Federal Act
on Controlling Communicable Human Diseases
(Epidemics Act, EpidA)

This Act reg­u­lates pro­tect­ing people against com­mu­nic­able dis­eases and provides for the meas­ures re­quired to do so.

¹ This Act has the aim of pre­vent­ing and con­trolling the out­break and spread of com­mu­nic­able dis­eases.

² The meas­ures un­der this Act are in­ten­ded to en­able:

a.

com­mu­nic­able dis­eases to be mon­itored and ba­sic know­ledge about their spread and de­vel­op­ment to be made avail­able;

b.

the dangers of the out­break and spread of com­mu­nic­able dis­eases to be re­cog­nised, as­sessed and avoided at an early stage;

c.

in­di­vidu­al per­sons, spe­cif­ic groups of per­sons and in­sti­tu­tions to con­trib­ute to pre­vent­ing and con­trolling com­mu­nic­able dis­eases;

d.

the or­gan­isa­tion­al, tech­nic­al and fin­an­cial re­quire­ments for de­tect­ing, mon­it­or­ing, pre­vent­ing and con­trolling com­mu­nic­able dis­eases to be cre­ated;

e.

ac­cess to fa­cil­it­ies and re­sources for pro­tec­tion against trans­mis­sion to be en­sured;

f.

the ef­fects of com­mu­nic­able dis­eases on so­ci­ety and the per­sons af­fected to be re­duced.

In this Act:

a.

com­mu­nic­able dis­ease means an ill­ness that may be trans­mit­ted to hu­man be­ings by patho­gens or their tox­ic products;

b.

ob­ser­va­tions means clin­ic­al find­ings (e.g. sus­pec­ted dia­gnoses, con­firmed dia­gnoses, deaths), labor­at­ory ana­lys­is find­ings (e.g. test res­ults, dir­ect and in­dir­ect evid­ence of patho­gens, typi­fic­a­tions, res­ist­ance tests), epi­demi­olo­gic­al find­ings (e.g. key fig­ures on health­care-as­so­ci­ated in­fec­tions) and in­cid­ents (e.g. sus­pi­cious sub­stances, ob­jects) con­nec­ted with com­mu­nic­able dis­eases;

c.

patho­gens means nat­ur­al and ge­net­ic­ally mod­i­fied or­gan­isms (e.g. vir­uses, bac­teria, fungi, pro­to­zoa and oth­er para­sites), sub­stances (e.g. pri­ons, tox­ins) and ge­net­ic ma­ter­i­al that can cause or ag­grav­ate a com­mu­nic­able dis­ease;

d.

hand­ling patho­gens means any activ­ity in­volving patho­gens, in par­tic­u­lar their man­u­fac­ture, re­pro­duc­tion, re­lease, mar­ket­ing, im­port, ex­port, trans­it, re­ten­tion, use, stor­age, dis­pos­al or trans­port.

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall in con­sulta­tion with the can­tons de­term­ine the goals and strategies for de­tect­ing, mon­it­or­ing, pre­vent­ing and con­trolling com­mu­nic­able dis­eases.

² The fol­low­ing in par­tic­u­lar must be taken in­to con­sid­er­a­tion in de­term­in­ing the goals and strategies:

a.

the find­ings of the re­ports un­der Art­icle 76;

b.

in­ter­na­tion­al re­com­mend­a­tions and guidelines;

c.

the cur­rent state of sci­entif­ic know­ledge.

³ The Con­fed­er­a­tion and the can­tons shall, based on the re­ports, re­view wheth­er the goals have been achieved, and take the rel­ev­ant meas­ures as re­quired.

¹ The Fed­er­al Of­fice of Pub­lic Health (FOPH) shall, in con­sulta­tion with the can­tons, de­vel­op top­ic-spe­cif­ic na­tion­al pro­grammes for de­tect­ing, mon­it­or­ing, pre­vent­ing and con­trolling com­mu­nic­able dis­eases, in par­tic­u­lar re­la­tion to:

a.

vac­cin­a­tions;

b.

health­care-as­so­ci­ated in­fec­tions and res­ist­ance in the case of patho­gens;

c.

