Ordinance on the Church Law and the Law on Recognized Jewish Congregations

In this Ordinance

1. Cantonal ecclesiastical corporations mean

a. the Evangelical Reformed Church,

b. the Roman Catholic Corporation,

Terms

c. the Christian Catholic Parish;

2. Recognized Jewish communities mean

a. the Israelite Community of Zurich,

b. the Jewish Liberal Community;

3. Entitled corporations mean

the corporations and communities mentioned in points 1 and 2;

4. Directorate means

the Directorate of Justice and Home Affairs.

Do Ecclesiastical Corporations Apply Cantonal Law Subsidiarily?

If ecclesiastical corporations apply cantonal law subsidiarily, it is considered ecclesiastical-corporate law.

1 The Government Council supervises the cantonal ecclesiastical

corporations and the recognized Jewish communities regarding

compliance with cantonal law applicable to them.

subsidiary

law

(§§ 5 para. 3

and 17 KiG)

State

Supervision

(§§ 6 para. 2 and

11 para. 4 KiG,

1 Reporting of Religious Affiliation by Parishes and Recognized Jewish Communities

1 The church parishes and recognized Jewish communities shall report notifications of denominational or religious affiliation received by them to the municipality of residence.

2 If, in the case of minors and young persons not of religious majority, there is no notification of their denominational or religious affiliation, the Residents' Registration Office shall inform the church parish or recognized Jewish community to which a parent belongs.

3 If not all persons within a family, a de facto partnership, or a registered partnership belong to the same cantonal ecclesiastical body, the relevant church parishes are authorized to obtain data regarding these persons from the residents' register in accordance with § 15 para. 1 KiG.

Is the authority to approve changes in purpose or

disposals of parsonages and churches owned by the

parish congregations, according to contracts and annotations in the land register,

assigned to the Government Council, it shall be transferred to the executives of the cantonal ecclesiastical corporations.

1 Right to Admission for Pastoral Care Activities in Institutions of the Canton and the Municipalities is held by all office holders admitted to pastoral care activities within their cantonal ecclesiastical body or recognized Jewish community.

2 For admission to pastoral care activities in a prison, they also require an express recommendation from the respective cantonal ecclesiastical body or recognized Jewish community.

3 If an institution rejects a request for admission to pastoral care activities, it shall issue a decision.

1 Orders of ecclesiastical bodies are appealable to state bodies if the violation of directly applicable cantonal law is asserted.

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Ordinance on the Church Law and the Ecclesiastical Law

180.11

2 If the violation of church-corporate law is asserted, the legal recourse is determined by the provisions of the cantonal ecclesiastical corporations.

3 If both legal avenues are pursued, the competent authorities shall regulate the procedure in an exchange of views.

4 Orders of the organs of the Christian Catholic parish are appealable to state bodies even if they are based on church-corporate law.

Competence

in cases of changes

in purpose

of ecclesiastical

properties

(§ 32 KiG)

Admission to

pastoral

activity

(§ 16 KiG)

The District Council decides disputes between church or school communities and political communities or school communities regarding the use of school premises.

b. School Premises

(§ 14 KiG, § 11 GjG)

1. The Department of Construction assesses construction projects of parishes for churches and parsonages at the request of the cantonal church bodies.

**Assessment of Construction Projects**

**2. Access for the cantonal church bodies to existing documents regarding churches and parsonages held by the canton is guaranteed. The cantonal church bodies are entitled to gratuitous extracts from these documents.**

8 The Official Compendium of Laws and the section “Legislation and Legal

Political Rights” of the Official Gazette are available free of charge to the cantonal ecclesiastical bodies

for the publication of their enactments and orders.

2nd Section: Finances

A. Principles

Legal Protection

a. General

(§ 18 para. 1 KiG)

2 It ensures that the Evangelical Reformed Church and the Roman Catholic Corporation exercise supervision over the parishes, insofar as these apply ecclesiastical-corporate law.

3 Supervision in the area of church taxes is limited to their collection according to the provisions of the Tax Law of June 8, 1997.

1 The ecclesiastical corporations manage their finances according to the principles of legality, economy, and efficiency.

2 The cantonal ecclesiastical corporations use recognised control and management instruments to steer their financial households.

3 They ensure that the church parishes utilise these instruments appropriately for themselves.

1 The ecclesiastical corporations follow the principles of transparency, comparability, and public accessibility in their accounting.

