votes . The right of association complaints in environmental and spatial planning matters should be excluded

a. Enactments, resolutions and decisions based on referendums in the Confederation, cantons or communes

b. Enactments, resolutions and decisions by the federal, cantonal or communal parliaments.

The initiators were of the opinion that the people or parliament, if they are called upon, as democratic control bodies should finally decide on environmental compatibility (especially in relation to economic efficiency). Opponents of the initiative, especially environmental associations entitled to appeal, wanted to continue to assign this role to the courts, as the people in particular could not decide whether a project complied with environmental laws or whether environmentally relevant details were not yet known at the time of the vote.

Animal welfare organizations in Switzerland strongly criticize the fact that they do not have the right to lodge an association complaint in their domain. It would appear that this fact favors the militancy of some of these organizations.

See also

• Association right of action in Germany, which is similar to the right of association complaints

Web links

• Association right of appeal - information page of the Parliamentary Services
• Association Complaint Law - Popular initiative of the FDP to restrict the Association Complaint Law (URL no longer available, not even in the Internet archive), October 10, 2012
• Association complaint - information page of the environmental associations

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Federal Law on Nature Conservation and Heritage Protection (NHG)
2. ↑ Study on the benefit of the right of association complaints by the Association of Real Estate Investors (VIV) (no longer available), October 10, 2012  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Study at the Law Faculty of the University of Geneva (PDF; 21 kB)
4. ↑ Section legal means ( Memento of the original from August 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.