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- Art. 5a FC
- Art. 6 FC
- Art. 10 FC
- Art. 16 FC
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- Art. 20 FC
- Art. 22 FC
- Art. 29a FC
- Art. 30 FC
- Art. 32 FC
- Art. 42 FC
- Art. 43 FC
- Art. 43a FC
- Art. 55 FC
- Art. 56 FC
- Art. 60 FC
- Art. 68 FC
- Art. 75b FC
- Art. 77 FC
- Art. 96 para. 2 lit. a FC
- Art. 110 FC
- Art. 117a FC
- Art. 118 FC
- Art. 123b FC
- Art. 136 FC
- Art. 166 FC
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- Art. 11 CO
- Art. 12 CO
- Art. 50 CO
- Art. 51 CO
- Art. 84 CO
- Art. 143 CO
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- Art. 147 CO
- Art. 148 CO
- Art. 149 CO
- Art. 150 CO
- Art. 701 CO
- Art. 715 CO
- Art. 715a CO
- Art. 734f CO
- Art. 785 CO
- Art. 786 CO
- Art. 787 CO
- Art. 788 CO
- Transitional provisions to the revision of the Stock Corporation Act of June 19, 2020
- Art. 808c CO
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- Art. 2 PRA
- Art. 3 PRA
- Art. 4 PRA
- Art. 6 PRA
- Art. 10 PRA
- Art. 10a PRA
- Art. 11 PRA
- Art. 12 PRA
- Art. 13 PRA
- Art. 14 PRA
- Art. 15 PRA
- Art. 16 PRA
- Art. 17 PRA
- Art. 19 PRA
- Art. 20 PRA
- Art. 21 PRA
- Art. 22 PRA
- Art. 23 PRA
- Art. 24 PRA
- Art. 25 PRA
- Art. 26 PRA
- Art. 27 PRA
- Art. 29 PRA
- Art. 30 PRA
- Art. 31 PRA
- Art. 32 PRA
- Art. 32a PRA
- Art. 33 PRA
- Art. 34 PRA
- Art. 35 PRA
- Art. 36 PRA
- Art. 37 PRA
- Art. 38 PRA
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- Art. 40 PRA
- Art. 41 PRA
- Art. 42 PRA
- Art. 43 PRA
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- Art. 45 PRA
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- Art. 48 PRA
- Art. 49 PRA
- Art. 50 PRA
- Art. 51 PRA
- Art. 52 PRA
- Art. 53 PRA
- Art. 54 PRA
- Art. 55 PRA
- Art. 56 PRA
- Art. 57 PRA
- Art. 58 PRA
- Art. 59a PRA
- Art. 59b PRA
- Art. 59c PRA
- Art. 62 PRA
- Art. 63 PRA
- Art. 67 PRA
- Art. 67a PRA
- Art. 67b PRA
- Art. 75 PRA
- Art. 75a PRA
- Art. 76 PRA
- Art. 76a PRA
- Art. 90 PRA
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- Vorb. zu Art. 1 FADP
- Art. 1 FADP
- Art. 2 FADP
- Art. 3 FADP
- Art. 5 lit. f und g FADP
- Art. 6 Abs. 6 and 7 FADP
- Art. 7 FADP
- Art. 10 FADP
- Art. 11 FADP
- Art. 12 FADP
- Art. 14 FADP
- Art. 15 FADP
- Art. 19 FADP
- Art. 20 FADP
- Art. 22 FADP
- Art. 23 FADP
- Art. 25 FADP
- Art. 26 FADP
- Art. 27 FADP
- Art. 31 para. 2 lit. e FADP
- Art. 33 FADP
- Art. 34 FADP
- Art. 35 FADP
- Art. 38 FADP
- Art. 39 FADP
- Art. 40 FADP
- Art. 41 FADP
- Art. 42 FADP
- Art. 43 FADP
- Art. 44 FADP
- Art. 44a FADP
- Art. 45 FADP
- Art. 46 FADP
- Art. 47 FADP
- Art. 47a FADP
- Art. 48 FADP
- Art. 49 FADP
- Art. 50 FADP
- Art. 51 FADP
- Art. 54 FADP
- Art. 57 FADP
- Art. 58 FADP
- Art. 60 FADP
- Art. 61 FADP
- Art. 62 FADP
- Art. 63 FADP
- Art. 64 FADP
- Art. 65 FADP
- Art. 66 FADP
- Art. 67 FADP
- Art. 69 FADP
- Art. 72 FADP
- Art. 72a FADP
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- Art. 2 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 3 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 4 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 5 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 6 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 7 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 8 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 9 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 11 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 12 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 25 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 29 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 32 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 33 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 34 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
FEDERAL CONSTITUTION
CODE OF OBLIGATIONS
FEDERAL LAW ON PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW
LUGANO CONVENTION
CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
CIVIL PROCEDURE CODE
FEDERAL ACT ON POLITICAL RIGHTS
CIVIL CODE
FEDERAL ACT ON CARTELS AND OTHER RESTRAINTS OF COMPETITION
