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The Law on Radio and Television (LRTV) adopted by Parliament on 24 March 2006 (see IRIS 2006-4: 8) overhauled the Swiss audiovisual legal regime. To implement the provisions of the law, the Federal Council adopted a new Decree on Radio and Television (DRTV). The Decree entered into force on 1 April 2007. Broadcasters who command neither a share of fees nor guaranteed distribution, will no longer require a licence and will not have to fulfil a service mandate. They will merely be subject to compulsory registration. Private broadcasters now have more advertising options, and the share of the reception...

In a judgment of 21 September 2006, the European Court of Human Rights has come to the conclusion that the Swiss authorities have violated the freedom of expression of a journalist by placing a programme broadcast by the Swiss Public Broadcasting Corporation SSR under a legal embargo. In 1997, the SSR broadcast a critical documentary on the position of Switzerland during the Second World War. The documentary was part of a news programme, entitled “ Temps présent ” (“Present time”), for which the applicant, Daniel Monnat, was then responsible. The programme described...

The Order on promoting the cinema (OECin) enacted by the Département Fédéral de l’Intérieur (Swiss Ministry of the Interior - DFI) has been revised as of 1 July 2006. The changes made to the Order reflect the increased importance the Office Fédéral de la Culture (Swiss Ministry for Culture - OFC) wishes to give to policy on the cinema in Switzerland. The OFC intends to increase its support for the promotion and distribution of films with a view to increasing their presence both in Switzerland and on the international market. The structures for selective encouragement have been reorganised with...

In a judgment of 25 April 2006, the Court unanimously held that the Swiss authorities violated Article 10 of the Convention by convicting a journalist, Viktor Dammann, for inciting an administrative assistant of the public prosecutor’s office to disclose confidential data. The assistant had forwarded data relating to criminal records of suspects in a spectacular robbery. By punishing the journalist in this case, a step had been taken prior to publication and such a sentence would be likely to deter journalists from contributing to public discussion of issues affecting the life of the community....

In December 1996, the Swiss ambassador to the United States drew up a “strategic document”, classified as “confidential”, concerning the possible strategies regarding the compensation due to Holocaust victims for unclaimed assets deposited in Swiss banks. The document was sent to the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in Berne and to a limited list of other persons. Martin Stoll, a journalist working for Sonntags-Zeitung , also obtained a copy of this document, probably as a result of a breach of professional confidence by one of the initial recipients of such a copy....