Ordinance
to the Federal Act on the Privileges, Immunities and
Facilities and the Financial Subsidies
granted by Switzerland as a Host State
(Host State Ordinance, HSO)

¹ This Or­din­ance lays down the im­ple­ment­ing rules for the HSA. It de­term­ines in par­tic­u­lar:

a.

the scope of the priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies which may be gran­ted to the dif­fer­ent types of in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary con­cerned;

b.

the con­di­tions of entry, res­id­ence and work on Swiss ter­rit­ory for in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciar­ies;

c.

the pro­ced­ure for the ac­quis­i­tion of land and build­ings by in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciar­ies;

d.

the rules gov­ern­ing the grant­ing of fin­an­cial sub­sidies and oth­er sup­port meas­ures.

² The con­di­tions of entry, res­id­ence and work for private house­hold em­ploy­ees are laid down in the Or­din­ance of 6 June 2011² on Private House­hold Em­ploy­ees.³

A per­man­ent mis­sion or oth­er rep­res­ent­a­tion to in­ter­gov­ern­ment­al or­gan­isa­tions means in par­tic­u­lar:

a.

the per­man­ent mis­sions to the United Na­tions Of­fice or to oth­er in­ter­gov­ern­ment­al or­gan­isa­tions, in­clud­ing the per­man­ent mis­sions to the World Trade Or­gan­iz­a­tion;

b.

the per­man­ent rep­res­ent­a­tions to the Con­fer­ence on Dis­arm­a­ment;

c.⁴

the per­man­ent del­eg­a­tions of in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciar­ies un­der Art­icle 2 para­graph 1 let­ters a, b, i and k HSA at inter­gov­ern­ment­al or­gan­isa­tions;

d.

ob­serv­er bur­eaux.

A spe­cial mis­sion with­in the mean­ing of the Con­ven­tion of 8 Decem­ber 1969⁵ on Spe­cial Mis­sions in­cludes:

a.

tem­por­ary mis­sions com­posed of rep­res­ent­at­ives of a State sent to Switzer­land in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 2 of the Con­ven­tion of 8 Decem­ber 1969 on Spe­cial Mis­sions;

b.

tem­por­ary mis­sions com­posed of rep­res­ent­at­ives of States in con­nec­tion with meet­ings between two or more States in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 18 of the Con­ven­tion of 8 Decem­ber 1969 on Spe­cial Mis­sions;

c.

tem­por­ary mis­sions com­posed of rep­res­ent­at­ives of a State and of non-State rep­res­ent­at­ives in con­nec­tion with the ex­er­cise of Swiss good of­fices.

A prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary is an in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary as re­ferred to in Art­icle 2 para­graph 2 let­ters a and b, HSA.

Mem­bers of loc­al staff are per­sons em­ployed by a State to per­form of­fi­cial du­ties with­in the mean­ing of the Vi­enna Con­ven­tion of 18 April 1961⁶ on Dip­lo­mat­ic Re­la­tions, the Vi­enna Con­ven­tion of 24 April 1963⁷ on Con­su­lar Re­la­tions, or the Con­ven­tion of 8 Decem­ber 1969⁸ on Spe­cial Mis­sions, but who do not form part of the trans­fer­able staff of the send­ing State. These per­sons may be na­tion­als of the send­ing State or of an­oth­er State. They gen­er­ally per­form the du­ties of ser­vice staff with­in the mean­ing of the afore­men­tioned Con­ven­tions but may also per­form oth­er du­ties re­ferred to in those Con­ven­tions.

¹ The fol­low­ing in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciar­ies are ac­cor­ded all, or, in agree­ment with the in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary con­cerned, only cer­tain of the priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies set out in Art­icle 3 HSA in ac­cord­ance with in­ter­na­tion­al law and in­ter­na­tion­al prac­tice:⁹

a.

in­ter­gov­ern­ment­al or­gan­isa­tions;

b.

in­ter­na­tion­al in­sti­tu­tions;

c.

dip­lo­mat­ic mis­sions;

d.

con­su­lar posts;

e.

per­man­ent mis­sions or oth­er rep­res­ent­a­tions to in­ter­gov­ern­ment­al or­gan­isa­tions;

f.

spe­cial mis­sions;

g.

in­ter­na­tion­al con­fer­ences;

h.

sec­ret­ari­ats or oth­er bod­ies es­tab­lished un­der an in­ter­na­tion­al treaty;

i.

in­de­pend­ent com­mis­sions;

j.

in­ter­na­tion­al courts;

k.

ar­bit­ra­tion tribunals.

² Dip­lo­mat­ic mis­sions and per­man­ent mis­sions or oth­er rep­res­ent­a­tions to in­ter­gov­ern­ment­al or­gan­isa­tions are gov­erned in par­tic­u­lar by the Vi­enna Con­ven­tion of 18 April 1961¹⁰ on Dip­lo­mat­ic Re­la­tions.

³ Con­su­lar posts are gov­erned in par­tic­u­lar by the Vi­enna Con­ven­tion of 24 April 1963¹¹ on Con­su­lar Re­la­tions.

⁴ Spe­cial mis­sions are gov­erned in par­tic­u­lar by the Con­ven­tion of 8 Decem­ber 1969¹² on Spe­cial Mis­sions.

