Languages Act (LangA)
English is not an official language of the Swiss Confederation. This translation is provided for information purposes only, has no legal force and may not be relied on in legal proceedings.
Art. 1 Subject matter
This Act regulates: a. the use of the official languages by the federal authorities and in dealings with them; b. the promotion of understanding and exchange between the linguistic communities; c. support for the plurilingual cantons in fulfilling their specific tasks; d. support for measures by the cantons of Graubünden and Ticino that benefit Romansh and Italian.
Art. 2 Aim
By means of this Act, the Confederation intends: a. to strengthen quadrilingualism as one of Switzerland's fundamental characteristics; b. to consolidate the internal cohesion of the country; c. to encourage individual and institutional plurilingualism in the national languages; d. to preserve and promote Romansh and Italian as national languages.
Art. 3 Principles
1 In fulfilling its tasks, the Confederation shall observe the following principles in particular: a. it shall ensure that it treats the four national Swiss languages equally; b. it shall guarantee and apply linguistic freedom in all its areas of activity; c. it shall take account of the traditional linguistic composition of Switzerland's regions; d. it shall promote understanding between the linguistic communities. 2 It shall work with the cantons to fulfil its tasks relating to the policy on languages and understanding between the linguistic communities.