Publica Act
English is not an official language of the Swiss Confederation. This translation is provided for information purposes only and has no legal force.
Art. 18 Transfer of the pension relationship
1 At the time of this Act coming into force, the vested pension benefits under the Occupational Pension Portability Act are transferred to the insured parties as a lump-sum payment. 2 At the time of this Act coming into force, an opening balance sheet is drawn up for PUBLICA and for each employee pension fund. This specifies the assets, liabilities, reserves, provisions and uncommitted funds. 3 Invalidity pensions that originated under the previous law and the supplementary pensions according to the regulations are continued as before. Should the individual prerequisites for benefits change after transfer, the entitlement to benefits will be reassessed in accordance with the provisions in force. 4 Insured persons whose rights are governed by Article 71 paragraph 1 of the Ordinance of 24 August 1994 on the Federal Pension Fund (Federal Pension Fund Statutes) maintain these rights even after the new law becomes effective. The shortfall in the policy deficit for financing the benefits due
Para. 1 — SR 831.42 Para. 4 — [AS 1995 533]
Art. 19 Deficit debt under the Federal Pension Fund Statutes
1 The Confederation bears the part of the deficit posted in the Federal Pension Fund’s final accounts of 31 May 2003, amounting to CHF 11,935,517,302. 2 The affiliated organisations that have migrated to PUBLICA from the former Federal Pension Fund owe PUBLICA the amount of their frozen deficit determined during the applicability of the Federal Pension Fund Statutes Organisations that left the Federal Pension Fund before 1 June 2003 do not owe any additional deficit apart from the frozen deficit paid at the time of leaving. The above is subject to the special standards whereby the shortfall in the policy reserve is assumed by the employer. 3 The Confederation may decide to bear all or part of the deficit debt of individual PUBLICA-affiliated organisations with which it is closely associated if such payment would leave the organisation in serious financial difficulty. The Federal Council defines the conditions, limits and details for assuming such debts. 4 Employers that left the Federa
Para. 2 — [AS 1995 533, 3705; 1999 2451. AS 2004 301 Art. 1]
Art. 20 Settlement and interest of the deficit debts
1 The Confederation will pay off its deficit debt according to Article 19 paragraph 1 by 31 May 2008. 2 The deficit debts of organisations affiliated to PUBLICA must be repaid within a period contractually specified with PUBLICA, which must not exceed eight years after this Act comes into force. 3 The Confederation will pay off the deficit debts assumed in cases of serious financial hardship (Art. 19 para. 3) within five years of the relevant application being fully or partially approved. 4 Interest on deficit debts is payable at the technical interest rate applicable to insured persons in active employment. 5 The charge resulting for the Confederation from its repayment of the deficit debt is posted under assets on the Confederation’s balance sheet and amortised on the profit and loss account of subsequent years.
Art. 21 Abrogation of Confederation guarantees
1 Subject to the provisions of paragraph 2, all guarantees in accordance with PUBLICA’s opening balance sheet, whereby the Confederation assumed the shortfall in the policy reserve in certain cases, are abrogated with retroactive effect. The cases in question are as follows: a. if PUBLICA cannot recover by court order the claims against affiliated organisations on the retirement of female members of the entry generation in accordance with Article 74 of the Ordinance of 25 April 2001 on Insurance in the Core Plan of the Federal Pension Fund; b. if the new rules for voluntary early retirement cannot be implemented on 1 January 2005: until their effective date, but no later than the expiry of any transition period that may have been set; c. if there is a legally binding court ruling against PUBLICA or the Confederation, in the case of a claim to pension benefits that originated prior to migration, specifically in the case of legal proceedings underway at the time of migration. 2 The guara
Para. 1 let. a — SR 172.222.034.1
Art. 22 Working capital
The Confederation pays PUBLICA a lump sum of 10 million Swiss francs to finance initial operating expenditure required for setting up PUBLICA on 1 June 2003.
