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The desire to safeguard a strong public audiovisual service throughout Switzerland and the overwhelmingly positive assessment of the service provided by the Schweizerische Radio- und Fernsehgesellschaft (Swiss Broadcasting Corporation - SRG) were, according to a representative survey, the main reasons for the recent rejection of a popular initiative entitled “Yes to the abolition of radio and television licence fees (abolition of Billag fees)”. In the referendum on 4 March 2018, only 28.4% (833,630 people) voted to amend Article 93 of the Bundesverfassung (Federal Constitution), while 71.6% (2,098,139...

In a case against Switzerland, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) strongly emphasised the right of a non-governmental organisation (NGO) to use robust language on its website to criticise a politician, and to label his discourse as racist speech. The NGO had posted a blog post during the heated political debate on the referendum on banning the construction of minarets in Switzerland, in which it referred to B.K., the president of a local branch of the Young Swiss People’s Party (JSVP). In a public speech, B.K. had said that the Swiss guiding culture (“schweizerische Leitkultur”) was based...

On 19 December 2017 the Federal Department for the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication (DETEC) circulated the draft of the new licence for the Swiss public broadcasting company (Société Suisse de Radiodiffusion et Télévision - SSR). The draft implements the recommendations made on 17 June 2016 by the Federal Council in its report on public service broadcasting (see IRIS 2016-8:1/6). The new licence increases the demands made of the SSR in the fields of information, culture, training, entertainment and sport. In particular, the draft stipulates that expenditure devoted to news should...

On 22 November 2017, the Bundesrat (Federal Council) adopted a bill amending the Swiss Copyright Act. The bill was based on a compromise agreed upon by the AGUR12 working group in March of this year. Various pressure groups are represented in the working group, which includes creative artists, producers, cultural intermediaries and consumers. The bill is yet to be voted on in parliament. The Bundesrat hopes that, by adopting the draft, it will be able to take resolute action against illegal piracy websites in order to strengthen the rights and interests of creative artists and the cultural industry....

With the development of transmission techniques allowing ever faster access to the Internet, the telecoms world has seen unprecedented upheaval in recent years. In 2014, the Federal Council published a report on this trend, presenting the current state of the Swiss telecoms market. The report covered developments in international roaming, the protection of consumers and young people, and the neutrality of the Internet. The Federal Council noted that many issues were not adequately provided for in the current legislation, and that it therefore needed to be revised. The Federal Council then drew...