FEDERAL ACT ON INTERNATIONAL MUTUAL ASSISTANCE IN CRIMINAL MATTERS
DEBT ENFORCEMENT AND BANKRUPTCY ACT
FEDERAL ACT ON DATA PROTECTION
SWISS CRIMINAL CODE
CYBERCRIME CONVENTION
- I. History of origin
- II. Significance of the provision
- III. Commentary on the text of the standard
- Bibliography
- Materials
I. History of origin
1 The Federal Constitution of May 29, 1874 introduced the optional referendum in federal matters. According to Art. 89 para. 2 aBV, federal laws and generally binding federal resolutions had to be submitted to the people for approval or rejection if 30,000 voters or eight cantons so demanded. The length of the referendum period was not stipulated in the Constitution, but had to be regulated by legislation. At the request of the Federal Council, a period of 90 days was enshrined in Art. 4 of the Federal Act of June 17, 1874 on the Referendum on Federal Acts and Federal Decisions. The deadline was to be triggered by the publication of the law or the generally binding federal decree in the Federal Gazette. The PRA adopted the referendum deadline and the determination of the start of the deadline unchanged in Art. 59.
2 The number of statements of support for an optional referendum was increased from 30,000 to 50,000 signatures with the Federal Decree of March 25, 1977 on increasing the number of signatures for the referendum. This was intended to bring the quorum (again) into an appropriate relationship with the total number of voters. The introduction of women's suffrage in 1971 played an important role in this, but other arguments for the need for action were also brought into play, such as improved transportation and communication options, increased population concentration in urban agglomerations and new methods of political advertising. The referendum deadline, however, remained unchanged.
3 The provision in Art. 59a was added to the PRA in 1996 and came into force on April 1, 1997. The legal amendment was a consequence of the discrepancies that arose during the counting of the referendum against the construction of the New Rail Link through the Alps (NRLA): The count initially resulted in the narrow failure of the referendum. Following the discovery of a counting error, two interdepartmental groups counted all the signature lists again independently of each other and established that the referendum had been narrowly successful. An administrative investigation investigated the reasons for the discrepancies and laid the foundations for the PRA revision of 1996.
4 One cause of the counting problems was the former provision in Art. 65 PRA, which was used for the first time in the NRLA referendum. It allowed the Federal Chancellery to have deficiencies in the certificates of voting rights rectified by the competent authorities under cantonal law even after the referendum deadline had expired, if the outcome of the referendum depended on it. The possibility of subsequent certification was abolished with the PRA revision of 1996. In addition, signatures now had to be received by the Federal Chancellery within the referendum deadline, whereas previously it was sufficient to post them on time according to the postmark (see N. 31). In return for these two amendments, the referendum deadline was extended from 90 to 100 days.
5 The Federal Assembly followed the Federal Council's proposals when discussing the 1996 revision of the PRA. The National Council's preliminary advisory committee had initially advocated a different concept, but this did not prevail in the National Council. It wanted to retain the referendum deadline of 90 days; however, the signatures would have had to be submitted to the competent authority under cantonal law within the referendum deadline. The certified signatures would then have had to be submitted to the Federal Chancellery within 30 days of the referendum deadline at the latest. The proposal would have extended the period during which a decree is in "limbo" due to the referendum deadline and would probably have exacerbated the problems identified by the administrative investigation because the responsibilities would not have been clearly delineated.
