At which stage legality check is conducted?

Source for the text in Comments sections:

Georg Lutz, ?Switzerland: Citizens? Initiatives as a Measure to Control the Political Agenda,? in Maija Set?l? and Theo Schiller, eds.: Citizens? Initiatives in Europe: Procedures and Consequences of Agenda-Setting by Citizens. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. (p. 23-24)

FEDERAL ACT ONPOLITICAL RIGHTS

(Adopted 1976; last amended 2009)

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Title 5: ThePopular Initiative

Art. 71 Submission

(1) The signature lists for a popularinitiative must be submitted together 18 months at the latest from the date ofpublication of the text of the initiative in the Federal Gazette.

(2) Signature lists that have been submitted are not returnedand may not be inspected.

Art. 72 Successful request for a popularinitiative

(1) After expiry of the period allowed for the collection ofsignatures, the Federal Chancellery shall establish whether the popularinitiative has obtained the required number of valid signatures. [?] If half ormore of the required quorum has been achieved, the Federal Council shall issuea ruling confirming whether or not the popular initiative has been successful.

Art. 75 Examination of validity

(1) If the text of a popular initiativefails to comply with the principles of cohesion of subject matter (Art. 139para. 3 and Art. 194 para. 2 Federal Constitution) or consistency of form (Art.139 para. 3 and Art. 194 para. 3 Federal Constitution), or if the popularinitiative violates mandatory provisions of international law (Art. 139 para. 3,Art. 193 para. 4 and Art. 194 para. 2 Federal Constitution), the FederalAssembly shall declare the initiative to be invalid as a whole or in part, tothe extent that this is required.

(2) There is cohesion of subject matter ina popular initiative when there is an intrinsic connection between theindividual parts of the initiative.

(3)  There is consistency of form ina popular initiative when the initiative is couched exclusively in the form ofa general proposal or of a specific draft provision.

FEDERAL ACT ONPARLIAMENT

(Adopted 2002; last amended 2011)

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Chapter 3:Procedure for Popular Initiatives

Section 2: PopularInitiative for the Partial Revision of the Federal Constitution

a. GeneralProvisions

Art. 97 FederalCouncil dispatch and draft decree

(1) The Federal Council shallsubmit to the Federal Assembly:

1. at the latest one year after submission of a successful popular initiative, a dispatch and the draft of a federal decree for the consideration of the Federal Assembly;
2. at the latest one year after the approval of the people or of the Federal Assembly of an initiative submitted in the form of a general proposal, a dispatch and the draft of a federal decree for a partial revision of the Federal Constitution.

(2) If the Federal Council at the same time submits to the FederalAssembly a draft federal decree on a counter-proposal or a bill that is closelyrelated to the popular initiative, the foregoing period shall be extended to 18months.

(3) The Federal Assembly may begin its discussions before theFederal Council has submitted its dispatch and the draft of a Federal Decree.

Art. 98 Validity of popular initiatives

(1) The Federal Assembly shall declare a popular initiativewholly or partly invalid if it holds that the requirements of Article 139paragraph 3 of the Federal Constitution have not been fulfilled.

(2) If the decisions of the two Councils in relation to thevalidity of the popular initiative or of parts thereof diverge from each otherand the Council that has approved the validity of the initiative confirms itsdecision, the popular initiative or, depending on the case, its disputed part,shall be held to be valid.

Art. 99 Prohibition of the amendment of popular initiatives

Popular initiatives, or all the valid parts thereof, must besubmitted to the vote of the people as they stand.

?Aninitiative is not put to a vote immediately. After an initiative has beenhanded in, the government writes a report on behalf of the parliament in whichthe government expresses its view on the proposal. The parliament will then in turn debate theinitiative and take a position. Neither the parliament nor thegovernment has the power to prohibit the initiative from being put to a vote;however, the parliament and the government express a recommendation to thevoters.?