Official publications of Switzerland

This is a list of the official gazettes and editions of laws published in Switzerland. Due to the federal structure of the country, both the federal government and the cantons have their own official publications.

This list is incomplete. It does not presently feature the official publications of the judicial authorities.

The federal government

The Swiss federal government publishes three principal official publications, listed below. They have several things in common:

They are published by the Federal Chancellery of Switzerland in the form of weekly supplements to loose leaf binders. Since 1999, they are also made available on the Internet in PDF format (as well as HTML in the case of the SR/RS).

All publications are issued in the three official languages of Switzerland: German, French and Italian. All three language editions are equally valid.

As statutory text is not copyrighted in Switzerland, several legal research database providers are reusing the text of the official publications in their value-added online services.

Official Collection of Federal Law (AS/RO/RU)

The Official Collection of Federal Law (German: Amtliche Sammlung des Bundesrechts, AS; French: Recueil officiel du droit fédéral, RO; Italian: Raccolta ufficiale delle leggi federali, RU) is the federal gazette of Switzerland. All Swiss federal laws and ordinances, as well as amendments to them, enter into force by chronological publication in the AS/RO/RU.

Foreign publications analoguous to the AS/RO/RU include the United States Statutes at Large and the Official Journal of the European Union.

Systematic Collection of Federal Law (SR/RS/RS)

The Systematic Collection of Federal Law (German: Systematische Sammlung des Bundesrechts, SR; French: Recueil systématique du droit fédéral, RS; Italian: Raccolta sistematica, RS) is the official compilation of all Swiss federal laws, ordinances, international and intercantonal treaties that are in force.

In the SR/RS, the acts are published in a consolidated form, that is, the text is updated to reflect any amendment that enters into force through publication in the AS/RO/RU. By itself, publication in the SR/RS does not confer force of law. The legally binding text is that of the individual acts published in the AS/RO/RU. However, some very voluminous parts of laws, such as the customs code, are not published in their entirety, but only by way of reference. They are usually made available on the websites of the government agencies responsible.

Foreign publications analoguous to the SR/RS include the United States Code.

Federal Journal (BBl/FF/FF)

The Federal Journal (German: Bundesblatt, BBl; French: Feuille fédérale, FF; Italian: Foglio federale, FF) publishes various official texts of the Swiss federal government, including:

• reports of the Swiss Federal Council to the Swiss Federal Assembly, most notably the drafts of proposed laws with usually extensive explanations,
• laws enacted by Parliament that are subject to an obligatory or facultative popular referendum,
• reports and notifications by the Federal Council, parliamentary committees and various government agencies.

Foreign publications analoguous to the SR/RS include the U.S. Federal Register.

References

• For the federal publications, see in general the Federal Publications Law of 2004-06-18, SR/RS 170.512 ^(E·D·F·I) as well as the explanatory text on the official websites (see below), accessed in February 2007.

External links

Federal government

• Official Collection of Federal Law
• Systematic Collection of Federal Law
• Federal Journal

Cantonal governments

• Links to online editions of compiled laws, provided by the Swiss federal parliament
• LexFind, full text search engine for all cantonal and federal laws, provided by the Institute of Federalism.