6 With the Federal Decree of 4.10.2002 on the amendment of popular rights, the referendum deadline, which had previously only been laid down in law, was enshrined in the Federal Constitution. The provision in Article 59 PRA thus became redundant and was repealed in the course of a revision of federal law. Since then, the reference to the referendum deadline in Art. 59a no longer refers to Art. 59 PRA, but to Art. 141 para. 1 of the Federal Constitution (FC, SR 101).
II. Significance of the provision
A. General
7 In Art. 141 para. 1 lit. a-d, the Federal Constitution specifies those enactments that must be submitted to a vote of the electorate if 50,000 voters or eight cantons so request within 100 days of the official publication of the enactment. Article 59a PRA refers to these quorums and the deadline, which it further specifies.
8 The optional referendum has a suspensive effect. Enactments subject to a referendum - with the exception of urgent enactments under Art. 165 FC - can only enter into force and take legal effect once the referendum deadline has expired unused or the enactment has been approved in the referendum and the result has been confirmed. The enactments for which the referendum period has expired are listed on the Federal Chancellery website. No active information is provided on the unused expiry of the referendum deadline, but all enactments subject to a referendum are kept in a database in which the use of popular rights can also be tracked.
9 The provision in Art. 59a clearly delineates the responsibilities of the actors: the Federal Chancellery is responsible for accepting signatures on behalf of the Confederation. Collecting the signatures, obtaining the certificate of eligibility to vote and submitting the signatures, on the other hand, are the responsibility of the parties requesting the referendum (referendum committees, signatories, etc.). The obligation to prove eligibility to vote is an expression of the general legal principle that the person who derives rights from an alleged fact must prove its existence (Art. 8 CC).
B. Comparison of laws
10 The cantons set deadlines of between 30 and 90 days for the collection of signatures for the optional popular referendum, although these are specified in different ways. In each case, the period begins to run from the date of official publication.
11 In nine cantons, signatures can be submitted to the competent cantonal authority without a certificate of eligibility to vote. In some cases, however, the cantons expressly provide that the certificate of voting rights can be obtained on a voluntary basis prior to submission.
12 In sixteen cantons, as in the Confederation, those requesting the referendum are responsible for obtaining the certificate of voting rights. However, the referendum deadline does not have the same meaning in all these cantons. Most are based on the federal regulation and require that the voting rights certificates are obtained within the referendum deadline and must be available to the canton at the time of submission. However, the cantons of Uri, Nidwalden, Solothurn, Schaffhausen, St. Gallen, Aargau, Valais and Neuchâtel have a rule - similar to the former federal rule in Art. 65 PRA - according to which deficiencies in the certificate of voting rights can be rectified ex officio if the success of the referendum petition depends on it. The cantons of Ticino, Bern and Vaud also have further nuances.
13 In the canton of Ticino, signatures must be submitted within the referendum deadline to the state chancellery or the municipality responsible for certifying the right to vote. If a signature is received by the municipality in good time, it shall be forwarded by the municipality to the State Chancellery within five days.
14 In the Canton of Bern, signatures must be submitted to the office responsible for certifying voting rights by the end of the three-month referendum period at the latest. This office then has three weeks to certify the signatures and return them to the senders. Finally, the certified signatures must be submitted to the canton no later than 30 days after expiry of the referendum deadline.
15 The canton of Vaud has a similar regulation to the canton of Bern, although the deadlines are shorter: The competent authorities must return the certified signatures to the senders within two weeks of the end of the referendum period; the authors must then submit the certified signatures to the canton no later than three weeks after the end of the referendum period.
16 The canton of Glarus does not have an optional referendum at cantonal level.
III. Commentary on the text of the standard
A. Referendum quorum
17 Art. 141 para. 1 FC stipulates the constitutional number of cantons (eight) and the number of voters (50,000) required for a referendum. Art. 59a specifies for the popular referendum that the voters must express their will in the form of a signature. This refers to a handwritten signature; prior to 1997, only the name was required to be handwritten and legible, as well as other details to establish identity such as first name, year of birth and address. Art. 67a PRA regulates how the cantonal request for a cantonal referendum is to be submitted; cantonal law and, subsidiarily, Art. 67 PRA regulate which cantonal body is responsible for this.
