Standing Orders of the Council of States (SO-CS)
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 Preliminary Examination, Allocation and
Art. 17 Preliminary examination
1 Items of business under Article 71 ParlA is subject to preliminary examination by the responsible committees; exceptions there from are: a. procedural requests by the members of the council and groups; b. candidates for election; c. points of order; d. statements made by the Federal Council; e. other items of business stipulated by law or by these Standing Orders. 2 At the request of the cantons, the committees shall hear the opinions of the cantons with regard to the feasibility of implementation of legislation enacted by the Federal Assembly. 3 A procedural request may be subjected to preliminary examination if the responsible committee or the Council so decides. 4 ...
Para. 4 — Repealed by No I of the SD of 17 June 2011 (Council body responsible for application to lift immunity), with effect from 5 Dec. 2011 (AS 2011 4635; BBl 2010 7345 7385).
Art. 18 Allocation
1 New items of business are generally allocated to a committee for preliminary examination as soon as possible. 2 A Federal Council report may be allocated directly to the responsible committee. The committee may request the Office to include the report in the session programme.
Art. 19 Examination of formal legality
1 A parliamentary initiative or procedural request submitted by a member of the Council shall be examined for its formal legality by the President on its submission. 2 The evaluation of formal legality according to Article 71 ParlA is only conducted by the President on request. If the item of business is pending in the Federal Assembly, the President of the National Council shall be consulted. 3 If an item of items of business is declared inadmissible by the President, the author may appeal to the Office. The decision of the Office is final.
Art. 20 Communication to the Council of the results of the preliminary examination
1 Legislative bills produced by a committee or proposals submitted by the committee responsible for the preliminary examination of a legislative bill put forward by the Federal Council must be sent to members of the Council at least fourteen days before they are due to come before the Council; this rule does not apply to legislative bills examined by both chambers in the same session (Art. 85 ParlA). 2 If the documents are not submitted in time, the Office shall consider removing the item of business from the session programme.
Art. 20a
Inserted by No I of the CS SD of 4 May 2020 (Sessions outside the Parliament Building), in force from 4 May 2020 until the CS sits in the Parliament Building again (7 Sept. 2020) (AS 2020 1605; BBl 2020 4315).
Section 2 Business and Procedure
a. Parliamentary Initiatives and Procedural Reques
Art. 21 Submission
A member of the Council may submit a parliamentary initiative or a procedural request in writing during the Council sitting.
Art. 22 Statement of reasons
1 The wording of a parliamentary initiative and of a procedural request must not contain a statement of reasons. 2 The Council member must add a statement of reasons to a parliamentary initiative. motion or a postulate.
Para. 2 — Amended by No I of the SD of 21 June 2013 (Improvements in the Organisation and Procedures of Parliament), in force since 25 Nov. 2013 (AS 2013 3695; BBl 2011 6793 6829).
Art. 23 Answering of procedural requests
The addressee of a procedural request shall respond to the request in writing by the next ordinary session following submission of the request. If the addressee of a procedural request is unable to respond to the request within the specified period, he or she shall inform the Office and the author stating a reason for the delay.
Art. 24 Procedure in the Council
1 Motions, postulates and interpellations shall generally be considered during the ordinary session following their submission. 2 If a procedural request and an item of business pending in the Council relate to the same matter, the two may be considered together. 3 An interpellant may declare his or her satisfaction with the Federal Council’s response, even if the Council refuses to debate the interpellation.
Art. 25 Co-signatories
1 A parliamentary initiative or procedural request may be signed by more than one council member. The member signing first is considered the author. 1bis ... 2 The author may withdraw the initiative or request without approval of the co-signatories.
Para. 1bis — Inserted by No I of the CS SD of 4 May 2020 (Sessions outside the Parliament Building), in force from 4 May 2020 until the CS sits in the Parliament Building again (7 Sept. 2020) (AS 2020 1605; BBl 2020 4315).
Art. 26 Urgent treatment
1 An interpellation or a question may be declared urgent. 2 The Office is responsible for the declaration of urgency. 3 An urgent question must be submitted at the latest one week before the close of the session, and in one-week sessions on the first day. It shall be answered by the Federal Council in writing within three weeks. 4 The Office may with the consent of its author convert an urgent interpellation into an urgent question.
