All regulations in Switzerland must undergo a preliminary regulatory impact assessment (RIA). The greater the expected economic impact of a proposal, the more comprehensive the RIA should be. An in-depth RIA is conducted when the economic relevance is significant. Representatives from various administrative units gather through an annual RIA network to exchange views and discuss current RIA issues.
In Switzerland, the electorate decides on political issues up to four times a year through votes on popular initiatives and optional referendums, particularly for legislative amendments. Thus, the legislative process is geared towards achieving a broad consensus among the key stakeholders. Switzerland is one of the few OECD Members that informs stakeholders of upcoming consultations. Stakeholders can comment on all draft primary laws and major subordinate regulations in public online consultations, which last at least 12 weeks.
The Swiss Constitution enshrines policy evaluation, with ex post evaluations conducted for major regulations. While there are co-ordination mechanisms and support units for evaluation, there are no standardised techniques. A 2023 Federal Act on Reducing Regulatory Cost for Businesses sets a framework for in-depth evaluation of regulations in identified priority sectors through “sectoral studies”.
The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), within the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research, issues guidelines for conducting RIA (the new RIA handbook was published in 2022), provides non-public opinions on the quality of selected RIAs, and promotes international regulatory co-operation. SECO also publishes reports on regulatory costs and business perception surveys of administrative burdens. The Federal Office of Justice and the Federal Chancellery’s Legal and Central Language Services scrutinise legal quality and advise on stakeholder engagement. The Federal Office of Justice provides guidelines for legislative drafting, stakeholder engagement, and ex post evaluation. It also manages the Federal Administration Evaluation Network, an intra-government forum for exchange on evaluation. Parliamentary Committees and the Parliamentary Control of the Administration (PCA) review the quality of some evaluations carried out by the federal administration.
All primary laws/ ▲ Yes ■ Required ● Yes, there is a regulation and a policy
Major primary laws/ ● Yes, there is a regulation
Some primary laws/ ■ Not required but allowed ● Yes, there is a policy
Never/ ▲ No ■ Not allowed