Ordinance on Administrative and Administrative Appeal Procedure (Administrative Procedure Ordinance, VwVV) (Verwaltungsverfahrensverordnung, VwVV) - Jurisdiction (VwVV)

1. The legislation determines the jurisdiction of the authorities and offices; any divergent agreements between authorities, offices, and parties are irrelevant.

2. The authority or office reviews its jurisdiction ex officio.

3. If it considers itself not competent, it forwards the submission to the competent body and informs the submitting person.

1. The administrative authorities and offices of the canton and municipalities, as well as those of other public-law corporations, are mutually obligated to provide legal assistance.

2. Special provisions regarding the duty to provide information and report, data protection, and tax secrecy remain reserved.

1. Anyone with a legitimate interest may request the authority responsible for actions based on public law, which affect rights or obligations, to

a. refrain from, cease, or revoke unlawful actions;

b. eliminate the consequences of unlawful actions;

c. determine the unlawfulness of actions.

2. The authority shall decide by issuing an order.

1. In administrative proceedings, a party is considered to be anyone who is affected by the order to be issued, has a legitimate interest, and either participates in the proceedings or is involved by the authority ex officio.

2. In appeals proceedings, a party is

a. anyone who already exercised party rights before the lower instance and wishes to continue doing so,

b. any third person who is newly aggrieved and wishes to exercise party rights.

3. In the appeals proceedings, the lower instance is involved like a party.

1. The parties may be represented by counsel and, unless personal action or appearance is necessary, may be represented on the basis of a written power of attorney.

2. In the case of collective submissions or identical individual submissions, a representative must be specified. If this is not done within a reasonable period, the authority or office shall designate a representative from among the persons who made the submission.

1. The authority or office, or a member or person entrusted by it with the establishment of the facts, establishes the facts ex officio and takes the necessary precautionary measures for this purpose.

2. The evidence procedure is conducted with the analogous application of the Civil Procedure Code.

1. The authority or office shall hear the parties before issuing an order or making a decision.

2. If an order is likely to affect numerous persons or if determining the parties individually would entail disproportionate effort, the authority or office can instead publicly display the application or the intended order before issuing it and simultaneously announce in the official gazette that objections must be raised within a reasonable period.

3. The authority or office can waive the hearing

a. for preliminary and interim decisions that cannot be independently contested;

b. in cases of urgency;

c. when the requests of the parties are granted;

d. for orders that can be contested by opposition;

e. for enforcement orders.

**1. The parties are entitled to inspect the procedural files, including submissions by parties, comments from authorities or governmental bodies, all documents serving as evidence, and records of announced decisions, unless overriding public or private interests require their confidentiality.**

**2. The inspection of files takes place at the office of the deciding authority or governmental body, or at a location designated by them. A party may, at its own expense, have copies of the files made by the governmental body or create them independently with the body's consent, provided this does not result in disproportionate administrative effort.**

**3. The delivery of files is only made to attorneys, provided that such delivery does not constitute a disproportionate administrative burden.**

**4. If a party is denied access to a document, it may only be used to their disadvantage if the authority or governmental body has informed them orally or in writing of its material content and has given them the opportunity to express themselves and specify counter-evidence.**

1. The parties or their representatives have the right to be present at the questioning of informants or witnesses, to ask supplementary questions, and to participate in official inspections. A hearing or inspection need not be postponed because a person involved in the proceedings is prevented from participating.

1. The authority or official body accepts the evidence presented to it if such evidence appears suitable for clarifying the facts of the case.

2. Before issuing a decision, it evaluates all relevant and timely submissions and evidence.

3. It may consider late submissions by the parties if they appear to be decisive, despite their tardiness.

1. An order must include

a. the designation of the issuing authority or office and the names of the members of the authority who have recused themselves;

b. the facts of the case and the reasoning, with an indication of the applied provisions;

c. the operative part of the order;

d. the determination of costs and the obligation to bear costs;

e. the instruction on the admissible ordinary legal remedy, with an indication of the deadline and instance (legal remedy instruction);

f. the addressees;

g. the date of the resolution and dispatch;

h. the signature, except in the case of mass orders.