Para. 3 — Amended by No I of the SD of 21 June 2013 (Improvements in the Organisation and Procedures of Parliament), in force since 25 Nov. 2013 (AS 2013 3695; BBl 2011 6793 6829). Para. 4 — Amended by No I of the SD of 21 June 2013 (Improvements in the Organisation and Procedures of Parliament), in force since 25 Nov. 2013 (AS 2013 3695; BBl 2011 6793 6829).
b. Statements
Art. 27 Statement by the Council of States
1 At the written request of a member of the Council or a committee, the Council may make a statement on important events or on foreign or domestic policy matters. 2 Any member of the Council may submit requests for amendment in response to a request for a statement. 3 The Council shall first decide whether it wishes to hold a debate. If it decides not to hold a debate, the requests are regarded as having been dealt with. If it decides to hold a debate, it shall revise the requests in accordance with Articles 78 and 79 ParlA. The Council shall either accept or reject the revised draft of the statement. 4 If the Council decides to hold a debate, it may have the requests subjected to a preliminary examination by the committee responsible. If the committee does not submit its requests by the start of the next ordinary session, the Council shall decide either to hold a debate or abandon the requests.
Art. 27 — Amended by No I of the SD of 20 Dec. 2024 (Procedure for Statements and Paternity Leave as Grounds for being Excused), in force since 3 March 2025 (AS 2024 794).
Art. 28 Statement by the Federal Council
1 The Federal Council may make a statement to the Council on important events or on foreign or domestic policy matters. 2 At the request of a member, the Council may decide to hold a discussion on the statement.
c. Lifting Immunity
Inserted by No I of the SD of 17 June 2011 (Council body responsible for application to lift immunity), in force since 5 Dec. 2011 (AS 2011 4635; BBl 2010 7345 7385).
Art. 28a
The Legal Affairs Committee is responsible for dealing with requests to lift the immunity of a Council member, a member of the Federal Council, the Federal Chancellor or federal judges, or similar requests.
Section 3 Organisation of Council Sittings
Art. 29 Agenda
1 Notice is given of the agenda as follows: a. for the first sitting of a session: when the session programme is sent out; b. for other sittings: at the end of the preceding sitting. 2 The agenda lists all items of business. 3 The President may exceptionally add items to the agenda during the sitting, in particular in order to deal with differences and deferred matters for consideration.
Art. 30 Minutes
1 In the cases under Article 44 paragraph 2, the Clerk to the Council shall take the minutes in the language of the President. The minutes shall state: a. the matters that have been discussed; b. the proposals made; c. the result of the votes and elections; d. the members of the Council who have been excused. 2 The President shall approve the minutes.
Para. 1 let. d — Amended by No I of the SD of 22 March 2013 (Electronic Voting Equipment), in force since 1 March 2014 (AS 2014 251; BBl 2012 9463).
Art. 31 Quorum
The President shall verify whether the Council is quorate: a. before elections, votes on entire bills and final votes as well as votes on provisions that require the approval of a majority of the members of the Council in accordance with Article 159 paragraph 3 of the Federal Constitution in order to be accepted; b. at the request of a member of the Council.
let. a — SR 101
Art. 32 Attendance
1 The President opens the sitting. The roll is then called. 2 Members of the Council shall notify the Clerk to the Council, if possible before the sitting, if they are unable to attend.
Art. 33 Dress code
All persons present in the chamber shall wear appropriate attire.
Art. 34 Call to Order
1 The President shall call persons attending a sitting to order who: a. make insulting or irrelevant remarks or infringe other procedural rules; b. by their conduct disrupt Council proceedings. 2 If the call to order is disregarded, the President may order that disciplinary measures be taken in accordance with Article 13 paragraph 1 ParlA. 3 The Council shall decide without discussion on objections made by the person concerned.
Section 4 Council Debates
Art. 35 Requesting and granting the right to speak
1 In the Council, no one may speak unless granted the right to do so by the President. 2 Anyone who wishes to speak must submit a request to do so to the President. 3 The President shall normally grant the right to speak in the following order: a. the committee rapporteur; b. committee members; c. members of the Council. 4 Members of the Council shall generally be granted the right to speak in the order in which their requests are received. 5 The committee rapporteurs and the representative of the Federal Council shall be allowed to speak when they request to do so. 6 Members of the Council shall be granted the right to speak out of turn if they wish to make a point of order or personal statement.
Art. 36 Personal statement
Any member of the Council may make a brief personal statement; this may be used to respond to a comment relating to his or her person or in order to rectify a statement that he or she has made.
Art. 37 Introduction and detailed consideration
1 The Council may dispense with an introductory debate, unless a proposal is submitted not to approve introduction. 2 It may decide to debate an item of business article by article, in sections or in its entirety.
Art. 38 Proposals
1 A proposed amendment must be submitted to the President in writing and normally before the debate on the item of business concerned. 1bis ... 2 He or she shall examine the proposed amendments on their filing to confirm that they fulfil the formal requirements. 3 A proposed amendment shall be subject to a preliminary examination by the committee responsible if the Council so decides.
