¹ The Council shall elect the members of the Presiding College immediately after its constitution, and shall do so for the following years of the legislative period at its first sitting of the parliamentary year.

² It shall take appropriate account of the size of the parliamentary groups and the official languages.

³ If a vacancy arises in the Presiding College during the term of office, the Council shall elect a substitute member for the remaining period; if the post of President becomes vacant, the Council shall hold a substitute election if the President leaves office before the start of the summer session.

¹ The President shall fulfil the tasks conferred on him or her by law and shall:

a.

chair the Council's meetings;

b.

establish the agenda, subject to Council decisions to the contrary, taking into consideration the programme of the parliamentary session established by the Bureau;

c.

chair the Presiding College and the Bureau;

d.

represent the Council in its external dealings.

² If the President is unable to chair the meeting, or wishes by way of exception to participate in a debate, he or she shall be replaced provisionally by the First Vice-President, or if need be by the Second Vice-President.

³ If neither Vice-President is able to chair the meeting, the presidency shall be assumed by the following persons in this order:

a.

a predecessor; if more than one is present in the Council, the council member who more recently exercised the office shall take precedence;

b.

the council member who has served the most terms of office; if two or more council members have served the same term, the older member shall take precedence.

⁴ The Vice-Presidents:

a.

support the President;

b.

carry out with the President the tasks conferred on the Presiding College by law.

⁵ Decisions of the Presiding College require the approval of at least two of its members.

¹ The Bureau comprises:

a.

the three members of the Presiding College;

b.

the four Tellers;

c.

the presidents of the groups.

² In the case of impediment, the Tellers may be substituted by their replacements, and the group presidents by any member of their group.

³ The allocation of seats of Tellers and their replacements among the parliamentary groups is regulated by Articles 40 and 41 of the Federal Act of 17 December 1976³ on Political Rights; for their term of office, Article 17 paragraph 1 and 4 apply mutatis mutandis.

⁴ The President participates in votes in the Bureau. In the event of a tie, he or she has the casting vote.

¹ The Bureau:

a.

plans the activities of the Council and sets out the session programme, subject to decisions by the Council to modify the list of items of business, or to add or withdraw such items;

b.

determines the remit of the standing committees and institutes special committees;

c.

allocates items of business to the committees for preliminary consideration, co-reporting or final examination and sets deadlines; it may delegate this task to the President;

d.

coordinates the activities of the committees and decides which committee is competent in the event of disagreement;

e.

schedules the meetings of the committees for the year;

f.

decides on the number of committee members;

g.

elects the presidents, vice-presidents, and members of the committees on the recommendation of the parliamentary groups;

h.

ascertains the results of elections and votes; the President may call on other members of the council if the Tellers and their replacements are impeded;

i.

examines whether incompatibilities exist under Article 14 ParlA, and, if necessary, proposes that the Council confirm the existence of any incompatibility;

j.

handles all other issues of organisation and procedure in the Council.

² The Bureau consults the presidents of the committees before taking decisions on matters concerning paragraph 1 letters b, c, and e.

The following standing committees exist:

1.

Finance Committee (FC);

2.

Control Committee (CC);

3.

Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC);

4.

Science, Education and Culture Committee (SECC);

5.

Social Security and Health Committee (SSHC);

6.

Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy Committee (ESPEC);

7.

Security Policy Committee (SPC);

8.

Transport and Telecommunications Committee (TTC);

9.

Economic Affairs and Taxation Committee (EATC);

10.

Political Institutions Committee (PIC);

11.

Legal Affairs Committee (LAC);

12.⁴

Immunity Committee (IC).

In exceptional cases, the Bureau may institute special committees. Prior to doing so, it shall consult the presidents of the standing committees whose area of competence may be affected.

Unless otherwise provided in an act or ordinance of the Federal Assembly, the provisions on committees set out in the Parliament Act and in these Standing Orders apply mutatis mutandis to the standing and non-standing delegations.

The Legislature Planning Committee is constituted in the first session of the legislative period as the special committee for the preliminary consideration of the Federal Council's dispatch on the legislature plan.

¹ The Immunity Committee is made up of nine members.

² A standing substitute shall be elected for each Committee member.

¹ Every committee may establish its own sub-committee.⁷

² The committee issues the sub-committee with an assignment that specifies its task and sets a deadline for the submission of its reports.

³ The finance and the control committee may establish standing sub-committees to supervise certain areas on behalf of the committee.