1. The authority or office shall serve decisions to the parties and other private individuals involved in the proceedings, as well as to authorities and offices, in writing.

2. Decisions are generally delivered by post.

2a. Decisions can be issued without a justification. In such cases, Article 112 paragraph 2 of the Federal Court Act is applicable.

3. The authority or office may issue a decision without justification in the official bulletin

a. to a party whose whereabouts are unknown or who is residing abroad without having designated a service address in Switzerland;

b. to a large number of participants who cannot all be identified without disproportionate effort.

1. Correction of Typographical or Calculation Errors can be Made at Any Time. It Must be Immediately Communicated to the Parties.

1. The authority or office, or its supervisory authority, may modify or revoke an order at any time if the revocation does not impose a burden on the affected parties or if significant public interests necessitate it.

2. If a person, relying in good faith on the order, has incurred expenses or taken measures and suffers damage as a result of the revocation, they are entitled to compensation provided they are not at fault for the revocation. The claim is directed against the public entity whose organ issued the revoked order.

1. Upon the entry into force of a decision, the procedural records must be preserved in an appropriate location for at least 20 years.

2. Original documents must be returned to the parties upon request.

1. The appeal must be submitted in writing and in duplicate to the appellate authority. The contested decision must be attached.

2. The appeal must contain a request and a brief statement of reasons, as well as the signature of the appellant or their representative. The evidence must be specified precisely and, as far as possible, be attached.

3. If the appeal does not meet these requirements, a short extension shall be granted to the appellant for improvement, with the warning that if the deadline expires without action, a decision will be made based on the files, or if the request, reasons, or signature are missing, the appeal will not be considered.

1. The instruction of the complaint is the responsibility of the President or the member of the authority entrusted with it.

2. The appellate body or its registry shall inform the parties involved in the prior instance proceedings, as well as any other potential parties, in writing that a complaint has been filed and simultaneously inform them about the instructing authority or person.

**1. If the appeal is admissible and is not evidently unfounded, the instructing authority or person shall send a copy of the appeal to the lower court and any opposing parties or other involved parties, requesting them to submit a written statement within a reasonable period.**

**2. The lower court shall submit the documents to the instructing authority or person within the same period.**

**3. If necessary, an additional exchange of writings may be ordered, and an oral hearing may be conducted.**

1. The lower court may generally reconsider the contested decision until it submits its response.

2. It promptly issues a new decision to the parties and informs the appellate court.

1. The instructing authority or person is entitled to propose an amicable settlement to the parties, provided that substantive law permits it.

1. Upon annulment of the contested decision, the appellate body generally decides on the matter itself.

2. If the facts of the case have been insufficiently clarified by the lower instance or if the contested decision was issued in violation of essential procedural principles, the appellate body may remand the case to the lower instance for re-evaluation.

1. The decision on the appeal must be delivered in writing to the appellant, the lower instance, and other parties involved in the appeal procedure.

1. A legally concluded procedure is to be reconsidered by the authority or official body upon the request of a party, if

a. there is a substantially changed factual situation compared to the circumstances of the original decision, or the applicant invokes significant facts or evidence for the assessment of the circumstances that were previously unknown or not presented in that procedure because they were unable to do so or there was no reason to present them;

b. the decision was influenced by a criminal act;

c. the authority or official body was in a manifest error regarding decisive facts, or compelling public interests justify it.

2. If the authority or official body rejects the reconsideration, this decision can be appealed.

1. Facts that make it necessary to take action against an authority or office in the public interest can be reported to the supervisory authority at any time, provided that the issuance of a contestable order or the filing of a complaint is not possible.

2. The person reporting does not have party rights, subject to other regulations. However, the authority or office must provide information regarding the resolution of the report.

3. The political communities bear the costs for the intervention of the supervisory authority.

1. The procedural costs consist of the official costs and party compensation.

2. The official costs comprise the fees for administrative activities (decision-making fees, writing fees, etc.), evidence costs, and other cash expenses of the authority or agency.