HIV and oth­er sexu­ally trans­mit­ted patho­gens.

² The Con­fed­er­a­tion and the can­tons shall im­ple­ment the na­tion­al pro­grammes with­in the scope of their powers.

¹ A spe­cial situ­ation arises if:

a.

the or­din­ary en­force­ment agen­cies are un­able to pre­vent or con­trol the out­break and spread of com­mu­nic­able dis­eases, and one of the fol­low­ing risks is present:

1.

a high risk of in­fec­tion and of spread,

2.

a spe­cial risk to pub­lic health,

3.

ser­i­ous con­sequences for the eco­nomy or for oth­er areas of life;

b.

the World Health Or­gan­iz­a­tion (WHO) has an­nounced a pub­lic health emer­gency of in­ter­na­tion­al con­cern and this emer­gency poses a risk to pub­lic health in Switzer­land.

² The Fed­er­al Coun­cil may, after con­sult­ing the can­tons, or­der the fol­low­ing meas­ures:

a.

meas­ures in re­la­tion to in­di­vidu­al per­sons;

b.

meas­ures in re­la­tion to the pop­u­la­tion;

c.

a re­quire­ment for doc­tors and oth­er health­care spe­cial­ists to par­ti­cip­ate in com­bat­ing com­mu­nic­able dis­eases;

d.

man­dat­ory vac­cin­a­tions for pop­u­la­tion groups at high risk, for per­sons who are par­tic­u­larly ex­posed to in­fec­tion and for per­sons who carry out cer­tain activ­it­ies.

³ The Fed­er­al De­part­ment of Home Af­fairs (FDHA) shall co­ordin­ate the meas­ures taken by the Con­fed­er­a­tion.

If an ex­traordin­ary situ­ation so re­quires, the Fed­er­al Coun­cil may or­der the meas­ures re­quired for the en­tire coun­try or for in­di­vidu­al parts of the coun­try.

¹ The Con­fed­er­a­tion and the can­tons shall take pre­par­at­ory meas­ures to lim­it the risks to and neg­at­ive ef­fects on pub­lic health at an early stage.

² The FOPH may in­struct the can­tons to take spe­cif­ic meas­ures in view of a spe­cial risk to pub­lic health, in par­tic­u­lar:

a.

meas­ures to de­tect and mon­it­or com­mu­nic­able dis­eases;

b.

meas­ures in re­la­tion to in­di­vidu­al per­sons;

c.

meas­ures in re­la­tion to the pop­u­la­tion;

d.

meas­ures to dis­trib­ute thera­peut­ic products.

¹ The FOPH shall in­form the pub­lic, spe­cif­ic groups of per­sons, au­thor­it­ies and ex­perts about the dangers of com­mu­nic­able dis­eases and about the op­tions for pre­vent­ing and con­trolling such dis­eases.

² It shall reg­u­larly pub­lish com­pil­a­tions and ana­lyses about the nature, in­cid­ence, causes and spread of com­mu­nic­able dis­eases.

³ It shall pub­lish re­com­mend­a­tions on meas­ures against com­mu­nic­able dis­eases and on hand­ling patho­gens and shall ad­apt them reg­u­larly in line with the cur­rent state of sci­entif­ic know­ledge. If oth­er fed­er­al of­fices are af­fected, the FOPH shall act in con­sulta­tion with them.

⁴ The FOPH and the com­pet­ent can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies shall co­ordin­ate their in­form­a­tion activ­it­ies.

¹ The FOPH shall en­sure that the can­tons re­ceive the in­form­a­tion per­tain­ing to pre­vent­ing and com­bat­ing com­mu­nic­able dis­eases.

