Intelligence Service Act (IntelSA)
English is not an official language of the Swiss Confederation. This translation is provided for information purposes only and has no legal force.
Section 1 Political governance and Bans
Art. 70 Political governance by the Federal Council
1 The Federal Council shall exercise political governance over the FIS and carry out the following tasks in particular for that purpose: a. It shall issue the FIS with a basic mission and renew this mission at least every four years; the basic mission shall remain secret. b. It shall authorise the watch list in accordance with Article 72 every year and submit it to the CDel; the watch list is confidential. c. It shall determine the groups every year that must be categorised as violent-extremist groups and shall take note of the number of violent extremists that cannot be assigned to any known group. d. It shall assess the threat situation every year and as required in the event of incidents and shall inform the Federal Assembly and the general public. e. It shall order the required measures in the case of special threat situations. f. It shall decide every year on how the FIS will cooperate with foreign authorities. 2 The documents in connection with the tasks in paragraph 1 shall not
Art. 71 Safeguarding other important national interests
1 In the event of a serious and immediate threat, the Federal Council may instruct the FIS to carry out measures in terms of this Act to the extent that these measures are required to safeguard other important national interests in accordance with Article 3. 2 It shall in each case determine the duration, purpose, nature and extent of the measure. 3 In the case of information gathering measures requiring authorisation, the authorisation procedure in accordance with Articles 26–33 must be complied with. 4 If the Federal Council issues instructions in accordance with paragraph 1, it shall inform the CDel within 24 hours.
Art. 72 Watch list
1 The watch list contains details of organisations and groups that are reasonably assumed to pose a threat to internal or external security. 2 The assumption is deemed to be reasonable where an organisation or group appears on a list kept by the United Nations or the European Union; in this case, this organisation or group may be included on the watch list. 3 An organisation or group shall be removed from the watch list if: a. the assumption that it poses a threat to internal or external security no longer applies; or b. it no longer appears on any list in accordance with paragraph 2 and there are no particular reasons why it should pose a threat to internal or external security. 4 The Federal Council shall set out in an ordinance the criteria by which the watch list is drawn up; it shall determine the periodicity for reviewing the list.
Art. 73 Order banning an activity
1 The Federal Council may ban a natural person or an organisation or group from carrying out an activity that poses a specific threat to internal or external security and directly or indirectly serves to propagate, support or otherwise promote terrorist or violent-extremist activities. 2 A ban may be imposed for a maximum of five years. If the requirements are still met on expiry of this period, the ban may be extended for a maximum of five further years. 3 The applicant department shall regularly review whether the requirements are still being met. If this is no longer the case, it shall apply to the Federal Council for the ban to be lifted.
Art. 74 Organisation ban
1 The Federal Council may ban an organisation or group that directly or indirectly propagates, supports or otherwise promotes terrorist or violent-extremist activities and thus poses a specific threat to internal or external security. 2 A ban shall be based on a United Nations resolution on a ban or on sanctions; the Federal Council shall consult the committees responsible for security policy. 3 A ban may be imposed for a maximum of five years. If the requirements are still met on expiry of this period, the ban may be extended for a maximum of five further years. 4 Any person who on Swiss territory participates in an organisation or group banned under paragraph 1, supports it by providing human or other resources, organises propaganda campaigns for its aims, recruits for it or in any other way promotes its activities shall, be liable to a custodial sentence not exceeding five years or to a monetary penalty. 4bis The court may reduce the penalty in accordance with paragraph 4 (Art. 48a
Para. 2 — Amended by Annex No II 1 of the FA of 25 Sept. 2020 on the Approval and Implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism and its Additional Protocol and the Strengthening of Criminal Justice Instruments for combating Terrorism and Organised Crime, in force since 1 July 2021 (AS 2021 360; BBl 2018 6427). Para. 4 — Amended by Annex No II 1 of the FA of 25 Sept. 2020 on the Approval and Implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention o
Section 2 Control and Supervision of the FIS
Art. 75 Self-control by the FIS
The FIS shall ensure by means of suitable quality assurance and control measures that the lawful implementation of this Act both within the FIS and within the cantonal security services is guaranteed.
Art. 76 Independent supervisory authority
1 The Federal Council shall establish an independent authority to oversee the FIS. 2 In response to a proposal from the DDPS, it shall appoint the director of the independent supervisory authority for a term of six years. 3 The director shall be re-appointed for a further term unless the Federal Council rules at the latest six months before the end of the current term that this is not appropriate on objectively reasonable grounds. 4 The director may resign from the post as of the end of any month subject to giving six months’ notice thereof to the Federal Council. 5 He or she may be removed from the post by the Federal Council before the expiry of the term office if he or she: a. breaches his or her official duties wilfully or through gross negligence; or b. becomes permanently incapable of exercising office.