B. Referendum deadline
1. Start of the period
18 According to Art. 141 para. 1 FC, the 100-day referendum period begins with the official publication of the enactment. Federal acts and federal decrees subject to an optional referendum must be published in the Federal Gazette in accordance with Art. 13 para. 1 lit. e PublA, in all official languages simultaneously (Art. 14 para. 1 PublA). For reasons of transparency and easier predictability, enactments subject to a referendum that are passed by the Federal Assembly in the same session must generally be published in the Federal Gazette at the same time (Art. 42 para. 6 sentence 1 PublO). Publication generally takes place at the earliest ten days after the final vote (Art. 42 para. 6 sentence 2 PublO). In practice, enactments are usually published on the Tuesday after next after the final vote, i.e. after eleven days.
19 According to Art. 42 para. 6 sentence 3 PublO, a referendum bill can also be published early if it is essential for it to enter into force on time. Early publication is rare in ordinary legislation. In 2012, for example, the federal resolutions on the tax agreements with Germany, the United Kingdom and Austria were adopted on 15.6.2012 and published on 19.6.2012. The parties conducting the referendum objected to the procedure and claimed that they were disadvantaged because they had less time to prepare the referendum. However, the Federal Supreme Court recognized the urgency of the matter and protected the authorities' actions - even though the law at the time did not expressly regulate early publication. As a result of the incident, the possibility was included in Art. 42 para. 6 sentence 3 of the PublV of 7.10.2015.
20 Urgent federal acts are published in the AS on the day of entry into force at the latest in accordance with Art. 7 para. 3 PublA. Pursuant to Art. 24 para. 1 PublO, the title, the AS publication reference and - in the case of acts that are valid for more than one year - the referendum period are published in the Federal Gazette. For example, the FiREG was adopted on 30.9.2022, entered into force on 1.10.2022 and was published in the Federal Gazette on 11.10.2022, stating the referendum deadline. In practice, the notice in the BBl is usually published together with the enactments from the same session, as in the example above. Early publication only takes place in exceptional cases if it is necessary for a referendum to be held in good time. This practice is in contrast to Art. 24 para. 2 PublO, according to which the reference in the BBl should appear at the same time as the publication of the legislative text in the AS. However, it makes it easier for the parties conducting the referendum to prepare for the collection of signatures and does not generally restrict the planning of the vote. The provision in Art. 24 para. 2 PublO therefore does not appear necessary to protect the rights of the people, which is why it should be adapted de lege ferenda in the opinion expressed here.
21 According to Art. 20 para. 2 APA, the time limit begins to run on the day after it is triggered. Accordingly, the 100-day period is to be calculated from the day following publication in the Federal Gazette.
22 In practice, it sometimes happens that a decree is published in the Federal Gazette inadequately. This may be the case, for example, if the published decree contains formal errors or wording that does not reflect the outcome of the parliamentary deliberations. In such cases, the Drafting Committee of the Federal Assembly arranges for a correction in accordance with Art. 58 para. 1 ParlA. In serious cases concerning an enactment subject to a referendum, it instructs the Federal Chancellery to correct the publication in the Federal Gazette with a corrigendum.
23 The legal consequences of inadequate publication for the referendum deadline are not regulated by law. In particular, the question arises as to whether or not the referendum deadline must be triggered again. This must be assessed on a case-by-case basis in good faith and in accordance with the principle of proportionality. On the one hand, the right of referendum must not be diminished by the defect. On the other hand, political actors must be prevented from abusively invoking the incorrect publication in order to delay the entry into force of a decree. From a legal point of view, the decisive factor is whether the oversight has a significant impact on the content and can be of significance for the referendum or the waiver thereof.
24 In practice, there are various examples of inadequately published decrees in which the question of retriggering the referendum deadline arose. The referendum draft of the RTVA issued on 24.3.2006 contained a substantive error in the provisions on legal protection in the German version. It was corrected on 18.7.2006 (!) and the referendum deadline was re-triggered, although the original deadline had already expired unused on 13.7.2006. Another example occurred in 2015 with the UVG revision: the published texts contained a paragraph that was deleted during the parliamentary consultation and should not have been part of the final vote text. The error affected the texts of all official languages, even if only the French version reproduced the provision in its wording. The error was corrected and the referendum deadline was re-triggered. The last example to date concerned the FinSA, which was enacted in 2018. The referendum bill contained an article in the French version in which a paragraph was not amended in accordance with the resolutions of the Councils. The provision was controversial during parliamentary deliberations and therefore had political relevance. The error was corrected in the Federal Gazette, but the referendum deadline was not re-triggered.