⁵ Priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies are gran­ted to in­de­pend­ent com­mis­sions for the sched­uled dur­a­tion of their activ­ity. The grant­ing of priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies may be ex­ten­ded for a lim­ited peri­od if the cir­cum­stances so war­rant, in par­tic­u­lar if the in­de­pend­ent com­mis­sion’s man­date is ex­ten­ded or if it re­quires ad­di­tion­al time to draw up and pub­lish its re­port.

Quasi-gov­ern­ment­al in­ter­na­tion­al or­gan­isa­tions are ac­cor­ded some or all of the fol­low­ing priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies:

a.

in­vi­ol­ab­il­ity of archives;

b.

ex­emp­tion from dir­ect taxes;

c.

ex­emp­tion from in­dir­ect taxes;

d.

free­dom to ac­quire, re­ceive, hold, trans­fer and con­vert funds, cur­ren­cies, cash and oth­er mov­able as­sets.

¹ Oth­er in­ter­na­tion­al bod­ies may be ac­cor­ded all of the priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies set out in Art­icle 3 HSA.

² In de­term­in­ing the scope of the priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies to be ac­cor­ded in each case, the Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall take in­to ac­count in par­tic­u­lar the struc­ture of the body con­cerned and its con­nec­tions to the in­ter­gov­ern­ment­al or­gan­isa­tions, in­ter­na­tion­al in­sti­tu­tions, or States with which it works, as well as its role in inter­na­tion­al re­la­tions and its in­ter­na­tion­al prom­in­ence.

³ Sub­ject to any spe­cial pro­vi­sions con­tained in a headquar­ters agree­ment entered in­to with the Fed­er­al Coun­cil or in any oth­er in­ter­na­tion­al treaty to which Switzer­land is party, oth­er in­ter­na­tion­al bod­ies may be hos­ted by an in­ter­gov­ern­ment­al or­gan­isa­tion or by an in­ter­na­tion­al in­sti­tu­tion only with the con­sent of the Fed­er­al De­part­ment of For­eign Af­fairs (FD­FA).

¹ The priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies ac­cor­ded to in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciar­ies are gran­ted in the in­terest of the in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciar­ies con­cerned and not that of the in­di­vidu­als them­selves. Their pur­pose is not to con­fer any be­ne­fit on in­di­vidu­als but to en­able the in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciar­ies to carry out their work ef­fect­ively.

² In the case of the in­di­vidu­als re­ferred to in Art­icle 2 para­graph 2 let­ters a and b HSA, the priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies are con­di­tion­al on the FD­FA hav­ing es­tab­lished that those in­di­vidu­als are genu­inely en­gaged in of­fi­cial du­ties. In the case of the per­sons re­ferred to in Art­icle 2 para­graph 2, let­ter c HSA, they are con­di­tion­al on the au­thor­isa­tion gran­ted them by the FD­FA to ac­com­pany the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary.

³ All ques­tions re­lat­ing to a de­term­in­a­tion as to wheth­er an in­di­vidu­al is genu­inely en­gaged in of­fi­cial du­ties, an au­thor­isa­tion to ac­com­pany a prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary, the scope of priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies that ap­ply, and all oth­er ques­tions con­cern­ing the leg­al status in Switzer­land of in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciar­ies, are re­solved in ac­cord­ance with dip­lo­mat­ic prac­tice between the FD­FA and the in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary con­cerned and without the in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary be­ing in­volved in any way.

The scope of the priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies ac­cor­ded to in­di­vidu­als who, wheth­er on a per­man­ent or a tem­por­ary basis, are called to act in an of­fi­cial ca­pa­city at any of the in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciar­ies re­ferred to in Art­icle 6 para­graph 1 is de­term­ined on the basis of the cat­egory of staff to which they be­long in ac­cord­ance with in­ter­na­tion­al law and in­ter­na­tion­al prac­tice. In­di­vidu­als shall be as­signed to the dif­fer­ent cat­egor­ies provided for un­der in­ter­na­tion­al law.

¹ In the case of in­ter­gov­ern­ment­al or­gan­isa­tions, in­ter­na­tion­al in­sti­tu­tions, inter­na­tion­al con­fer­ences, sec­ret­ari­ats or oth­er bod­ies es­tab­lished un­der an in­ter­na­tion­al treaty, in­de­pend­ent com­mis­sions and oth­er in­ter­na­tion­al bod­ies, the cat­egor­ies of in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary are in par­tic­u­lar the fol­low­ing:

a.

mem­bers of seni­or man­age­ment;

b.

high-rank­ing of­fi­cials;

c.

oth­er of­fi­cials;

d.

rep­res­ent­at­ives of the or­gan­isa­tion’s mem­bers;

e.

ex­perts and all oth­er per­sons act­ing in an of­fi­cial ca­pa­city for these in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciar­ies;

f.

per­sons en­titled to ac­com­pany any of the in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciar­ies re­ferred to in let­ters a to e.

² In the case of in­ter­na­tion­al courts and ar­bit­ra­tion tribunals, the cat­egor­ies of in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary, in ad­di­tion to the cat­egor­ies spe­cified in para­graph 1 above, are in par­tic­u­lar the fol­low­ing:

a.

judges;

b.

pro­sec­utors, deputy pro­sec­utors, and pro­sec­u­tion ser­vice staff;

c.

re­gis­trars, deputy re­gis­trars, and re­gistry staff;

d.

de­fence coun­sel, wit­nesses and vic­tims;

e.

ar­bit­rat­ors;

f.

per­sons en­titled to ac­com­pany any of the in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciar­ies re­ferred to in let­ters a to e.

