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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...

Through a recent landmark judgment, the Swiss Bundesgericht (Federal Tribunal) strengthened the principle of public court proceedings and the right of the media to effectively monitor the judicial system. The court unanimously upheld a complaint lodged by four journalists following their exclusion from a criminal trial concerning the attempted murder of a man by his wife’s lover. The Zürcher Obergericht (Zurich High Court) had banned the media (and other members of the public) from attending the proceedings and the subsequent sentencing on the grounds that the victim and his two children might...

On 14 June 2015 the Swiss population approved a change in the Federal Law on Radio and Television (LRTV) with a view to introducing a new system of collecting the licence fee (see IRIS 2015-7/5). The purpose of this revision of the legislation was to replace the former licence fee, based on possession of a radio or television, by an audiovisual licence fee now payable by all households and certain companies. The audiovisual licence fee makes it possible to adapt the legal framework to technological developments, since radio and television programmes can now be received almost anywhere at any time,...

The Swiss Confederation’s cinematographic policy aims to encourage the creation of films as well as to enhance the diversity and quality of what is on offer. Because of the country’s linguistic and cultural pluralism, the cinema market in Switzerland is fragmented; it is not big enough to develop in a standard market economy. Measures aimed at promoting cinematographic diversity therefore ensure that a variety of films are on offer throughout the country. To achieve this, Article 19 (2) of the Cinema Act (Loi sur le Cinéma - LCin) requires those companies wishing to screen a film for the first...

On 17 June 2016 the Federal Council published a much awaited report on the public-service electronic media. The report will be discussed in the Federal Parliament in the autumn, in a particularly tense political climate as the Swiss broadcasting company (Société Suisse de Radiodiffusion et Télévision - SSR) is being severely criticised regarding its funding and its mission as a public-service broadcaster. The report begins by analysing the evolution of the audiovisual public service and the offer and consumption of electronic media in Switzerland. It also presents the technological, economic, legal,...