25 A problem comparable to the publication of an erroneous referendum bill occurred in 1987/88 when, for technical reasons, the referendum bills from the autumn session were published in Italian with a delay compared to those in the other official languages. In order to ensure equal treatment of the language communities, the deadline for signatures from Italian-speaking Switzerland, i.e. from the Ticino and Italian-speaking Graubünden municipalities, was subsequently postponed. The Federal Supreme Court upheld the authorities' action, but there was a legislative aftermath that led to an amendment to Art. 59 PRA in 1996. The new provision stipulated that the "referendum period would last 90 days from the last official publication". A few years later, however, the legislator considered the legal amendment to be too rigid and reversed it.
26 The criteria on the basis of which the legal consequences of inadequate publication are assessed leave the competent authorities some room for discretion. In view of the potential scope of such decisions and the fact that the political consequences can hardly be completely ignored in the assessment, a statutory regulation was suggested de lege ferenda.
2. Expiry of the deadline
27 Art. 59a defines the referendum deadline as an absolute deadline and requires that all requirements must be submitted within the deadline. The signatures must be received by the Federal Chancellery by the last day of the deadline at the latest, i.e. they must be physically tangible. With regard to the cantonal referendum, letters from the cantons must reach the Federal Chancellery on this day in accordance with Article 67b PRA.
28 The PRA does not define by what time on the last day of the deadline the signatures can be submitted to the Federal Chancellery. From a legal perspective, all signatures that are submitted to the Federal Chancellery by midnight on the last day of the deadline are deemed to have been submitted on time. In practice, the Federal Chancellery occasionally accepts signatures late at night.
29 If the referendum deadline expires on a Saturday, a Sunday or a recognized public holiday, the referendum may be submitted on the next working day in accordance with Art. 20 para. 2 VPR. The regulation corresponds to the general rule for calculating administrative deadlines in accordance with Art. 20 para. 3 APA, but additionally provides for a restriction to office hours. Office hours are not specifically regulated by the federal government. Art. 10 para. 1 ArG defines daily working hours as the time from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.; the submission of signatures should accordingly be possible until 8 p.m. in order to comply with the referendum deadline.
C. Submission
30 signatures for a popular referendum are usually submitted in person to the Federal Chancellery in a high-profile submission. The exact date and time must be agreed with the Federal Chancellery at least two to three weeks in advance. Submissions are regularly accompanied by media coverage and the authors of the referendum take the opportunity to draw attention to their concerns.
31 The signatures do not have to be delivered to the Federal Chancellery in person, but could theoretically be sent by post. However, signatures submitted by post must also reach the Federal Chancellery on the last day of the deadline; the postmark is no longer sufficient since the PRA revision of 1996. This also applies to the cantonal referendum: not only must it be decided within the referendum deadline, but it must also reach the Federal Chancellery before the deadline expires. With personal submission, the committees retain control over the number of signatures that they have actually submitted on time. The Federal Chancellery acknowledges the number of boxes and the number of signatures submitted as stated by the respective referendum committee.
32 In contrast to the submission of popular initiatives (Art. 71 PRA), the signature lists do not have to be submitted in their entirety for an optional popular referendum. Several submissions for the same referendum are conceivable and take place above all when several independent committees - sometimes for different reasons - collect signatures for a referendum. Subsequent submissions of signatures within the referendum deadline are permitted, which can occur in particular if the success of a referendum is at risk and every signature is important.
33 The formation of a committee for an optional referendum is not legally required. In contrast to popular initiatives and election proposals, a referendum request does not necessarily require a representative body that can make binding declarations to the authorities. In practice, however, the formation of a committee is the rule and appears expedient for practical reasons in order to organize the collection, certification and submission of signatures and, not least, to manage the subsequent referendum campaign. It is possible to form several referendum committees.