³ In the case of dip­lo­mat­ic mis­sions, con­su­lar posts, per­man­ent mis­sions and oth­er rep­res­ent­a­tions to in­ter­gov­ern­ment­al or­gan­isa­tions, and spe­cial mis­sions, the cat­egor­ies of in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary are in par­tic­u­lar the fol­low­ing:

a.

mem­bers of dip­lo­mat­ic staff;

b.

mem­bers of ad­min­is­trat­ive and tech­nic­al staff;

c.

mem­bers of ser­vice staff;

d.

con­su­lar of­ficers;

e.

con­su­lar em­ploy­ees;

f.

mem­bers of loc­al staff;

g.

per­sons en­titled to ac­com­pany any of the in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciar­ies re­ferred to in let­ters a to f.

¹ In­di­vidu­als who, wheth­er on a per­man­ent or a tem­por­ary basis, are called to act in an of­fi­cial ca­pa­city at a quasi-gov­ern­ment­al in­ter­na­tion­al or­gan­isa­tion and who are not Swiss na­tion­als are ac­cor­ded some or all of the fol­low­ing priv­ileges and im­munit­ies for the dur­a­tion of their ser­vice:

a.

ex­emp­tion from dir­ect taxes on the salar­ies, emolu­ments and al­low­ances paid to them by the quasi-gov­ern­ment­al in­ter­na­tion­al or­gan­isa­tion;

b.

ex­emp­tion from taxes on lump sums re­ceived on any grounds from a pen­sion scheme or oth­er provid­ent fund, as at the time of such pay­ment; the tax ex­emp­tion does not however cov­er in­come earned on such sums or as­sets in which they are in­ves­ted, or pen­sions and an­nu­it­ies paid to former staff by the quasi-gov­ern­ment­al in­ter­na­tion­al or­gan­isa­tion con­cerned;

c.

ex­emp­tion from Swiss entry and res­id­ence re­quire­ments.

² Mem­bers of the gen­er­al as­sembly, found­a­tion board, ex­ec­ut­ive board or oth­er gov­ern­ing body of a quasi-gov­ern­ment­al in­ter­na­tion­al or­gan­isa­tion may be gran­ted im­munity from crim­in­al, civil and ad­min­is­trat­ive pro­ceed­ings for acts per­formed in their of­fi­cial ca­pa­city as well as in­vi­ol­ab­il­ity for their doc­u­ments.

The scope of the priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies ac­cor­ded to in­di­vidu­als who, wheth­er on a per­man­ent or a tem­por­ary basis, are called to act in an of­fi­cial ca­pa­city at oth­er in­ter­na­tion­al bod­ies shall be de­term­ined on the basis of the priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies that the Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall grant to the oth­er in­ter­na­tion­al body con­cerned, pur­su­ant to Art­icle 8 above, and on the basis of the cat­egory of staff to which they be­long.

Em­in­ent per­sons car­ry­ing out an in­ter­na­tion­al man­date may be ac­cor­ded all of the priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies set out in Art­icle 3 HSA. The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall de­term­ine the scope of the priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies ac­cord­ing to the cir­cum­stances of each par­tic­u­lar case.

¹ Priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies are gran­ted to in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciar­ies for the dur­a­tion of their of­fi­cial du­ties.

² Priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies ac­cor­ded to ac­com­pa­ny­ing per­sons ex­pire at the same time as those ac­cor­ded to the per­son they ac­com­pany, un­less oth­er­wise provided for in this Or­din­ance (Chapter 3).

³ Priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies ac­cor­ded to private house­hold em­ploy­ees come to an end on ex­piry of the peri­od dur­ing which private house­hold em­ploy­ees may seek a new em­ploy­er in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 13 of the Or­din­ance of 6 June 2011¹³ on Private House­hold Em­ploy­ees.¹⁴

⁴ The FD­FA shall de­term­ine case by case wheth­er, at the end of the peri­od of ser­vice and in ac­cord­ance with in­ter­na­tion­al prac­tice, to ac­cord a lim­ited ex­ten­sion of time (cour­tesy peri­od) in or­der to give those con­cerned time to make ar­range­ments for their de­par­ture.

¹ When cross­ing the bor­der to take up his or her du­ties, an in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary must be in pos­ses­sion of a re­cog­nised iden­tity doc­u­ment and, where ap­plic­able, a visa.

² A re­quest must be made to the FD­FA by the in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary con­cerned in or­der for the in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary to be al­lowed take up his or her du­ties.

¹ The FD­FA shall is­sue le­git­im­a­tion cards to the fol­low­ing per­sons:

a.

mem­bers of the staff of in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciar­ies es­tab­lished in Switzer­land who are en­titled to priv­ileges and im­munit­ies and per­sons en­titled to ac­com­pany such per­sons;

b.

mem­bers of the staff of in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciar­ies es­tab­lished in Switzer­land who are not en­titled to any im­munit­ies, and per­sons en­titled to ac­com­pany such per­sons, provided the in­sti­tu­tion­al priv­ileges in­clude an ex­emp­tion from the res­id­ence re­quire­ments un­der Art­icle 3 para­graph 1 let­ter i HSA and provided the per­sons are not Swiss cit­izens and that on com­mence­ment of their em­ploy­ment they did not hold a val­id res­id­ence per­mit, per­man­ent res­id­ence per­mit or cross-bor­der com­muter per­mit.