Art. 77 Status of the independent supervisory authority
1 The independent supervisory authority shall carry out its tasks independently; it is not bound by directives from other authorities. It is assigned to the DDPS for administrative purposes. 2 It has its own budget. It appoints its own staff. 3 It constitutes itself. It shall regulate its organisation and its working methods in its own procedural rules. 4 The employment contracts of the head and the staff of the independent supervisory authority are governed by the Federal Personnel Act of 24 March 2000. The head is not subject to the assessment system in accordance with Article 4 paragraph 3 of the Federal Personnel Act.
Para. 4 — SR 172.220.1 Para. 4 — The correction of the FA Drafting Committee of 12 March 2020, published 24 March 2020, relates to the French text only (AS 2020 1057).
Art. 78 Tasks, rights to information and recommendations of the supervisory authority
1 The independent supervisory authority shall oversee the intelligence service activities carried out by the FIS, cantonal executive authorities and third parties and other agencies delegated these tasks by FIS. It shall audit these activities to confirm their legality, expediency and effectiveness. 2 It shall coordinate its activities with parliamentary supervision activities and with other federal and cantonal supervision bodies. 3 It shall inform the DDPS about its activities in an annual report; this report shall be published. 4 It has access to all relevant information and documents and access to all the premises of the subjects of supervision. It may request copies of documents. Within the scope of its supervision activities, it may request information from and may inspect files held by other federal and cantonal agencies, provided this information is related to the cooperation between these agencies and the subjects of supervision. 5 In order to carry out its supervision activit
Para. 5 — Amended by Annex 1 No II 2 of the Data Protection Act of 25 Sept. 2020, in force since 1 Sept. 2023 (AS 2022 491; BBl 2017 6941).
Art. 79 Independent control authority for radio and cable communications intelligence
1 An independent control authority within the Administration shall verify the legality of radio communications intelligence and supervise the conduct of authorised and cleared cable communications intelligence assignments. In carrying out its tasks, it is not bound by directives from other authorities. The Federal Council shall appoint its members. 2 The control authority shall examine the assignments given to the service carrying out communications intelligence and the processing and passing on of information that this service has obtained. For this purpose, it shall be granted access by the responsible agencies to all relevant information and facilities. 3 It may issue recommendations based on its audit and request that the DDPS terminate radio communications intelligence assignments and delete information. Its recommendations, requests and reports are not made public. 4 The Federal Council shall regulate the composition and the organisation of the control authority, the remuneration
Art. 80 Supervision and control by the Federal Council
1 The DDPS shall inform the Federal Council regularly about the threat situation and the activities of the FIS. 2 The Federal Council shall regulate: a. financial supervision over the spheres of activity of the FIS that require particular confidentiality; b. the minimum requirements for control in the cantons and the responsibilities of federal supervision bodies. 3 International administrative agreements concluded by the FIS that are of long-term duration, have substantial financial consequences or of which the Federal Council should be notified for legal or political reasons require approval by the Federal Council. This requirement of approval also applies to unwritten agreements. The agreements may only be implemented once approval is given. 4 The DDPS shall inform the Federal Council and the CDel annually or as required about the purpose and number of alias identities being used by employees of the FIS or cantonal security agencies. The number of newly issued identity documents mus
Art. 81 Parliamentary oversight
1 Parliamentary oversight of the activities of the FIS and the cantonal executive authorities acting on behalf of the Confederation in implementing this Act is the responsibility in their respective spheres of the CDel and the Finance Delegation in accordance with the Parliament Act of 13 December 2002. 2 Cantonal parliamentary supervisory bodies may oversee implementation in accordance with Article 85 paragraph 1.
Para. 1 — SR 171.10
Art. 82 Cantonal supervision
1 Employees of the cantonal executive authorities that are entrusted by the cantons with tasks in terms of this Act are governed by cantonal public service legislation and subject to the cantonal supervision of their superiors. 2 Supervision in the cantons is the responsibility of the superior authorities to the cantonal executive authority concerned. These authorities may employ a control authority in order to provide assistance with supervision; this body must be separate from the cantonal executive authority and accountable to the superior authorities. 3 In order to exercise its supervisory activities, the cantonal supervisory authority shall be provided with a list of assignments issued by the FIS and the watch list in accordance with Article 72. 4 The cantonal supervisory authority may inspect the data that the canton is processing on behalf of the Confederation. Inspection may be refused if essential security interests so require. 5 The Federal Council shall regulate the inspecti
Para. 5 — SR 173.110
Section 3 Legal Remedies
Art. 83
1 Rulings based on this Act issued by federal bodies may be contested by appeal to the Federal Administrative Court. 2 An appeal against a ruling on the special obligation imposed on private individuals to provide information and on a ban on activities or organisations does not have the effect of suspending the ruling. 3 The period allowed for filing the appeal against an order for an information gathering measure requiring authorisation begins on the day that notice of the measure is received. 4 Appeal decisions of the Federal Administrative Court may be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court. The procedure is governed by the Federal Supreme Court Act of 17 June 2005.
Para. 4 — SR 173.110