² The com­pet­ent fed­er­al and can­ton­al bod­ies shall share re­search res­ults, spe­cial­ist know­ledge and in­form­a­tion on train­ing and mon­it­or­ing pro­grammes with each oth­er.

The FOPH shall in co­oper­a­tion with oth­er fed­er­al agen­cies and the com­pet­ent can­ton­al bod­ies op­er­ate sys­tems for the early de­tec­tion and mon­it­or­ing of com­mu­nic­able dis­eases. It shall en­sure co­ordin­a­tion with in­ter­na­tion­al sys­tems.

¹ Doc­tors, hos­pit­als and oth­er pub­lic or private health­care in­sti­tu­tions shall re­port ob­ser­va­tions on com­mu­nic­able dis­eases, in­clud­ing the in­form­a­tion re­quired to identi­fy the per­sons who are ill, in­fec­ted or have been ex­posed and to es­tab­lish the route of trans­mis­sion:

a.

to the com­pet­ent can­ton­al au­thor­ity;

b.

in the case of cer­tain patho­gens, dir­ectly to the FOPH as well.

² Labor­at­or­ies shall re­port labor­at­ory ana­lys­is find­ings on com­mu­nic­able dis­eases in­clud­ing the in­form­a­tion re­quired to identi­fy the per­sons who are ill or in­fec­ted to the com­pet­ent can­ton­al au­thor­ity and the FOPH.

³ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil may re­quire that meas­ures taken to pre­vent and con­trol the dis­ease as well as their ef­fect are re­por­ted and that samples and test res­ults are sent to the labor­at­or­ies des­ig­nated by the re­spons­ible au­thor­it­ies.

⁴ The com­pet­ent can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies shall re­port ob­ser­va­tions that in­dic­ate a risk to pub­lic health to the FOPH.

⁵ Any per­son pi­lot­ing a ship or an air­craft shall re­port ob­ser­va­tions that in­dic­ate a risk to pub­lic health to the port or air­port op­er­at­or.

⁶ Ob­ser­va­tions must be re­por­ted if they re­late to com­mu­nic­able dis­eases that:

a.

may cause epi­dem­ics;

b.

may cause ser­i­ous con­sequences;

c.

are nov­el or un­ex­pec­ted; or

d.

are sub­ject to mon­it­or­ing by in­ter­na­tion­al agree­ment.

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall stip­u­late the ob­ser­va­tions on com­mu­nic­able dis­eases that must be re­por­ted, to­geth­er with the meth­ods, cri­ter­ia and time lim­its for re­port­ing.

² In the case of spe­cif­ic re­port con­tent, it may re­strict the duty to re­port to se­lec­ted doc­tors, to hos­pit­als and oth­er pub­lic or private health­care in­sti­tu­tions and to labor­at­or­ies.

¹ The FOPH may agree for the pur­pose of epi­demi­olo­gic­al mon­it­or­ing and for re­search pur­poses with doc­tors, labor­at­or­ies, hos­pit­als and oth­er pub­lic or private health­care in­sti­tu­tions that they re­port ob­ser­va­tions that are not sub­ject to the duty to re­port to a body des­ig­nated by the FOPH.

² The re­port must be made in an­onymised form.

¹ The com­pet­ent can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies shall en­sure the re­quired epi­demi­olo­gic­al in­vest­ig­a­tions, in par­tic­u­lar on the nature, cause, source of in­fec­tion and spread of a de­tec­ted or sus­pec­ted dis­ease. They shall co­ordin­ate their activ­it­ies and in­form the FOPH about the res­ults.

² The com­pet­ent fed­er­al au­thor­ity shall provide the can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies with pro­fes­sion­al sup­port with the epi­demi­olo­gic­al in­vest­ig­a­tions. It may con­duct such in­vest­ig­a­tions it­self, par­tic­u­larly if the can­ton con­cerned re­quests it to do so.

