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- Art. 5a FC
- Art. 6 FC
- Art. 10 FC
- Art. 16 FC
- Art. 17 FC
- 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
- Art. 144 CO
- Art. 145 CO
- Art. 146 CO
- 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
- Art. 39 PRA
- Art. 40 PRA
- Art. 41 PRA
- Art. 42 PRA
- Art. 43 PRA
- Art. 44 PRA
- Art. 45 PRA
- Art. 46 PRA
- Art. 47 PRA
- 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. Preliminary remarks
1 Art. 322septies SCC protects the identical legal interests as domestic bribery of public officials (see OK-Baumgartner/Hurni, Art. 322ter N. 1 et seq.). However, the scope of application is extended to foreign states and international organizations.
2 With the exception of the extension of the person to be bribed to persons working for a foreign state or an international organization, Art. 322septies para. 1 SCC corresponds to the wording of Art. 322ter SCC. Para. 2 of Art. 322septies SCC corresponds to Art. 322quater SCC. Accordingly, subject to the following explanations, reference is made to the commentary on these articles (see OK-Baumgartner/Hurni, Art. 322ter and 322quater SCC).
A. Active bribery of foreign public officials
3 Any natural person is a suitable perpetrator of active bribery of foreign public officials.
4 In addition to natural persons, legal entities are also suitable subjects of sanctions in the context of corporate criminal liability under Art. 102 para. 2 SCC and are the focus of the criminal prosecution authorities, namely the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland. The starting point was the investigation by the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland against ALSTOM SA and ALSTOM Network (Schweiz) AG in 2009. The proceedings against the Swiss subsidiary, ALSTOM Network (Schweiz) AG, were concluded in November 2011 by means of a summary penalty order, with the offence in question being bribery of foreign public officials in accordance with Art. 322septies SCC. Corporate criminal liability comes into question if the company does not take all necessary and required organizational precautions to prevent bribery offences and the offence in question becomes possible precisely because of this lack of precautions. The higher the risk of bribery in the respective industry and the foreign country in which the company conducts its activities, the stricter the requirements for the necessary and essential organizational precautions. Over the years, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland has conducted various other criminal proceedings against legal entities based on Art. 322septies SCC. It can be assumed that the number of these proceedings will also increase in the future.
5 The offense must be committed against a foreign public official. Bribery of foreign public officials is based on the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. The OECD regularly reviews compliance with this convention by means of “monitoring mechanisms”. This is a set of instruments in which states can review each other and make suggestions for improvement. This creates a kind of political peer pressure to ensure that states comply with the Convention. According to Art. 1 no. 4 lit. a of the OECD Convention, a foreign public official is (i) a person who holds a legislative, administrative or judicial office in another state by appointment or election, (ii) a person who performs public functions for another state, including an authority or a public enterprise, or (iii) a public official or agent of an international organization. The dispatch already states that a literal adoption of the Convention text does not make sense and that the interpretation of the term “public official” should be based on the facts of domestic bribery of public officials. Accordingly, according to unanimous doctrine and case law, the term “foreign public official” is interpreted autonomously and in line with the term “public official” under Swiss law. Accordingly, the term “public official” includes both institutional and functional officials and members of judicial or other authorities. An interpretation of the term “foreign public official” under Swiss law means that persons who would not qualify as public officials under national law in their own country are also classified as public officials. According to the case law of the Federal Criminal Court, the term “public official” also includes members of parliament of a foreign state, irrespective of whether or not the bribery of a public official is a punishable offence in the foreign country.
6 International organizations are intergovernmental organizations and organizations created by other public bodies. According to the current legal situation, a sports governing body is not considered an international organization. Accordingly, acts of bribery towards officials of international sports governing bodies based in Switzerland cannot be subsumed under the offense of bribery of public officials. However, the elements of the offense of private bribery pursuant to Art. 322octies f. SCC may be fulfilled.
7 The offense and the means of committing the offense under Art. 322septies SCC correspond to those under Art. 322ter SCC. With regard to the undue advantage, certain necessary payments provided for by foreign law are excluded from this concept. On the other hand, local customs that do not take the form of statutory or customary law are not sufficient to constitute a justification for the granting of an advantage. This leads to delimitation difficulties in particular where a person grants so-called facilitation payments in order to promote the performance of an official act to which they are entitled. The terms “breach of official duty” and “discretionary act” are broadly defined. This means that, although a facilitation payment is made with regard to an official act to which it is entitled, this official act is at the discretion of the official carrying it out. Accordingly, such facilitation payments also fall under Art. 322septies SCC, unless they are explicitly permitted under foreign law.