² It shall de­term­ine the ad­di­tion­al re­quire­ments for is­su­ing the card and vari­ous forms of le­git­im­a­tion cards.

³ The le­git­im­a­tion card is­sued by the FD­FA serves as a res­id­ence per­mit for Switzer­land, con­firms any priv­ileges and im­munit­ies to which the hold­er is en­titled and ex­empts the be­ne­fi­ciary from the visa ob­lig­a­tion for the dur­a­tion of his or her of­fi­cial du­ties.

⁴ Be­ne­fi­ciar­ies hold­ing a le­git­im­a­tion card is­sued by the FD­FA who are not Swiss cit­izens are ex­emp­ted from the ob­lig­a­tion to re­gister with their can­ton­al res­id­ents’ re­gistry. They may however re­gister vol­un­tar­ily.

¹ In­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciar­ies are en­titled, in ac­cord­ance with in­ter­na­tion­al law, to de­term­ine the terms of em­ploy­ment of their staff.

² Mem­bers of dip­lo­mat­ic mis­sions, of con­su­lar posts, of per­man­ent mis­sions or oth­er rep­res­ent­a­tions to in­ter­gov­ern­ment­al or­gan­isa­tions and of spe­cial mis­sions who are Swiss na­tion­als or are per­man­ently res­id­ent in Switzer­land at the com­mence­ment of their func­tion are sub­ject to Swiss em­ploy­ment law. Any choice-of-law clause provid­ing for the ap­plic­a­tion of the law of a for­eign State shall have ef­fect only to the ex­tent per­mit­ted un­der Swiss law.

³ Mem­bers of the loc­al staff of dip­lo­mat­ic mis­sions, of con­su­lar posts, of per­man­ent mis­sions or oth­er rep­res­ent­a­tions to in­ter­gov­ern­ment­al or­gan­isa­tions, and of spe­cial mis­sions, are sub­ject to Swiss em­ploy­ment law ir­re­spect­ive of where they were en­gaged. A choice-of-law clause provid­ing for the ap­plic­a­tion of the law of a for­eign State is pos­sible if per­mit­ted un­der Swiss law. If a mem­ber of the loc­al staff is a na­tion­al of the send­ing State and was en­gaged in that State, the em­ploy­ment re­la­tion­ship may be made sub­ject to the law of the rel­ev­ant State.¹⁶

In­so­far as the in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary as em­ploy­er is not, un­der in­ter­na­tion­al law, sub­ject to ob­lig­at­ory Swiss so­cial se­cur­ity le­gis­la­tion and the mem­bers of the staff of the in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary are not sub­ject to that le­gis­la­tion, the in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary shall de­term­ine the so­cial pro­tec­tion ar­range­ments for its staff in ac­cord­ance with in­ter­na­tion­al law and shall op­er­ate a so­cial se­cur­ity scheme of its own.

¹ The fol­low­ing per­sons are en­titled to ac­com­pany the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary and en­joy the same priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies if liv­ing to­geth­er in the same house­hold:

a.

the spouse of the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary;

b.

the same-sex part­ner of the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary if the part­ner­ship has been re­gistered in Switzer­land or un­der an equi­val­ent for­eign pro­vi­sion or if the part­ner is treated by the in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary con­cerned as an of­fi­cial part­ner or as a de­pend­ent;

c.

the co­hab­it­ing part­ner of the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary (which with­in the mean­ing of Swiss law is a per­son of the op­pos­ite sex not mar­ried to the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary) if the co­hab­it­ing part­ner is treated by the in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary con­cerned as an of­fi­cial part­ner or as a de­pend­ent;

d.

the un­mar­ried chil­dren up to the age of 25 of the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary;

e.

the un­mar­ried chil­dren up to the age of 25 of the spouse, or of the same-sex part­ner, or of the co­hab­it­ing part­ner, if of­fi­cially in that per­son’s care.

² The fol­low­ing per­sons may, by way of ex­cep­tion, be au­thor­ised by the FD­FA to ac­com­pany a prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary if they live to­geth­er in the same house­hold; they shall be is­sued with a le­git­im­a­tion card but shall not be ac­cor­ded priv­ileges, im­munit­ies or fa­cil­it­ies:

a.

the same-sex part­ner of the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary if he or she is not re­cog­nised by the in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary con­cerned as an of­fi­cial part­ner or as a de­pend­ent but the ap­plic­a­tion for a res­id­ence per­mit is non­ethe­less sub­mit­ted by the in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary and the re­la­tion­ship can be shown to be long-stand­ing, and if it is not pos­sible for the couple to re­gister their part­ner­ship un­der Swiss law or un­der the law of an­oth­er State;

b.

the co­hab­it­ing part­ner of the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary if the co­hab­it­ing part­ner is not re­cog­nised by the in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary con­cerned as an of­fi­cial part­ner or as a de­pend­ent but the ap­plic­a­tion for a res­id­ence per­mit is non­ethe­less sub­mit­ted by the in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary and the re­la­tion­ship can be shown to be long-stand­ing;

c.