3. Party compensation is a reimbursement for the costs of professional party representation and for the necessary, particularly costly, appearances of the parties before authorities, agencies, and experts.

1. The authority or public office may require the party initiating a procedure and potentially liable for costs to provide a reasonable advance to secure the official costs.

2. If the party does not provide the advance within the granted period despite the threat of consequences, and the procedure is not to be conducted ex officio, the legal action will not be entertained.

1. The authority or official body may require the interested party, who would likely be liable for costs in the event of an unfavorable decision, to provide an appropriate advance payment for expensive evidentiary proceedings, particularly for expert opinions.

2. If the party fails to provide the advance payment despite the threat of consequences within the granted deadline, the evidentiary proceeding is to be carried out only to the extent required by public interest.

1. The authority or agency shall determine the procedural costs to the detriment of the obligated party or lower court in its order according to the assessment principles of the General Fees Act.

2. If the appellate instance annuls or amends the contested decision, it may reassess and allocate the costs of the preceding proceedings.

1. The party shall bear the official costs

a. in the first-instance administrative procedure, if it initiated the decision in its own interest or through its conduct;

b. in the objection procedure, if it has frivolously raised an inadmissible or obviously unfounded objection;

c. in the appeals procedure, if it is unsuccessful or if its appeal is not admitted.

2. The withdrawal of an appeal or a legal remedy is deemed equivalent to a dismissal.

3. Costs incurred by a party due to conduct contrary to duty during the procedure or by the late presentation of facts and evidence shall be borne by the party, even if it prevails.

4. The additional costs for a reasoned decision under Art. 11 para. 2a of this regulation shall be borne by the party or the lower instance that requested the reasoning.

1. No official costs shall be imposed on a lower instance unless the public entity is involved as a party under its own name, or if serious procedural errors or manifest legal violations are attributable to the involved authority or office.

2. The authority or office may reduce the official costs or waive the imposition of costs if the parties have no economic interest in the dispute or if special reasons, particularly the public interest in clarifying the matter in dispute, justify this.

3. If a party liable for costs is only partially unsuccessful, the official costs are to be reasonably reduced.

1. Official fees are governed by the fee schedule of the Regulation on the General Fees Act.

1. When parties with opposing interests are involved in appellate proceedings, the prevailing party shall be awarded reasonable party compensation at the expense of the party that loses or withdraws, not exceeding CHF 5,000. In extraordinary cases, the compensation may be determined without adherence to this limit.

2. If there are significant procedural errors or evident legal violations attributable to the lower court, the prevailing party shall be awarded reasonable compensation for their representation costs at the expense of the public entity to which the lower court belongs.

3. The determination of party compensation depends on the personal and economic significance of the matter to the party, the complexity of the case, the scope and nature of the work, and the time spent.

4. The government council regulates the details in implementing provisions.

1. The competent authority or office may, upon a substantiated request, waive all or part of the official costs imposed on an indigent party.

1. Orders and decisions on complaints are enforceable if they cannot be challenged by an ordinary legal remedy, the deadline for doing so has passed without action, or if there is no suspensive effect.

1. The enforcement of an order or a decision on appeal generally falls under the jurisdiction of the first instance.

2. The collection of costs for the appeal proceedings is the responsibility of the appellate instance.

1. Unless there is urgency, the substitute performance and official coercion must be threatened by setting a reasonable deadline and with reference to Art. 292 of the Swiss Criminal Code.

1. Insofar as this regulation does not contain any provisions, the provisions of the Federal Act on Administrative Procedure shall apply mutatis mutandis.

1. ...[8]

1. Upon the entry into force of this Regulation, the directives of the Government Council on administrative procedures (right of access to files and the right to be heard) dated August 28, 1984, are repealed.

1. This regulation applies to all proceedings pending at the time of its entry into force.

2. Procedural acts carried out under previous law shall retain their validity.

1. The government council determines when this regulation comes into force. It is subject to an optional referendum.