8 The offense in the narrower sense includes the offer, promise and granting of an undue advantage (OK-Baumgartner/Hurni, Art. 322ter N. 21 et seq.). In addition, there must be an equivalent relationship between the undue advantage offered, promised or granted and the expected consideration (OK-Baumgartner/Hurni, Art. 322ter N. 49 et seq.). A cross-border granting or acceptance of an advantage that does not relate to a specific official act is not covered by Art. 322septies and therefore remains unpunishable.
9 For the subjective elements of the offense, please refer to the comments on Art. 322ter SCC (OK-Baumgartner/Hurni, Art. 322ter N. 53).
B. Passive bribery of foreign public officials
10 The offense of passive bribery of foreign public officials is structured in the same way as the active offense. Accordingly, the identical concept of public official also applies to the passive offense. This results in the problem that a person can be considered a foreign public official by applying the autonomous concept of a public official, even though they are not considered a public official in their own country and according to its legal system.
II. Conflicts
11 Art. 322septies para. 1 and para. 2 SCC are mirror images of each other. Therefore, no complicity or participation in the counter-offense can be established in each case.
Bibliography
Hilti Martin, Kommentierung zu Art. 322septies StGB, in: Graf Damian K. (Hrsg.), Annotierter Kommentar StGB, Bern 2020.
Isenring Bernhard, Kommentierung zu Art. 322septies StGB, in: Donatsch Andreas (Hrsg.), Orell Füssli Kommentar, StGB, 21. Aufl., Zürich 2022.
Lengauer Daniel/Ruckstuhl Lea, Compliance, Zürich et al. 2017.
Lenz Stefan/Mäder Walter, Grenzüberschreitende Korruption, Die Anwendbarkeit des schweizerischen Unternehmensstrafrecht aus Sicht der Praktiker, forumpoenale 1 (2013), S. 33-38.
Pieth Mark, Kommentierung zu Art. 322septies StGB, in: Niggli Marcel Alexander/Wiprächtiger Hans (Hrsg.), Basler Kommentar, StGB II, 4. Aufl., Basel 2019.
Pieth Mark, Funktionale Äquivalenz, Praktische Rechtsvergleichung und internationale Harmonisierung von Wirtschaftsstrafrecht, ZSR 119 (2000), S. 477-489.
Pieth Mark/Zerbes Ingeborg, Sportverbände und Bestechung: Sachgerechte Grenzen des Korruptionsstrafrechts?, ZIS 9 (2016), S. 619-625.
Rochow Marius, Die Massnahmen von OECD und Europarat zur Bekämpfung der Bestechung, Beiträge zum transnationalen Wirtschaftsrecht, Heft 56, Halle 2006.
Trechsel Stefan/Betz Kathrin, Kommentierung zu Art. 322septies, in: Trechsel Stefan/Pieth Mark (Hrsg.), Praxiskommentar, StGB, 4. Aufl., Zürich et al. 2021.
Materials
Botschaft über die Änderung des Schweizerischen Strafgesetzbuches und des Militärstrafgesetzes (Revision des Korruptionsstrafrechts) sowie über den Beitritt der Schweiz zum Übereinkommen über die Bekämpfung der Bestechung ausländischer Amtsträger im internationalen Geschäftsverkehr vom 19.4.1999, BBl 1999 5497 ff., abrufbar unter: https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/fga/1999/1_5497_5045_4721/de, besucht am 20.11.2023, (zit. Botschaft Revision).
Botschaft über die Genehmigung und die Umsetzung des Strafrechts-Übereinkommens und des Zusatzprotokolls des Europarates über Korruption (Änderung des Strafgesetzbuches und des Bundesgesetzes gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb) vom 10.11.2004, BBl 2004 6983 ff., abrufbar unter: https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/fga/2004/1217/de, besucht am 20.11.2023, (zit. Botschaft Genehmigung).
Botschaft über die Änderung des Strafgesetzbuchs (Korruptionsstrafrecht) vom 30.04.2014, BBl 2014 S. 3591 ff. abrufbar unter: https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/fga/2014/787/de, besucht am 20.11.2023, (zit. Botschaft Änderung).
Strafbefehl der Bundesanwaltschaft im Verfahren Nr. EAII.04.0325-LEN vom 22.11.2011 betreffend Alstom Network (Schweiz) AG.