34 The referendum committees are involved in the preparation of the explanatory notes for the vote. Pursuant to Art. 11 para. 2 PRA, the author committees of referendums may communicate their arguments to the Federal Council. The Federal Council must take them into account in its explanations. In practice, this generally means that it adopts and publishes the texts of the committees, provided they are not defamatory, blatantly untrue or too long. If there are several committees for a referendum, their arguments are included in the explanatory notes in the same proportion as the signatures they submitted contributed to the referendum. However, this division presupposes that the signatures are submitted separately by committee.
35 According to Art. 20 para. 1 VPR, the signature lists must be submitted separately by canton. The signature lists are therefore generally packed in a box for each canton and handed over to the Federal Chancellery one box at a time.
D. Certification of voting rights
36 According to Art. 59a, the voting rights of the signatories must be certified at the time of submission. If the certificate of voting rights is missing, the signature is invalid (Art. 66 para. 2 lit. b PRA). Subsequent certification after the referendum deadline has expired is not possible. The referendum deadline includes not only the collection of signatures, but also the obtaining of voting certificates.
37 If voting rights certificates are defective, the authors of a referendum must endeavor to correct them within the referendum deadline; the Federal Chancellery may not rectify any defects. However, if the Federal Chancellery receives indications of problems with the certificates, it offers the referendum leaders the opportunity to intervene with the cantons concerned or, if necessary, with the competent authorities.
E. Referendum deadline in the Covid-19 pandemic
38 During the Covid-19 pandemic, the authorities restricted freedom of assembly and movement for health policy reasons. This impaired the ability to collect signatures for popular initiatives and referendums in public spaces. In turn, measures were therefore taken to ensure the exercise of people's rights.
39 On 16 March 2020, the Federal Council declared an extraordinary situation in accordance with Art. 7 EpG and thus largely froze public life. Collecting signatures for the ongoing popular initiatives and referendums became virtually impossible. The Federal Council therefore suspended the current deadlines for collecting signatures with the Ordinance of 20.3.2020 on the suspension of deadlines for federal popular petitions. The measure was intended to prevent the substance of people's rights from being undermined by the failure of popular petitions due to official measures rather than a lack of democratic support. However, according to Art. 1 para. 2 of the ordinance, the referendum deadline under Art. 59a only stood still if the Federal Chancellery was notified of the collection of signatures no later than five days after publication of the ordinance. Enactments that are not politically controversial should not be delayed and the possibility of their entry into force should not be delayed. Notifications were received for two decrees from the 2019 winter session. The deadlines were suspended until 31.5.2020, i.e. for a total of 72 days.
40 Motion 20.3419 Rieder, which was adopted by the Council of States on 17.9.2020 and by the National Council on 10.6.2021, calls on the Federal Council, among other things, to create a legal basis for the standstill of such political deadlines. This is not provided for in the planned implementation of the motion, which underlines the unique nature of the measure at the time.
41 In addition to the suspension of deadlines in spring 2020, Art. 59a PRA was temporarily superseded by a provision in the Covid-19 Act. According to Art. 2 of the Covid-19 Act, the Federal Council was able to provide by ordinance that referendum requests could be submitted within the referendum deadline with the required number of signatures but without a certificate of eligibility to vote. The law designated the Federal Chancellery as responsible for obtaining the certificates of eligibility to vote from the relevant offices. This obligation related to signatures that were necessary for the request to come into effect. The measure was intended to allow the committees to make full use of the deadline for collecting signatures, but not to completely exempt them from the obligation to obtain the certificates of eligibility to vote on an ongoing basis (Art. 62 para. 1 PRA). However, the referendum committees made use of this option to very different extents, as the following list shows:
referendum | signatures submitted | thereof certified | source |
Covid-19-Gesetz | 97'878 | 30'166 | |
CO2-Gesetz | 123'879 | 73'185 | |
BG über polizeiliche Massnahmen zur Bekämpfung von Terrorismus (PMT) | 141'264 | 3'033 | |
Änderung ZGB (Ehe für alle) | 69’392 | 62’241 | |
Änderung Covid-19-Gesetz | 187’239 | 5’401 | |
Massnahmenpaket zugunsten der Medien | 109’948 | 4980 | |
Änderung des BG über die Stempelabgabe (StG) | 71'316 | 17'556 | |
Transplantationsgesetz | 70’230 | 19’743 | |
Änderung des Filmgesetzes | 69’797 | 301 | |
Weiterentwicklung Schengen-Besitzstand | 58’360 | 18’624 | |
Änderung Verrechnungssteuergesetz | 66’478 | 60’210 | |
Änderung AHVG (AHV 21) | 124’337 | 53’791 |
42 Based on the Covid-19 Act, the Federal Council issued the Covid-19 Ordinance on Voting Rights Certification on 7.10.2020, which regulated the details of the procedure. The amendment to the Covid-19 Act of 19.3.2021 extended the exemption rule to popular initiatives, whereupon the Covid-19 Ordinance on Voting Rights Certification was completely revised. The amendment of 17.12.2021 to the COVID-19 Ordinance on Voting Rights Certificates extended the period of validity of the regulation deviating from Art. 59a once again until 31.8.2022. Since this date, referendums and popular initiatives must again be submitted including the certification of voting rights.