the un­mar­ried chil­dren over the age of 25 of the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary if they are in his or her sole care;

d.

the un­mar­ried chil­dren over the age of 25 of the spouse, or of the same-sex part­ner, or of the co­hab­it­ing part­ner, if they are in the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary's sole care;

e.

the as­cend­ants of the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary or of his or her spouse, same-sex part­ner, or co­hab­it­ing part­ner with­in the mean­ing of para­graph 1, if they are in the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary's sole care;

f.

in ex­cep­tion­al cases, oth­er per­sons in the sole care of the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary if it is not pos­sible for them to be en­trus­ted to the care of a third party in the coun­try of ori­gin (cases of force ma­jeure).

^2bis An ex­emp­tion from the re­quire­ment of liv­ing in the same house­hold with the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary may be gran­ted:

a.

to per­sons un­der para­graph 1 let­ters d and e and 2 let­ters c and d: if they are res­id­ent abroad for the pur­pose of their stud­ies;

b.

to per­sons un­der para­graphs 1 and 2: on ap­plic­a­tion by the rel­ev­ant in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary for a max­im­um dur­a­tion of one year if the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary who is em­ployed by an in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary un­der Art­icle 2 para­graph 1 let­ters a, b and i HSA moves to a place of work for pro­fes­sion­al reas­ons where the con­stant pres­ence of their fam­ily is not pos­sible or de­sir­able for se­cur­ity reas­ons and the fam­ily must for these reas­ons forgo liv­ing to­geth­er;

c.

to per­sons un­der para­graph 1 let­ters a and b: dur­ing the di­vorce, sep­ar­a­tion, or mar­riage pro­tec­tion or pro­ceed­ings for the ju­di­cial dis­sol­u­tion of the re­gistered part­ner­ship of the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary; dur­ing this peri­od liv­ing in the same house­hold is not re­quired either for chil­dren un­der para­graph 1 let­ters d and e if they are in the cus­tody of the rel­ev­ant per­son un­der para­graph 1 let­ter a or b, or for chil­dren un­der para­graph 2 let­ters c and d; the pro­vi­sions of Swiss tax law re­main re­served.¹⁷

³ Private house­hold em­ploy­ees may be au­thor­ised by the FD­FA to ac­com­pany a prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary if they sat­is­fy the re­quire­ments laid down in the Or­din­ance of 6 June 2011¹⁸ on Private House­hold Em­ploy­ees.¹⁹

⁴ Au­thor­isa­tion for the per­sons re­ferred to in this Art­icle to ac­com­pany a prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary must be sought pri­or to the entry in­to Switzer­land of such per­sons.

⁵ The FD­FA shall de­term­ine case by case wheth­er a per­son wish­ing to ac­com­pany a prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary sat­is­fies the re­quire­ments of this art­icle. All ques­tions arising there­from shall be re­solved in ac­cord­ance with dip­lo­mat­ic prac­tice between the FD­FA and the in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary con­cerned and without the in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary be­ing in­volved in any way.

¹ Per­sons who are called to act in an of­fi­cial ca­pa­city at an in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary must as rule per­form their of­fi­cial du­ties on a full-time basis. This is without pre­ju­dice to the spe­cial pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing hon­or­ary con­suls un­der the Vi­enna Con­ven­tion of 24 April 1963²⁰ on Con­su­lar Re­la­tions, and those gov­ern­ing per­sons whose du­ties are lim­ited to a spe­cif­ic man­date, such as law­yers en­gaged in pro­ceed­ings be­fore in­ter­na­tion­al courts or ar­bit­ra­tion tribunals.

² Per­sons who are called to act in an of­fi­cial ca­pa­city at an in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary may, by way of ex­cep­tion, be au­thor­ised by the rel­ev­ant can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies to carry out a sec­ond­ary gain­ful activ­ity for up to ten hours a week, provided that they are liv­ing in Switzer­land and the activ­ity con­cerned is not in­com­pat­ible with the per­form­ance of their of­fi­cial du­ties. The de­cision of the can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies shall be taken in agree­ment with the FD­FA.

³ Teach­ing a spe­cial­ised sub­ject may, in par­tic­u­lar, con­sti­tute an ac­cept­able sec­ond­ary activ­ity, but any activ­ity of a com­mer­cial nature, inter alia, shall be deemed in­com­pat­ible with the per­form­ance of the per­son’s of­fi­cial du­ties.

