There are no laws regulating the financing of political parties in Switzerland. There are no bans or limits on donations, no provisions on public funding, no bans or limits on spending, no rules on reporting requirements or sanctions.

Hardly any financial disclosure requirements apply to Swiss public officials. For example, while the Parliament Law (2002, amended 2016) requires Members of Parliament to disclose their outside employment, they must not disclose income related with it. Additionally, this law requires MPs to declare board memberships if they may lead to a conflict of interest before a debate on the relevant matter begins. Ministers and Civil Servants do not make any financial declarations. The Law on Civil Servants (1927, last amended 2001) foresees that the Parliament decides whether an exclusion based on family relations in the civil service is necessary.

Accordingly, only Members of Parliament are obliged to make regular declarations. These declarations are submitted upon taking office and updated annually. Should an MP fail to make their declarations or make false disclosure statements, the Member may be revoked speaking rights or excluded from attending sessions for a limited amount of time. MPs submit their declarations to the office or institution they are part of, while the President functions as enforcement body, and is responsible for declaring appropriate sanctions. In the case of serious infringements, the parliamentary office specifies a sanction. None of the MPs’ declarations are made publicly available.

(Note: Switzerland has no Head of State by law.)

According to Switzerland’s Law on Government and the Civil Service (1997, last amended 2016), Ministers may not have any additional employment or hold a directing or executing position in any company. For Members of Parliament, the Parliament Law (2001, last amended 2016) specifies that being part of a private entity that carries out state functions is not allowed. This would include owning state-owned enterprises or holding government contracts. When speaking in parliament, both Ministers and MPs may be temporarily excluded based on a conflict of interests in a matter. The Law on Civil Servants (1927, last amended 2001) prevents Civil Servants from receiving gifts, practicing a trade or running a company. All secondary employment of Civil Servants must be approved by the Bundestag.

No monitoring body, enforcement body, or sanctions are specified for ensuring Ministers’ conflicts of interest law. Members of Parliament face administrative sanctions ranging from a temporary loss of speaking rights up to an expulsion for up to six months. All the while, violations by Civil Servants can lead to fines as well as administrative sanctions, reaching as far as to the loss of office.  While the President is responsible for enforcing the law with MPs, the corresponding agency supervises Civil Servants.

(Note: Switzerland has no Head of State by law.)

Switzerland’s freedom of information regime is established by the Federal Act on Freedom of Information in the Administration (2004, amended 2014). The Act applies to the Federal Administration, public and private bodies outside the Federal Administration that enact legislation or issue first instance rulings. The judicial branch is not specifically mentioned, but the administrative service is included.

Specific exemptions to disclosure are outlined in the aforementioned FOI law, the Criminal Code (1937), and the Federal Act on Data Protection (1992, amended 2014). No public interest test exists whereby exemptions to disclosure may be overridden in cases where disclosure of information benefits the public interest.

Appeals are filed with the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner and with the courts. Public bodies do not accept appeals.

There are no sanctions specified in the law for violations of FOI provisions. The Federal Commissioner on Data Protection and Information Freedom is responsible for advising administrative authorities and federal departments on the implementation of the FOI law, mediating in the event of a disagreement, and commenting on draft legal texts that have an impact on the principle of transparency.

The Swiss public procurement system is regulated by the Federal Act of Public Procurement (1994), the Federal Ordinance of Public Procurement (1995) and the Intercantonal Agreement on Public Procurement (1994). The public procurement body is the Commission (Kommission) is an organization under the Ministry for Finance.

The lowest minimum thresholds for conducting a public procurement tender are:

▪         CHF 230,000 (ca. EUR 200,000) for goods

▪         CHF 8,700,000(ca. EUR 7,400,000) for works

▪         CHF 230,000 (ca. EUR 200,000) for services

The minimum number of bidders is 3 for restricted and negotiated procedures. The minimum submission period is 40 days for open procedures, 25 days for restricted procedures and 25 for negotiated procedures from dispatch date.

There is no preferential treatment towards SMEs or domestic companies and consideration of sustainability issues is allowed during the awarding process. However, there are several options for bid exclusion: outstanding tax and social security liabilities, failing to meet eligibility criteria, providing false information, arrangements undermining competition, bankruptcy. Bids can be also excluded because of abnormally low bid prices.

In the bid evaluation phase, there are conflict of interest restrictions on the composition of the evaluation committee and provisions on the independence of  the contracting authority.

There is no arbitration procedure, as the cases go to the Administrative Court. Court decisions are released publicly.