Thanks to Julien Fiechter for his valuable feedback and Manuel Küng for his support in researching the cantonal regulations.
Bibliography
Auer Andreas, Staatsrecht der Schweizerischen Kantone, Bern 2016.
Braun Binder Nadja, Quoren und Fristen bei der elektronischen Unterschriftensammlung, ZSR 133 (2014), S. 539–557.
Biaggini Giovanni, Der coronavirusbedingte Fristenstillstand bei eidgenössischen Volksbegehren – eine Fallstudie zur Tragfähigkeit von Art. 185 Abs. 3 BV, ZBl 5 (2020), S. 277–288.
Kley Andreas, Demokratisches Instrumentarium, in: Giovanni Biaggini/Thomas Gächter/Regina Kiener (Hrsg.), Staatsrecht, 3. aktualisierte und ergänzte Auflage, Zürich 2021, S. 360–388.
Lanz Matthias, Kommentierung zu Art. 67b BPR, in: Glaser Andreas/Braun Binder Nadja/Bisaz Corsin/Tornay Schaller Bénédicte (Hrsg.), Onlinekommentar zum Bundesgesetz über die politischen Rechte, verfügbar unter: https://onlinekommentar.ch/de/kommentare/bpr67b, besucht am 30.1.2024.
Mahon Pascal, Kommentierung zu Art. 15 BPR, in: Glaser Andreas/Braun Binder Nadja/Bisaz Corsin/Tornay Schaller Bénédicte (Hrsg.), Onlinekommentar zum Bundesgesetz über die politischen Rechte, verfügbar unter: https://onlinekommentar.ch/de/kommentare/bpr15, besucht am 30.1.2024.
Steiner Sigrid, Kommentierung zu Art. 58 ParlG, in: Martin Graf/Cornelia Theler/Moritz von Wyss (Hrsg.), Parlamentsrecht und Parlamentspraxis der Schweizerischen Bundesversammlung, Kommentar zum Parlamentsgesetz (ParlG) vom 13.12.2002, 1. Aufl., Basel 2014 (zit. Steiner, Kommentar zum ParlG, Art. 58).
Materials
Botschaft des Bundesrates an die hohe Bundesversammlung, betreffend die Volksabstimmung über Bundesgesetze und Bundesbeschlüsse vom 29.5.1874, BBl 1874 I 1001 ff., abrufbar unter: https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/fga/1874/1_1001_925_/de, besucht am 26.1.2024 (zit. Botschaft 1874).
Botschaft des Bundesrates an die Bundesversammlung zu einem Bundesgesetz über die politischen Rechte vom 9.4.1975, BBl 1975 I 1317 ff., abrufbar unter: https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/fga/1975/1_1317_1337_1313/de, besucht am 26.1.2024 (zit. Botschaft 1975/I).
Botschaft des Bundesrates an die Bundesversammlung über eine Erhöhung der Unterschriftenzahlen für Initiative und Referendum vom 9.6.1975, BBl 1975 II 129 ff., abrufbar unter: https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/fga/1975/2_129_137_129/de, besucht am 26.1.2024 (zit. Botschaft 1975/II).