1.7.12 - 77

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180.11

Ordinance on the Ecclesiastical Law (KiG) and the Ecclesiastical Judiciary Law (GjG)

Comparability

Financial Supervision

Collection

of Resident

Population

Activity

Programs

a. Content and

Structure (§§ 19

para. 2 and 3 and

21 para. 3 KiG)

b. Submission Deadline

c. Statement

of the

Directorate

(§ 19 para. 4

KiG)

2 The Evangelical Reformed State Church and the Roman Catholic Corporation consolidate the essential parts of the accounts of their church parishes as well as the cantonal ecclesiastical corporations into an overall consolidated account.

1 The financial management and the comprehensive accounts of the Evan-

gelical-Reformed Cantonal Church and the Roman Catholic Corpor-

ation must be comparable.

2 The Directorate issues directives if an agreement between the

Evangelical-Reformed Cantonal Church and the Roman Catholic Corpor-

ation cannot be reached.

1.7.12 - 77

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180.11 Ordinance on the KiG and the GjG

Reporting

Obligations

(§ 15 KiG,

The Government Council supervises compliance with the financial legal minimum requirements by the cantonal ecclesiastical corporations. It engages the Financial Control for this purpose.

The members of the eligible corporations will be recorded separately during the census of the resident population according to the Ordinance on the Financial Equalization Law of November 29, 1978.

B. State Benefits

1 The activity programs of the Evangelical Reformed Church of

the Canton and the Roman Catholic Corporation also include the

activities of the parishes.

2 The activity programs are divided into areas and provide

information on the content, the intended impact, the target audience,

the type of service delivery, and the financing of the activities

covered.

3 They must be comparable. The eligible corporations shall

agree on the structure of the activity programs. If no agreement is

reached, the Directorate shall decide.

The eligible bodies submit their activity programs to the Directorate by the end of March of the penultimate year before the start of a contribution period.

1 The Directorate shall, by the end of April, take a position on the activity programmes submitted by the eligible bodies.

**2 For this purpose, it shall obtain a special opinion from those Directorates of the Government Council whose area of responsibility is affected by the activities covered in the programmes.**

**4**

**Ordinance on the KiG and the GjG**

**180.11**

1. **D. Adjustment Procedure**

If the Directorate and an entitled corporation differ in their assessment of the scope and content of an activity program, they shall attempt to reach an agreement.

2. If no agreement is reached, the Government Council shall decide within the scope of the submission to the Cantonal Council.

1 The Directorate submits to the Government Council, based on the new activity programs and the contribution period, which is subject to reporting according to § 23, by the end of August of the second-to-last year before the start of a contribution period, the request to the Cantonal Council for the establishment of the framework credit for the next contribution period. In doing so, it takes into account the most recent survey of the resident population in the canton.

2 The Government Council decides on the request to the Cantonal Council by the end of September. It strives for the simultaneous adoption of the framework credit by the Cantonal Council with the budget.

1 The Government Council shall decide by the end of February of the year

prior to the start of a contribution period on the annual allocation of the

total amount of cost contributions determined by the Cantonal Council with the framework credit. (§ 20 KiG)

2 The Government Council shall generally form equally sized shares for each year.

The eligible bodies may submit differing proposals.

1 The Directorate shall determine the shares of the eligible bodies in the annual share of the framework credit for the following year by the end of April each year.

2 The shares shall be calculated according to the number of members of the eligible bodies. The decisive factor is the number of persons who, according to § 1 of the Financial Equalisation Ordinance of 17 August 20112, belong to the resident population of a municipality and whose affiliation to the respective body is recorded in the residents' registers on the cut-off date.7

3 The activity programmes of the eligible bodies shall be particularly taken into account when determining the shares of the cost contributions if

a. the difference in the scope of comparable activities is significant despite minor differences in membership numbers,

b. comparable activities are carried out to a similar extent despite significant differences in membership numbers.

c. Distribution of

Cost Contributions

(§ 21 KiG)

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180.11

Ordinance on the KiG and the GjG

Reporting

(§§ 20 para. 3

and 22 KiG)

a. Over a

six-year

Contribution Period

(§ 22 para. 1

KiG)

b. Annual Report

(§ 6 KiG, § 13

GjG)

c. Evaluation

(§ 22 para. 2

KiG)

Reimbursement

(§ 22 para. 3

KiG)

4 In such cases, the Directorate may determine the annual shares of the cost contributions deviating from the ratio of membership numbers. It shall consult the eligible bodies beforehand.