⁴ Per­sons who are called to act in an of­fi­cial ca­pa­city at an in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary and who en­gage in a sec­ond­ary gain­ful activ­ity do not en­joy priv­ileges or im­munit­ies of any kind in re­spect of that activ­ity. In par­tic­u­lar, they have no im­munity from crim­in­al, civil and ad­min­is­trat­ive pro­ceed­ings or from ex­e­cu­tion of any judg­ment or sen­tence arising in re­la­tion to the sec­ond­ary gain­ful activ­ity.²¹

⁵ Such per­sons are sub­ject to Swiss law in re­la­tion to the sec­ond­ary gain­ful activ­ity; in par­tic­u­lar, un­less oth­er­wise provided for un­der a bi­lat­er­al con­ven­tion on so­cial se­cur­ity, in re­la­tion to the sec­ond­ary gain­ful activ­ity they are sub­ject to the Swiss le­gis­la­tion on:

a.

old-age, sur­viv­ors‘ and in­valid­ity in­sur­ance;

b.

ac­ci­dent in­sur­ance;

c.

loss of earn­ings com­pens­a­tion;

d.

fam­ily al­low­ances;

e.

un­em­ploy­ment in­sur­ance; and

f.

ma­ter­nity in­sur­ance.²²

⁶ In­come from the sec­ond­ary gain­ful activ­ity must be taxed in Switzer­land un­less a bi­lat­er­al double tax­a­tion agree­ment provides oth­er­wise.²³

¹ The fol­low­ing per­sons have fa­cil­it­ated ac­cess to em­ploy­ment in Switzer­land for the dur­a­tion of the func­tion of the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary if they are en­titled, in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 20 para­graph 1, to ac­com­pany the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary and if they are liv­ing in Switzer­land and in the same house­hold as the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary:

a.

the spouse of the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary with­in the mean­ing of Art­icle 20 para­graph 1 let­ter a;

b.

the same-sex part­ner of the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary with­in the mean­ing of Art­icle 20 para­graph 1 let­ter b;

c.

the co­hab­it­ing part­ner of the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary with­in the mean­ing of Art­icle 20 para­graph 1 let­ter c;

d.

the un­mar­ried chil­dren of the prin­cip­al in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary, with­in the mean­ing of Art­icle 20 para­graph 1 let­ter d if they entered Switzer­land as au­thor­ised ac­com­pa­ny­ing per­sons be­fore the age of 21; they are en­titled to fa­cil­it­ated ac­cess to em­ploy­ment un­til the age of 25, after which they must take the ne­ces­sary steps to en­sure that their res­id­ence and em­ploy­ment situ­ations are in ac­cord­ance with the le­gis­la­tion gov­ern­ing the res­id­ence and es­tab­lish­ment of non-na­tion­als;

e.

the un­mar­ried chil­dren of the spouse, same-sex part­ner or co­hab­it­ing part­ner, with­in the mean­ing of Art­icle 20 para­graph 1 let­ter e if they entered Switzer­land as au­thor­ised ac­com­pa­ny­ing per­sons be­fore the age of 21; they are en­titled to fa­cil­it­ated ac­cess to em­ploy­ment un­til the age of 25, after which they must take the ne­ces­sary steps to en­sure that their res­id­ence and em­ploy­ment situ­ations are in ac­cord­ance with the le­gis­la­tion gov­ern­ing the res­id­ence and es­tab­lish­ment of non-na­tion­als.

² To fa­cil­it­ate their ac­cess to em­ploy­ment, the FD­FA shall, on re­quest, is­sue to the per­sons re­ferred to in para­graph 1 a doc­u­ment cer­ti­fy­ing to po­ten­tial em­ploy­ers that the in­di­vidu­al con­cerned is not sub­ject to the quota on for­eign work­ers, or to the prin­ciple of pri­or­ity re­cruit­ment areas, or to la­bour mar­ket reg­u­la­tions (prin­ciple of pri­or­ity pref­er­ence for res­id­ents, and ex ante vet­ting of pay and con­di­tions).

³ Per­sons with­in the scope of para­graph 1 who en­gage in gain­ful activ­ity shall, on sub­mis­sion of a con­tract of em­ploy­ment, an of­fer of em­ploy­ment, or a de­clar­a­tion to the ef­fect that they in­tend to en­gage in a self-em­ployed activ­ity to­geth­er with a de­scrip­tion of that activ­ity, be is­sued by the can­ton­al au­thor­ity con­cerned with a spe­cial res­id­ence per­mit, known as a ‘Ci per­mit’, in place of their le­git­im­a­tion card. A self-em­ployed activ­ity may be car­ried out only after the Ci per­mit-hold­er has been au­thor­ised by the com­pet­ent au­thor­it­ies to carry out the pro­fes­sion or oc­cu­pa­tion in ques­tion.

⁴ Per­sons with­in the scope of para­graph 1 who en­gage in gain­ful activ­ity in Switzer­land are sub­ject to Swiss law in re­la­tion to that activ­ity. In par­tic­u­lar, they en­joy no priv­ileges or im­munit­ies in re­la­tion to that activ­ity.²⁴

⁵ Un­less a so­cial in­sur­ance agree­ment provides oth­er­wise, they are sub­ject to the Swiss le­gis­la­tion on:

a.

old-age, sur­viv­ors‘ and in­valid­ity in­sur­ance;

b.

ac­ci­dent in­sur­ance;

c.

loss of earn­ings com­pens­a­tion;

d.

fam­ily al­low­ances;

e.

un­em­ploy­ment in­sur­ance; and

f.

ma­ter­nity in­sur­ance.²⁵

⁶ In­come from the sec­ond­ary gain­ful activ­ity must be taxed in Switzer­land un­less a bi­lat­er­al double tax­a­tion agree­ment provides oth­er­wise.²⁶

⁷ The FD­FA shall oth­er­wise reg­u­late im­ple­ment­a­tion in con­sulta­tion with the State Sec­ret­ari­at for Mi­gra­tion.²⁷

¹ Without pre­ju­dice to the priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies arising dir­ectly un­der in­ter­na­tion­al law, the Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall de­term­ine case by case the priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies to be gran­ted to in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciar­ies and per­sons who are called to act in an of­fi­cial ca­pa­city at such in­sti­tu­tions, to em­in­ent per­sons car­ry­ing out an in­ter­na­tion­al man­date, and to the per­sons re­ferred to in Art­icle 20.

