Legal basis for administrative requirements at the national level

FEDERAL CONSTITUTION OF THE SWISSCONFEDERATION

(Adopted1999; last amended 2013)

http://www.admin.ch/ch/e/rs/c101.html

Title 4: The People and the Cantons

Chapter 2: Initiative and Referendum

Art. 138 Popular initiative requestingthe complete revision of the Federal Constitution

(1) Any 100,000 persons eligible to vote maywithin 18 months of the official publication of their initiative propose acomplete revision of the Federal Constitution.

(2) This proposal must be submitted to a vote ofthe People.

Art. 139 Popular initiative requestinga partial revision of the Federal Constitution in specific terms

(1) Any 100,000 persons eligible to vote maywithin 18 months of the official publication of their initiative request apartial revision of the Federal Constitution.

(2) A popular initiative for the partialrevision of the Federal Constitution may take the form of a general proposal orof a specific draft of the provisions proposed.

(3) If the initiative fails to comply with therequirements of consistency of form, and of subject matter, or if it infringesmandatory provisions of international law, the Federal Assembly shall declareit to be invalid in whole or in part.

(4) If the Federal Assembly is in agreement withan initiative in the form of a general proposal, it shall draft the partialrevision on the basis of the initiative and submit it to the vote of the Peopleand the Cantons. If the Federal Assembly rejects the initiative, it shallsubmit it to a vote of the People; the People shall decide whether theinitiative should be adopted. If they vote in favour, the Federal Assemblyshall draft the corresponding bill.

(5) An initiative in the form of a specificdraft shall be submitted to the vote of the People and the Cantons. The FederalAssembly shall recommend whether the initiative should be adopted or rejected.It may submit a counter-proposal to the initiative.

Art. 139b Procedure applicable to an initiative and counter-proposal

(1) The People vote on the initiative and thecounter-proposal at the same time.

(2) The People may vote in favour of bothproposals. In response to the third question, they may indicate the proposalthat they prefer if both are accepted.

(3) If in response to the third question oneproposal to amend the Constitution receives more votes from the People and theother more votes from the Cantons, the proposal that comes into force is thatwhich achieves the higher sum if the percentage of votes of the People and thepercentage of votes of the Cantons in the third question are added together.

Title 6: Revision of theFederal Constitution and Transitional Provisions

Chapter 1: Revision

Art. 193 Total Revision

(3) If the People vote for a total revision, newelections shall be held to both Chambers.

FEDERAL ACT ONPOLITICAL RIGHTS

(Adopted 1976; last amended 2009)

http://www.admin.ch/ch/e/rs/161_1/index.html

Title 2: Votes

Art. 10Organisation

(2) Each canton is responsible forthe conduct of the vote within its own territory and issues the requiredregulations.

Art. 11 Proposalssubmitted to a Vote of the People, Ballot Papers and Explanatory Statements

(1) The Confederation shallprovide the cantons with the proposals to be submitted to a vote of the Peopleand the ballot papers.

(2) Each proposal shall beaccompanied by a short, objective explanation from the Federal Council, whichshall also take account of the opinions of significant minorities. The proposalmust contain the wording of the questions on the ballot paper. In the case ofpopular initiatives and referendums, the initiative committee shall inform theFederal Council of their arguments and the Federal Council shall take sucharguments into account in its explanatory statement…

Art. 15 Validation andPublication of the Result of the Vote

(1) The Federal Council shallascertain the result of the vote (validation) as soon as it is established thatno appeal against the vote has been filed with the Federal Supreme Court, or assoon as a decision has been made on such an appeal.

Title 4: TheReferendum;

Chapter 1:Mandatory Referendum

Art. 58 Publication

Enactments that are subject to a mandatoryreferendum shall be published following their adoption by the Federal Assembly.The Federal Council shall order that a popular vote be held.

Chapter 2: TheOptional Referendum

Art. 59aSignificance of the Period

The request for a referendum must be submittedto the Federal Chancellery before expiry of the referendum period, either withthe support of the number of cantons required by the Constitution or furnishedwith the required number of signatures and the certificates of eligibility tovote.

Art. 59c Popularvote

If the request for a referendum is successful,the Federal Council shall order the organisation of a popular vote.

Title 5: The Popular Initiative

Art. 72 Successfulrequest for a popular initiative

(1) After expiry of the periodallowed for the collection of signatures, the Federal Chancellery shall establishwhether the popular initiative has obtained the required number of validsignatures…

Art. 75a Vote

(1) The Federal Council shallsubmit the popular initiative to a popular vote within ten months of the finalvote thereon in the Federal Assembly, but at the latest ten months after expiryof the statutory period allowed for Parliament to consider the popular vote.

(4) The procedure for dealing witha popular initiative to be followed by the Federal Council and the FederalAssembly and the deadlines that must be observed are governed by the provisionsof the Parliament Act of 13 December 2002.

FEDERAL ACT ONPARLIAMENT

(Adopted 2002; last amended 2011)

http://www.admin.ch/ch/e/rs/c171_10.html

Art. 81. Final vote

(1) If both Councils have completed their examinationof a federal act, an ordinance of the Federal Assembly or a federal decree thatis subject to a mandatory or an optional referendum and they have approved thewording that has been revised by the Drafting Committee, a final vote on thebill shall be held in each Council.

(2) If both Councils approve the bill then theenactment has been passed by the Federal Assembly.

Chapter 3:Procedure for Popular Initiatives

Section 1: PopularInitiative for the Complete Revision of the Federal Constitution

Art. 96 Where a popular initiative for the complete revision of theFederal Constitution is declared successful, the Federal Assembly shall submitthe initiative to the vote of the people.

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

a. GeneralProvisions