Botschaft über eine Teiländerung der Bundesgesetzgebung über die politischen Rechte vom 1.9.1993, BBl 1993 III 445 ff., abrufbar unter: https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/fga/1993/3_445_405_309/de, besucht am 26.1.2024 (zit. Botschaft 1993).
Botschaft zur formellen Bereinigung des Bundesrechts vom 22.8.2007, BBl 2007 6121, abrufbar unter: https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/fga/2007/885/de, besucht am 26.1.2024 (zit. Botschaft 2007).
Medienmitteilung vom 16.12.2022 «Referendumsfrist für die dringlich erklärten Bundesgesetze aus der Wintersession läuft ab dem 20.12.2022», abrufbar unter: https://www.bk.admin.ch/bk/de/home/dokumentation/medienmitteilungen.msg-id-92291.html, besucht am 26.1.2024 (zit. Medienmitteilung vom 16.12.2022).
Medienmitteilung vom 15.12.2023 «Rechtsänderungen im Bereich der politischen Rechte: Vernehmlassung eröffnet», abrufbar unter: https://www.bk.admin.ch/bk/de/home/dokumentation/medienmitteilungen.msg-id-99389.html, besucht am 26.1.2024 (zit. Medienmitteilung vom 15.12.2023).
Parlamentarische Initiative (Kommission 96.091 SR) Beseitigung von Mängeln der Volksrechte, Bericht der Staatspolitischen Kommission des Ständerates vom 2.4.2001, BBl 2001 4803 ff., verfügbar unter: https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/fga/2001/781/de, besucht am 26.1.2024 (zit. Bericht SPK-SR 2001).
Parlamentarische Initiative (01.041) Parlamentsgesetz, Bericht der Staatspolitischen Kommission des Nationalrates vom 1.3.2001, BBl 2001 3467 ff., verfügbar unter: https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/fga/2001/639/de, besucht am 26.1.2024 (zit. Bericht SPK-NR 2001).
Parlamentarische Initiative (03.420) Verordnung über die Redaktionskommission, Bericht der Redaktionskommission vom 30.4.2003, BBl 2003 3963 ff., verfügbar unter: https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/fga/2003/591/de, besucht am 26.1.2024 (zit. Bericht RedK 2003).
Parlamentarische Initiative (03.420) Verordnung der Bundesversammlung über die Redaktionskommission, Stellungnahme des Bundesrates vom 28.5.2003 zum Bericht der Redaktionskommission vom 30.4.2003, BBl 2003 4291 f., verfügbar unter: https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/fga/2003/639/de, besucht am 26.1.2024 (zit. STN BR 2003).
Sektion Politische Rechte der Bundeskanzlei, Merkblatt vom 3.3.2020 für Initiativkomitees, Referendumskomitees sowie Urheberinnen und Urheber von Petitionen, verfügbar unter: https://www.bk.admin.ch/bk/de/home/politische-rechte/referenden.html, besucht am 26.1.2024 (zit. BK-Merkblatt 2020).
Bundesarchiv E3321#1998/250#5* NEAT-Referendum; Administrativuntersuchung betreffend Auszählung der Unterschriften, Schlussbericht vom 13.4.1992 zur Administrativuntersuchung betreffend Auszählung des NEAT-Referendums (zit. Schlussbericht).
Staatskanzlei des Kantons Schwyz, Merkblatt für das Ergreifen des fakultativen Referendums, verfügbar unter: https://www.sz.ch/public/upload/assets/52451/Merkblatt%20Referendum.pdf, besucht am 26.1.2024 (zit. Merkblatt SZ).
Staatskanzlei des Kantons Zug, Merkblatt vom 6.6.2016 «Kantonale Volksrechte», verfügbar unter: https://zg.ch/de/staat-politik/politische-rechte, besucht am 26.1.2024 (zit. Merkblatt ZG).
Vernehmlassung 2023/15, Änderung des Bundesgesetzes über die politischen Rechte (BPR) und der Verordnung über die politischen Rechte (VPR), verfügbar unter: https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/eli/dl/proj/2023/15/cons_1, besucht am 26.1.2024 (zit. Vernehmlassung 2023/15).