² The FD­FA is em­powered to grant priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies and to enter in­to in­ter­na­tion­al agree­ments for that pur­pose, where the dur­a­tion of the in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary’s activ­ity does not ex­ceed one year to:

a.

spe­cial mis­sions, per­sons called to act in an of­fi­cial ca­pa­city at such spe­cial mis­sions, and per­sons en­titled to ac­com­pany such per­sons;

b.

in­ter­na­tion­al con­fer­ences, per­sons called to act in an of­fi­cial ca­pa­city at such in­ter­na­tion­al con­fer­ences, and per­sons en­titled to ac­com­pany such per­sons.

¹ Dip­lo­mat­ic mis­sions, con­su­lar posts, and per­man­ent mis­sions or oth­er rep­res­ent­a­tions to in­ter­gov­ern­ment­al or­gan­isa­tions, the mem­bers of such rep­res­ent­a­tions and per­sons en­titled to ac­com­pany such mem­bers be­come auto­mat­ic­ally en­titled in ac­cord­ance with in­ter­na­tion­al law and in­ter­na­tion­al prac­tice to priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies on be­ing au­thor­ised by the FD­FA to es­tab­lish them­selves in Switzer­land.

² The priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies of the fol­low­ing in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciar­ies, of the per­sons called to act in an of­fi­cial ca­pa­city at such in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciar­ies, and of the per­sons en­titled to ac­com­pany such per­sons are gran­ted by way of an agree­ment to that ef­fect entered in­to between the Fed­er­al Coun­cil and the in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary con­cerned, or ex­cep­tion­ally by uni­lat­er­al de­cision of the Fed­er­al Coun­cil:²⁸

a.

in­ter­gov­ern­ment­al or­gan­isa­tions;

b.

in­ter­na­tion­al in­sti­tu­tions;

c.

quasi-gov­ern­ment­al in­ter­na­tion­al or­gan­isa­tions;

d.

sec­ret­ari­ats or oth­er bod­ies es­tab­lished un­der an in­ter­na­tion­al treaty;

e.

in­ter­na­tion­al courts;

f.

ar­bit­ra­tion tribunals.

³ The priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies of the fol­low­ing in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciar­ies, of the per­sons who are called to act in an of­fi­cial ca­pa­city at such in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciar­ies, and of the per­sons en­titled to ac­com­pany such per­sons are gran­ted by way of a uni­lat­er­al de­cision of the Fed­er­al Coun­cil or of the FD­FA or by way of an agree­ment to that ef­fect entered in­to between the Fed­er­al Coun­cil or the FD­FA and the in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary con­cerned:

a.

spe­cial mis­sions;

b.

in­ter­na­tion­al con­fer­ences;

c.

in­de­pend­ent com­mis­sions;

d.

oth­er in­ter­na­tion­al bod­ies.

⁴ The priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies of em­in­ent per­sons car­ry­ing out an in­ter­na­tion­al man­date are gran­ted by way of a uni­lat­er­al de­cision of the Fed­er­al Coun­cil.

¹ Any ap­plic­a­tion for per­mis­sion to ac­quire land or build­ings shall be sub­mit­ted to the FD­FA by the ac­quir­ing party or its agent, with a copy to be sent to the com­pet­ent au­thor­ity in the can­ton con­cerned.

² The ap­plic­a­tion must in­clude the fol­low­ing par­tic­u­lars and doc­u­ments:

a.²⁹

the draft con­tract of ac­quis­i­tion, mean­ing in par­tic­u­lar a draft pur­chase con­tract, a pur­chase op­tion con­tract, a long-term lease, a signed pre­lim­in­ary con­tract or a deed of gift;

b.

the pur­pose of ac­quis­i­tion (res­id­ence of head of mis­sion, sec­ret­ari­at of rep­res­ent­a­tion, head of­fice of or­gan­isa­tion, etc.);

c.

a de­scrip­tion of the prop­erty, to in­clude in par­tic­u­lar the area of the land and of the build­ing; in the case of a va­cant site or a pro­posed ex­ten­sion of an ex­ist­ing build­ing, the area pro­posed to be built upon must also be in­dic­ated;

d.

a list of the prop­er­ties in Switzer­land already owned by the in­sti­tu­tion­al be­ne­fi­ciary, a de­scrip­tion of such prop­er­ties in­clud­ing in par­tic­u­lar the area of the land and build­ings con­cerned and the use of same.

³ The net hab­it­able area of any build­ing in­ten­ded for res­id­en­tial use may not as a rule ex­ceed 200 m2.

⁴ The FD­FA may im­pose con­di­tions in re­spect of an ac­quis­i­tion of prop­erty. In par­tic­u­lar, it may re­quire re­cipro­city if the ac­quir­ing party is a for­eign State ac­quir­ing a prop­erty for the of­fi­cial needs of its dip­lo­mat­ic mis­sion, con­su­lar posts, or per­man­ent mis­sions to in­ter­gov­ern­ment­al or­gan­isa­tions in Switzer­land.