¹ Labor­at­or­ies that con­duct mi­cro­bi­o­lo­gic­al tests for de­tect­ing com­mu­nic­able dis­eases re­quire a li­cence from the com­pet­ent fed­er­al au­thor­ity.

² The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall carry out the fol­low­ing tasks:

a.

des­ig­nat­ing the com­pet­ent fed­er­al au­thor­ity.

b.

reg­u­lat­ing the re­quire­ments and pro­ced­ure for grant­ing the li­cence.

c.

spe­cify­ing the li­cence hold­er's ob­lig­a­tions.

d.

reg­u­lat­ing su­per­vi­sion and in par­tic­u­lar provide for the pos­sib­il­ity of un­an­nounced in­spec­tions.

³ Labor­at­or­ies in doc­tors’ prac­tices, hos­pit­al labor­at­or­ies, phar­macy dis­pens­ar­ies and oth­er labor­at­or­ies that con­duct ana­lyses as part of the uni­ver­sal pro­vi­sion of ser­vices un­der the Fed­er­al Act of 18 March 1994³ on Health In­sur­ance (Health In­sur­ance Act) are ex­emp­ted from the li­cence re­quire­ment.

The FOPH may des­ig­nate in­di­vidu­al labor­at­or­ies as na­tion­al ref­er­ence centres or as con­firm­a­tion labor­at­or­ies and en­trust the same with spe­cial tests and oth­er spe­cial tasks.

The can­tons shall op­er­ate a net­work of re­gion­al labor­at­or­ies and en­sure co­oper­a­tion with the com­pet­ent fed­er­al au­thor­it­ies and the high se­cur­ity labor­at­or­ies.

¹ The Con­fed­er­a­tion and the can­tons shall take meas­ures to con­trol, re­duce and elim­in­ate the risks of dis­ease trans­mis­sion.

² The Fed­er­al Coun­cil may is­sue the fol­low­ing reg­u­la­tions:

a.

It may re­quire hos­pit­als, clin­ics and oth­er health­care in­sti­tu­tions to de­con­tam­in­ate, dis­in­fect and ster­il­ise their med­ic­al devices.

b.

It may re­quire busi­nesses and event or­gan­isers whose activ­it­ies in­crease the risk of trans­mit­ting the dis­ease to provide pre­ven­tion and in­form­a­tion ma­ter­i­als and com­ply with a spe­cif­ic code of con­duct.

c.

It may re­quire pub­lic health and edu­ca­tion in­sti­tu­tions to of­fer in­form­a­tion on the dangers of com­mu­nic­able dis­eases and ad­vice on their pre­ven­tion and con­trol.

d.

It may re­quire pub­lic and private in­sti­tu­tions that have a spe­cial ob­lig­a­tion to pro­tect the health of people in their care to take suit­able pre­vent­ive meas­ures.

e.

It may make tech­nic­al in­stall­a­tions that can spread com­mu­nic­able dis­eases sub­ject to a re­gis­tra­tion re­quire­ment.

¹ The FOPH, in co­oper­a­tion with the Fed­er­al Com­mis­sion for Vac­cin­a­tion, shall draw up and pub­lish vac­cin­a­tion re­com­mend­a­tions in the form of a na­tion­al vac­cin­a­tion plan.

² Doc­tors and oth­er health­care spe­cial­ists shall as­sist in im­ple­ment­ing the na­tion­al vac­cin­a­tion plan as part of their activ­it­ies.

³ They shall in­form the per­sons ad­dressed by the vac­cin­a­tion re­com­mend­a­tions about the na­tion­al vac­cin­a­tion plan.

¹ The can­tons shall en­cour­age people to be vac­cin­ated by:

a.

in­form­ing the per­sons ad­dressed by the vac­cin­a­tion re­com­mend­a­tions about the na­tion­al vac­cin­a­tion plan;

b.

reg­u­larly re­view­ing the vac­cin­a­tion status of chil­dren and young people who are in com­puls­ory edu­ca­tion;

c.

en­sur­ing that the per­sons ad­dressed by the vac­cin­a­tion re­com­mend­a­tions are fully vac­cin­ated.