⁴ The Foreign Affairs Committee shall establish a standing sub-committee for European affairs. This committee shall keep itself informed about forthcoming legal developments in the European Union that are of importance to Switzerland and report regularly to the Committee thereon.⁸

¹ The following seats are allocated among the parliamentary groups, in analogous application of Articles 40 and 41 of the Federal Act of 17 December 1976⁹ on Political Rights:

a.¹⁰

the total number of seats on the standing committees under Article 10 numbers 1-11;

a^bis.¹¹

the seats on further individual committees;

b.

the seats accorded to the National Council on a committee of the United Federal Assembly or on a joint committee of both Councils;

c.

the offices of president of the standing committees.

² ...¹²

³ In principle, a member of the Council may not sit on more than two of the committees listed under Article 10.¹³

¹ The President of the committee:

a.

plans the work of the committee;

b.

sets the agenda, subject to contrary decisions by the committee;

c.

chairs the meetings of the committee;

d.

represents the committee in its external dealings.

² If the President is unable to act, Article 7 paragraph 2 and 3 applies mutatis mutandis.

³ The President shall participate in votes held by the committee. In the event of a tie, he or she has the casting vote.

¹ The term of office of all committee members is four years, subject to contrary provisions contained in the Parliament Act or in an ordinance of the Federal Assembly. It ends at the latest with the total renewal of the committees in the first session of the new legislative period. Re-election is possible.

² The term of office for presidents and vice-presidents of the standing committees is two years. It ends at the latest with the total renewal of the committees in the first session of the new legislative period. Immediate re-election to the same office is not possible.

³ The term of office of the members of a special committee corresponds to the duration of the committee's activity.

⁴ If a seat on the committee becomes vacant, the person elected to fill the seat on the committee serves out the remainder of the term of office.

⁵ An extraordinary total renewal of the committee for the remainder of the term of office occurs if:

a.

the numerical strength of a parliamentary group alters to the extent that it is over or under-represented by more than one member on a standing committee listed under Article 10;

b.

a new parliamentary group is formed.¹⁴

¹ A committee member may be substituted for a single meeting of the committee or sub-committee. The replacement member is nominated by the group.

² If a committee member leaves the Council, the parliamentary group shall nominate a replacement, as long as the Bureau has not assigned another member to the position.

³ In the cases under paragraphs 1 and 2, the parliamentary group shall give notice of the name of the replacement to the secretary of the committee without delay.

^3bis A member of a sub-committee, other than the Finance Committee, may only be substituted by another member of the main committee.¹⁵

⁴ Members of the Control Committee and members of a Parliamentary Investigation Committee, or their sub-committees, may not be substituted by another member.

¹ For every item of business, the committee nominates one of its members to report to the Council and to present the proposals of the committee (the rapporteur). It may also nominate additional members of a different language group to speak on the same subject. The committee president only acts as rapporteur in exceptional cases.

² If there are several rapporteurs for the same item of business, they shall divide the work by topic. A repetition of reports in a different official language shall be avoided unless the matter is of great importance or complex. The introductory speech is limited to the main points of the matter.

³ The committee may deliver a written report to the Council. A written report is required if no other official explanatory document exists, or if the written procedure (Art. 49) is required to consider the item of business.

¹ The president or members selected by the committee shall inform the media in written or oral form of the main results of the committee's deliberations.

² The information provided generally includes the main decisions taken, the results of any votes and the principal arguments presented in the course of the deliberations.

³ Persons present at the meetings shall not release any information before the committee has released its official communication.

⁴ Any information regarding views expressed by persons present at the meeting or how they voted shall remain confidential, unless they decide to submit a minority proposal to the Council.

¹ Items of business under Article 71 ParlA are 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 for consideration stipulated by law or by this order.

² A procedural request may be subjected to preliminary examination if the responsible committee or the Council so decides.

³ ...¹⁶

¹ New items of business are generally allocated to a committee for preliminary examination at the start of every session.

² If, as a result of a Council resolution, an item of business has to be allocated to a committee, the allocation shall take place at the end of the session.

³ A Federal Council report may be allocated directly to the responsible committee. The committee may propose that the Bureau include the report in the session programme.

¹ A parliamentary initiative or procedural request submitted by a member of the Council or parliamentary group shall be examined for its formal legality by the President on its submission.

² The evaluation of formal legality of further items of business submitted in accordance with Article 71 ParlA is only conducted by the President if a corresponding proposal is made. If the item of business is pending in the Federal Assembly, the President of the Council of States shall be consulted.