Para. 1bis — Inserted by No I of the CS SD of 4 May 2020 (Sessions outside the Parliament Building), in force from 4 May 2020 until the CS sits in the Parliament Building again (7 Sept. 2020) (AS 2020 1605; BBl 2020 4315).
Art. 39 Points of order
1 The Council shall usually deal with a point of order immediately. 2 It shall decide without discussion on any proposal for reconsideration, after hearing a brief statement of reasons for the proposal and any counter-proposal. 3 If the Council votes in favour of the proposal for reconsideration, the article or section shall be debated again.
Art. 40 Conclusion of the debate
The President closes the debate if there are no further requests to speak.
Art. 41 Second reading
1 An item of business that has been substantially amended due to proposals from the floor of the Council shall be returned for editorial revision to the committee responsible for the preliminary examination, if the Council so decides. 2 The revised text shall be submitted to the Council for approval as a whole.
Section 5 Voting
Art. 42 Wording of the question
Before the vote, the President shall provide a brief summary of the proposed amendments made and submit proposals to the Council on the question and on the order of voting in accordance with Articles 78 and 79 ParlA.
Art. 43 Abstention and statement of reasons for the vote
1 No member of the Council is obliged to vote. 2 Prior to votes on entire bills and final votes on legislative bills, as well as votes in which the approval of a majority of members of the Council is required under Article 159 paragraph 3 of the Federal Constitution, each member of the Council shall be entitled to state briefly the reasons for his or her vote or abstention.
Para. 2 — SR 101
Art. 44 Voting
1 Each member of the Council votes from his or her desk using the electronic voting system. 2 If sittings are held in camera or if the electronic voting equipment is defective, voting is by show of hands or roll call.
Art. 44 — Amended by No I of the SD of 22 March 2013 (Electronic Voting Equipment), in force since 1 March 2014 (AS 2014 251; BBl 2012 9463).
Art. 44a Recordings and publishing voting data
1 The electronic voting system counts and records the votes cast in every vote. 2 The way in which the members of the Council vote and the result are shown on electronic display panels. 3 The President announces the result. 4 The result is published in the form of a list of names. 5 On the list of names, for each member it is indicated whether he or she: a. votes yes; b. votes no; c. abstains; d. does not participate in the vote; or e. is excused. 6 A person is regarded as excused if he or she gives notice of being unable to attend an entire day's sitting at the latest by the start of the sitting due to an assignment from a permanent delegation in accordance with Article 60 ParlA or due to close family bereavement, maternity or paternity leave, accident or illness. 6bis A person is regarded as partially excused if he or she gives notice of being unable to attend part of a day's sitting at the latest by the start of the sitting due to an assignment from a parliamentary body. 7 …
Art. 44a — Inserted by No I of the SD of 22 March 2013 (Electronic Voting Equipment), in force since 1 March 2014 (AS 2014 251; BBl 2012 9463). Para. 4 — Amended by No I of the SD of 17 Dec. 2021 (List of Names for All Votes), in force since 28 Feb. 2022 (AS 2022 107; BBl 2021 2696). Para. 6 — Amended by No I of the SD of 20 Dec. 2024 (Procedure for Statements and Paternity Leave as Grounds for being Excused), in force since 3 March 2025 (AS 2024 794). Para. 6bis — Inserted by No I of the SD of
Art. 45 Voting by a show of hands
1 When voting by a show of hands in accordance with Article 44 paragraph 2, the votes need not be counted if the result of the vote is obvious. 2 The number of votes cast and the number of abstentions must be counted in every case in the case of: a. votes on entire bills; b. final votes; c. votes that require the approval of a majority of the members of the Council in accordance with Article 159 paragraph 3 of the Federal Constitution in order to be accepted.
Art. 45 — Amended by No I of the SD of 22 March 2013 (Electronic Voting Equipment), in force since 1 March 2014 (AS 2014 251; BBl 2012 9463). Para. 1 — Amended by No I of the SD of 22 March 2013 (Electronic Voting Equipment), in force since 1 March 2014 (AS 2014 251; BBl 2012 9463). Para. 2 let. c — SR 101
Art. 46 Roll call voting
1 Voting takes place in the cases under Article 44 paragraph 2 by calling the roll if this is requested by at least 10 members of the Council. 2 In a vote by calling the roll, the members of the Council respond from their seats in alphabetical order of their names to question put to the vote by the President with a «Yes», «No» or «Abstain». 3 The only vote that counts is that cast immediately after the member's name is read out. 4 After each response, the Council Secretary announces the interim result. 5 The result is published in the form of a list of names, other than in the case of sittings held in camera.
Art. 46 — Amended by No I of the SD of 22 March 2013 (Electronic Voting Equipment), in force since 1 March 2014 (AS 2014 251; BBl 2012 9463).