Art. 23 Lump-sum payment by the Confederation for the portfolio of pensioners
1 The Confederation pays PUBLICA, in the form of a lump-sum payment, the amount needed to cover the additional policy reserve requirements resulting from the lowering of the technical interest rate under paragraph 3 applicable to the portfolio of pensioners defined in paragraph 2 on the day on which this Act comes into force. 2 The portfolio of pensioners encompasses the recipients of old-age, invalidity and survivors’ pensions whose annuities started before the effective date of this Act, including those pensioners who remained with the Federal Pension Fund after their employer exited before 1 June 2003 (closed portfolios of pensioners). 3 The technical interest rate is reduced to 3% for closed portfolios of pensioners and 3.5 % for all other pensioners. 4 The amount owed by the Confederation under paragraph 1 is reduced by the amount of the provision formed by PUBLICA for the closed portfolios of pensioners. 5 PUBLICA distributes the Confederation’s lump-sum payment among the individ
Para. 6 — SR 172.220.1
Art. 24 Formation and dissolution of employee pension funds of closed portfolios of pensioners
1 The closed portfolios of pensioners have their own employee pension funds; collective employee pension funds may be formed. The Fund Commission takes on the role of joint body. Should these pensioners be transferred to the Confederation’s employee pension fund within the meaning of paragraph 4, the joint body of the latter takes on this function. 2 The dissolution of an employee pension fund of a closed portfolio of pensioners is governed by the same principles applying to total liquidation. Any surplus of assets is distributed among the remaining employee pension funds pro rata to their policy reserves. 3 If the last remaining employee pension fund of closed portfolios of pensioners no longer has any pensioners, and funds remain available after its dissolution, these are allocated to the Confederation’s employee pension fund. If the Confederation has already paid restructuring contributions in accordance with Article 24a, the remaining funds shall be reallocated to the federal budge
Para. 3 — Second sentence inserted by No I of the FA of 18 March 2022 (Restructuring of the Employee Pension Funds of Closed Portfolios of Pensioners), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2022 524; BBl 2021 1582).
Art. 24a Restructuring of the employee pension funds of closed portfolios of pensioners
1 If the actuarial review of an employee pension fund of a closed portfolio of pensioners (closed employee pension fund) discloses a shortfall as defined in the OPA of 5 or more per cent, the Confederation shall pay restructuring contributions into the employee pension fund sufficient to eliminate the shortfall. 2 The restructuring contributions shall be requested as part of the subsequent federal budget process following presentation of the annual financial statements for the individual closed employee pension funds.
Art. 24a — Inserted by No I of the FA of 18 March 2022 (Restructuring of the Employee Pension Funds of Closed Portfolios of Pensioners), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2022 524; BBl 2021 1582). Para. 1 — SR 831.40
Art. 25 Guarantee of retirement benefits for the transition generation
All insured persons in employment who have reached the age of 55 but are not yet 65 at the time this Act comes into force are entitled to “grandfathering” rights corresponding to 95 % of the retirement benefits granted at 62 years of age under the existing law, or at least the retirement benefits provided for under this Act. If voluntary early retirement is taken before the age of 62, the guaranteed rights are reduced on an actuarial basis. PUBLICA bears the costs incurred in such grandfathering.
Art. 26 Preparation for switching over to the PUBLICA collective institution
1 The employers and their employees designate their representatives to the joint body before this Act comes into force. 2 The joint body set up in accordance with paragraph 1 takes the necessary measures to ensure that the contract of affiliation and the pension plan regulations can come into force on the day this Act becomes effective. 3 The former Fund Commission under the Federal Pension Fund Act of 23 June 2000 takes all necessary decisions before this Act comes into force. The Fund Commission under this Act must be formed within a period of one year after the effective date of this law. Until the new Fund Commission is formed, the former Fund Commission will assume the tasks provided for under Article 11 of this Act.
Para. 3 — [AS 2001 707, 2004 5265, 2006 2197 Annex No 13, 2007 2821]