³ If an item of business is declared inadmissible by the President, the author may appeal to the Bureau. The decision of the Bureau is final.

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 Bureau shall consider removing the item of business from the session programme.

¹ The Council normally convenes as follows:

a.

on the same days as the Council of States in the four ordinary three-week sessions of the Federal Assembly;

b.

at least once every year for a special session of no more than one week provided sufficient items of business are ready for consideration.

² Extraordinary sessions (Art. 2 ParlA) are reserved.

¹ The Council normally sits as follows:

a.

Monday: from 2.30 p.m. to 7.00 p.m.;

b.

Tuesday: from 8.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m.; Tuesday afternoon is reserved for group sittings;

c.

Wednesday: from 8.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. and from 3.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m.;

d.

Thursday: from 8.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. and in the final week of a session from 3.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m.;

e.

On the Friday of the final week of a session: from 8.00 a.m. to 11.00 p.m..

² Evening sittings (from 7.00 p.m. to 10.00 p.m.) are arranged if the workload and the urgency of the business so requires.

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. Petitions and procedural requests from members of the Council and from groups may be listed under a collective heading.

³ The President may give advance notice of the time of elections and votes.

⁴ He or she may add items to the agenda during the sitting, in particular in order to deal with differences, deferred items of business and procedural requests.

¹ The Clerk to the Council shall take the minutes of each sitting in the language of the President. The minutes shall state:

a.

the items of business that have been discussed and deferred;

b.⁴⁰

...

c.

the proposals made;

d.

the result of the votes and elections;

e.⁴¹

the members of the Council who have been excused; if a member of the Council is excused by virtue of Article 57 paragraph 4 letter e, this reason must be stated;

f.

the notices given by the President.

² The President shall approve the minutes.

¹ Notices and proposals made by the President, together with verbal points of order are translated into a second official language by the interpreter.

² Council proceedings are simultaneously translated into all three official languages.

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 Constitution⁴² in order to be accepted;

b.

at the proposal of a member of the Council.

¹ The President shall call persons attending a sitting to order who:

a.

make insulting or irrelevant remarks, exceed their speaking time 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.

¹ The members of the Council shall enter their names on the roll on each day of the session.

² They shall notify the Secretary General of the Federal Assembly, if possible before the sitting, if they are unable to attend.

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 written request to do so to the President.

³ The President normally grants the right to speak in the order of the requests. He or she may however group speakers according to subject matter or in order to facilitate an appropriate exchange of languages or points of view.

⁴ The group spokespersons and the persons submitting formal proposals speak before the other members.

⁵ No one may speak on the same matter more than twice.

⁶ The committee rapporteurs and the representative of the Federal Council are allowed to speak when they request to do so.

¹ At the end of a speech, any member of the Council and the representative of the Federal Council may ask the speaker a brief and precise question on a specific point relating to what he or she has said; they are not permitted to state or justify their point of view.

² The incidental question may only be asked if the speaker consents in response to a corresponding request made by the President.

³ The speaker shall provide an immediate and brief response to the incidental question.

¹ Any member of the Council may make a brief personal statement in order to respond to a comment relating to his or her person or in order to rectify a statement that he or she has made.

² A member who wishes to make a personal statement may speak immediately.

³ The groups may give reasons for their voting intentions in a brief statement before the final vote.

¹ In the introductory debate the speaking times are as follows:

a.

for the committee rapporteurs: 20 minutes in total;

b.

for the representative of the Federal Council: 20 minutes;

c.

for the group spokespersons: ten minutes each;

d.

for the other speakers: five minutes.

² In the other debates the speaking time amounts to five minutes for group spokespersons, persons submitting formal proposals, authors of parliamentary initiatives and procedural requests and individual speakers and the representative of the Federal Council, there is no limit on speaking time.

³ By way of exception, the President may extend the speaking times specified in paragraph 1. In response to a corresponding proposal, the Council may extend the speaking times specified in paragraph 2.

¹ The Council may dispense with an introductory debate, unless a proposal is submitted not to approve introduction.

² It may decide to consider an item of business article by article, in sections or in its entirety.

¹ Items of business shall be considered in one of the following forms:

I:

Open debate

II:

Organised debate

IIIa:⁴³

Group debate

IIIb:⁴⁴

Time limited group debate

IV:

Short debate

V:

Written procedure

² When deciding on the session programme, the Office shall also decide on the form in which items of business should be considered.