The FD­FA shall is­sue its de­cision after re­ceiv­ing the opin­ion of the can­ton con­cerned.

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall de­cide on fin­an­cial sub­sidies and oth­er sup­port meas­ures with a fore­see­able cost ex­ceed­ing CHF 3 mil­lion in the case of a one-off meas­ure, or CHF 2 mil­lion per an­num in the case of a re­cur­ring meas­ure.

² The FD­FA:

a.³⁰

shall de­cide on one-off fin­an­cial sub­sidies and in-kind sub­sidies not ex­ceed­ing CHF 3 mil­lion;

b.

shall de­cide on re­cur­ring fin­an­cial sub­sidies and in-kind sub­sidies of a max­im­um dur­a­tion of 4 years and not ex­ceed­ing CHF 2 mil­lion per an­num;

c.

may fund in­ter­na­tion­al con­fer­ences in Switzer­land;

d.

may enter in­to in­ter­na­tion­al treat­ies to that end.

¹ The pro­ced­ure for grant­ing fin­an­cial sub­sidies and oth­er sup­port meas­ures is laid down in re­spect of each ap­pro­pri­ation dur­ing the au­thor­isa­tion pro­cess.

² The pro­ced­ure for the pay­ment of due com­pens­a­tion to the can­tons for the cost of giv­ing ef­fect to Art­icle 20, let­ter f, HSA is laid down in agree­ments to be entered in­to with each can­ton con­cerned. The FD­FA shall be au­thor­ised to enter in­to such agree­ments. It in­dic­ates in the agree­ment that, where ap­plic­able, the rel­ev­ant cred­its are sub­ject to ap­prov­al by Par­lia­ment.

In­ter­na­tion­al non-gov­ern­ment­al or­gan­isa­tions (IN­GOs) wish­ing to be­ne­fit from the meas­ures provided for un­der fed­er­al le­gis­la­tion, in par­tic­u­lar the tax ex­emp­tion provided for by the Fed­er­al Act of 14 Decem­ber 1990³¹ on Dir­ect Fed­er­al Tax­a­tion and the fa­cil­it­ated em­ploy­ment of for­eign staff provided for un­der Swiss le­gis­la­tion, must sat­is­fy the rel­ev­ant stat­utory re­quire­ments and sub­mit an ap­plic­a­tion to the com­pet­ent au­thor­ity des­ig­nated by the rel­ev­ant stat­ute.

¹ In ad­di­tion to the powers provided for in the spe­cif­ic pro­vi­sions of this Or­din­ance, the FD­FA shall:

a.

ne­go­ti­ate the agree­ments to be entered in­to pur­su­ant to the HSA or this Or­din­ance, in con­sulta­tion with the bod­ies con­cerned;

b.

be the au­thor­ity re­spons­ible for im­ple­ment­ing the agree­ments on priv­ileges, im­munit­ies, fa­cil­it­ies, and fin­an­cial sub­sidies and oth­er sup­port meas­ures, without pre­ju­dice to the spe­cif­ic powers of oth­er fed­er­al bod­ies;

c.

reg­u­late the de­tails of the im­ple­ment­a­tion of this Or­din­ance without pre­ju­dice to the spe­cif­ic powers of oth­er fed­er­al bod­ies;

d.

su­per­vise com­pli­ance with the terms of the priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies; to this ef­fect it shall take all ap­pro­pri­ate meas­ures in ac­cord­ance with in­ter­na­tion­al prac­tice; on find­ing an in­stance of ab­use it may re­voke a nat­ur­al per­son’s priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies where such a meas­ure is pro­por­tion­ate with the ob­ject­ives;

e.

de­term­ine case by case wheth­er a per­son is to be deemed an ‘in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary’ with­in the mean­ing of Art­icle 2 para­graph 2 let­ters a and c HSA and is­sue the ap­pro­pri­ate le­git­im­a­tion cards to eli­gible per­sons;

f.

de­term­ine the length of the cour­tesy peri­od that may be al­lowed to an in­di­vidu­al be­ne­fi­ciary at the end of his or her peri­od of ser­vice;

g.

dir­ect the Fed­er­al Se­cur­ity Ser­vice to in­struct the rel­ev­ant po­lice au­thor­it­ies to im­ple­ment the fur­ther se­cur­ity meas­ures re­ferred to in Art­icle 20 let­ter f HSA;

h.

enter in­to the bi­lat­er­al agree­ments ne­ces­sary to se­cure for the mem­bers of the dip­lo­mat­ic mis­sions, the per­man­ent mis­sions or oth­er rep­res­ent­a­tions to in­ter­gov­ern­ment­al or­gan­isa­tions and of the con­su­lar posts of Switzer­land abroad the same priv­ileges, im­munit­ies and fa­cil­it­ies as are ac­cor­ded to for­eign rep­res­ent­a­tions of the same cat­egory in Switzer­land.

² The FD­FA shall ad­opt rules reg­u­lat­ing its own in­tern­al al­loc­a­tion of re­spons­ib­il­it­ies.

The amend­ment of cur­rent le­gis­la­tion is reg­u­lated in the An­nex.

This Or­din­ance comes in­to force on 1 Janu­ary 2008.