1 Reporting on a six-year contribution period follows the structure of the work programmes and provides information, in particular, on deviations between the intended and actual impact of the covered activities. It refers to the past four years and the coming two years of the current contribution period.

2 Eligible bodies submit their reports together with the new work programmes.

1 The annual reports of the eligible corporations refer to the activity programmes of the current contribution period and their implementation.

2 The eligible corporations submit their annual reports to the Directorate by the end of September of the year following the reporting year.

3 The Directorate submits the application to the Cantonal Council regarding the annual report to the Government Council by the end of November.

1 If the Directorate and an eligible body differ in their assessment of the actual and intended effects of the activities covered, the Directorate shall invite this body for a discussion.

2 If no agreement is reached, the Directorate may request an evaluation of the disputed points.

3 The relevant eligible body shall decide, in agreement with the Directorate, who will conduct the evaluation. The Directorate shall bear half of the costs of the evaluation.

The reimbursement of cost contributions is governed by the

State Contributions Act of April 1, 19903.

C. Taxes of natural and legal persons

Negative

Earmarking

(§ 25 para. 2

KiG)

1 The cantonal ecclesiastical bodies shall report the tax revenues

from natural and legal persons separately in their overall accounts.

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Ordinance on the Ecclesiastical Law and the Judicial Law

180.11

2 Based on their overall accounts, they shall comparably demonstrate, in the form of lump-sum calculations, that the ecclesiastical revenues (income minus taxes from legal persons and cost contributions) cover or exceed the expenditure for religious purposes. This proof must be confirmed by the auditing body in the annual report.

3 The cantonal ecclesiastical bodies shall periodically review the bases of the lump-sum calculation and adjust the lump-sum calculations as needed.

4 If the Government Council questions the lump-sum calculation, it may have the accounting reviewed.

5 If it is found that the expenditures for religious purposes are not covered solely by the ecclesiastical revenues, the difference amount shall be offset against the annually granted cost contributions within the framework of the next distribution order in accordance with § 22.

3rd Section: Final Provisions

A. Transitional Provisions

Pending Proceedings

Supervisory and legal remedy proceedings pending before state authorities and bodies at the time of the entry into force of the Church Law and this Ordinance will be concluded according to the previously applicable jurisdiction.

1. Oversight of the church communities and legal protection against their decrees shall be governed by the previous jurisdictional order until June 30, 2011.

2. Proceedings pending at that time shall be concluded in accordance with the previous jurisdictional order.

1 The cantonal ecclesiastical corporations shall for the first time for 2011 prepare an overall financial statement.

2 They shall report the revenues from taxes on natural and legal persons starting from the financial year 2011 in accordance with § 27 para. 1 and 2.

Financial Law

Minimum Requirements

The annual contributions of CHF 50 million for the contribution period

2010–2013 will be disbursed without activity programs, based on

the activities deemed to be of overall societal importance at the time the

Church Law came into force.

2010–2013

a. Determination

without activity

programs

(§ 29 ChL)

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180.11

Ordinance on the ChL and the YoL

b. Grading

of contributions

(§ 21 ChL)

c. Reporting

Long-service

awards for

pastors

Pending

construction projects

1 The Board of Directors shall, in the first four contribution years,

observe the staggering according to the annual distribution of cost contributions

The cantonal ecclesiastical corporations will for the first time

submit, along with the annual report for the year 2011, consolidated financial statements

and proof of compliance with the negative earmarking

for tax revenues from legal entities.

To the extent that pastors of the Evangelical Reformed

Cantonal Church are entitled to a long-service bonus in 2010 and 2011, the Canton shall bear the following costs, in proportion to the years of service creditable up to the end of 2009 under previous law

a. in the case of a cash payment, the previous share of 63% of the

remuneration of the pastors,

b. in the case of taking leave, the compensation for the representation by

a curacy.

The competent bodies of the Building Department shall complete assessments of building projects for churches and parsonages pending at the time the Church Law comes into force, in accordance with the previous rules governing competence.

B. Entry into force

This Ordinance enters into force on 1 January 2010.

8

1 OJ 64, 476; for the reasons, see OG 2009, 1443.

2 SC 132.11.

3 SC 132.2.

4 SC 180.1.

5 SC 184.1.

6 SC 631.1.

7 Version in accordance with Decision of the Government Council of 17 August 2011 (OJ 66, 786; OG 2011, 2425). In force since 1 January 2012.

8 Version in accordance with Decision of the Government Council of 18 April 2012 (OJ 67, 188; OG 2012, 809). In force since 1 July 2012.