³ Irrespective of the form of consideration, the committee rapporteur and the representative of the Federal Council may request the right to speak on an item of business.

⁴ Irrespective of the form of consideration, the author of a parliamentary initiative, a motion or a postulate may provide a verbal statement of reasons for the same. The first person to request its rejection shall also be given the right to speak. An interpellant shall be given the right to speak when the debate has been concluded.⁴⁵

⁵ Irrespective of the form of consideration, during the preliminary examination of a cantonal initiative, a Council member from the canton that is author of the initiative may provide a verbal statement of reasons for the same provided a majority of the canton's members of parliament appoint that Council member to do so.⁴⁶

¹ An organised debate may in particular be held:

a.

for the introductory debate;

b.

for consideration of an interpellation or a report.

² The Bureau shall specify an overall speaking time for the groups and allocate each group a share of this time based on their size in the Council.⁴⁷

³ ...⁴⁸

⁴ The groups shall give notice in good time of how the speaking time available to them will be allocated among the group members.

⁵ The members of the Council that do not belong to a group shall receive an appropriate allocation of the overall speaking time.

¹ In a normal group debate, the right to speak shall be limited to group spokespersons and members proposing amendments. In a time limited group debate, speaking times in the introductory debate in accordance with Article 44 shall be halved for all speakers other than those who fall within Article 44 paragraph 1 letter d.⁵⁰

² In the short debate, only the rapporteurs for the committee minorities shall have the right to speak.

^2bis In a short debate on motions and postulates submitted by members of the Council or groups, the first person to propose the rejection of the procedural request shall be given the right to speak.⁵¹

³ Article 46 paragraphs 3 and 4 are reserved in every case.

¹ In the written procedure, there is no right to request the right to speak.

² Article 46 paragraphs 3 and 4 are reserved in every case.

¹ A proposed amendment must be submitted to the President in writing and normally before the item of business concerned is considered.

² In the case of lengthy and complex deliberations, the President may set a time limit for submitting proposed amendments.

³ He or she shall examine the proposed amendments on their filing to confirm that they fulfil the formal requirements.

⁴ A proposed amendment shall be subject to a preliminary examination by the committee responsible if the committee so requests or the Council so decides.

⁵ Proposed amendments to items of business that will be considered in debate forms I-III may be justified verbally. Proposed amendments to items of business considered in debate forms IV and V may only be justified in writing. Article 46 paragraphs 3 and 4 is reserved.⁵²

⁶ If two or more identical proposals relating to items of business that will be considered in debate forms I-III, then the member who submitted the first proposal shall be given the right to speak. A member who submitted a proposal subsequently may make a brief additional declaration.

¹ The Council shall 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 considered again.

¹ The President shall close the debate if there are no further requests to speak or the time limit for the debate (Art. 47) has expired.

² He or she may propose that the list of speakers be closed, after the group representatives have spoken and reasons have been given for all proposed amendments.

³ After everyone on the list of speakers has spoken, the representative of the Federal Council and then the committee rapporteurs may make a brief response to the speeches given.

The draft of an amendment to these Standing Orders shall be considered on a second occasion, unless the amendment is minor. Following its review by the Drafting Committee, a final vote shall be held.

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 that committee so requests or if the Council so decides.

² The revised text shall be submitted to the Council for approval as a whole.

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.

¹ The vote is normally held using the electronic voting system.

² No member of the Council is obliged to vote.

³ Voting by proxy is not permitted.

⁴ The rapporteurs vote from their desks, and the other members of the Council from their seats.

¹ The electronic voting system counts and stores data on the votes cast at each vote.

² The President announces the result of the vote.

³ The result of the vote is published in the form of a list of names.⁵³

⁴ On the list of names, an indication is given for each member of the Council if he or she:

a.

voted yes;

b.

voted no;

c.

abstained;

d.

did not participate in the vote; or

e.⁵⁴

is excused; a person is excused when he or she has given notice of his or her absence for the entire sitting by the start of the sitting at the latest due to being on business for the standing delegations in accordance with Article 60 ParlA or due to the death of a close relative, maternity or paternity leave, accident or illness.⁵⁵

⁵ ...⁵⁶

If the electronic voting equipment is out of order, voting takes place by roll call.

¹ ...⁶⁰

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 After each response the Secretary General informs the Federal Assembly of the provisional totals of votes.

⁴ The only vote that counts is that cast immediately after the member's name is read out counts.