² They may in par­tic­u­lar:

a.

of­fer vac­cin­a­tions as part of school health ser­vices;

b.

ad­min­is­ter vac­cines free of charge or sup­ply vac­cines at be­low the mar­ket price.

The can­tons may de­clare vac­cin­a­tions to be man­dat­ory for pop­u­la­tion groups at high risk, per­sons who are par­tic­u­larly ex­posed to in­fec­tion and per­sons that carry out cer­tain activ­it­ies, provided there is a sig­ni­fic­ant risk.

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil may in­tro­duce a re­gis­tra­tion or li­cens­ing ob­lig­a­tion for vac­cin­a­tions for which an in­ter­na­tion­al cer­ti­fic­ate of vac­cin­a­tion or oth­er pro­phy­lax­is un­der Art­icle 36 of the In­ter­na­tion­al Health Reg­u­la­tions (2005) of 23 May 2005⁴ is re­quired.

² The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall carry out the fol­low­ing tasks:

a.

des­ig­nat­ing the com­pet­ent au­thor­ity;

b.

reg­u­lat­ing the re­quire­ments and the pro­ced­ure for grant­ing li­cences;

c.

in­dic­at­ing the vac­cin­a­tion pro­ced­ure and the per­mit­ted vac­cines.

¹ The com­pet­ent fed­er­al au­thor­it­ies shall in con­sulta­tion with the can­tons reg­u­larly re­view the ap­pro­pri­ate­ness and ef­fect­ive­ness of the vac­cin­a­tion meas­ures.

² The com­pet­ent can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies shall col­lect data on the num­bers of per­sons who have been vac­cin­ated and in­form the FOPH reg­u­larly about the vac­cin­a­tion rate and about the meas­ures taken to in­crease the rate.

³ The FOPH shall reg­u­larly draw up re­ports on mon­it­or­ing and eval­u­ation and pub­lish these in a suit­able form.

Any per­son who handles patho­gens or their tox­ic products must take all the meas­ures re­quired to en­sure that no one can come to any harm.

¹ In the case of activ­it­ies with patho­gens in con­tained sys­tems, all the con­tain­ment meas­ures that are re­quired to pre­vent a risk to the pop­u­la­tion must be taken.

² The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall in­tro­duce a re­gis­tra­tion or li­cens­ing ob­lig­a­tion; it shall reg­u­late the re­quire­ments and the pro­ced­ure.

³ It may sim­pli­fy the re­gis­tra­tion or li­cens­ing ob­lig­a­tion or provide for ex­cep­tions in the case of spe­cif­ic patho­gens and activ­it­ies if cur­rent sci­entif­ic know­ledge and ex­per­i­ence in­dic­ate that there is no risk to health.

¹ Any per­son who wishes to re­lease or mar­ket patho­gens for ex­per­i­ment­al pur­poses shall re­quire a li­cence from the Con­fed­er­a­tion.

² The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall reg­u­late the re­quire­ments and the pro­ced­ure for grant­ing the li­cence as well as the pro­vi­sion of in­form­a­tion to the pub­lic on ex­per­i­ment­al re­leases.

³ It may provide for ex­cep­tions from the li­cens­ing ob­lig­a­tion for spe­cif­ic patho­gens if cur­rent sci­entif­ic know­ledge and ex­per­i­ence in­dic­ate that there is no risk to health.

Any per­son who mar­kets patho­gens must in­form cus­tom­ers about their health-re­lated prop­er­ties and risks and about the re­quired pre­cau­tion­ary and pre­vent­ive meas­ures.

The Fed­er­al Coun­cil may is­sue the fol­low­ing reg­u­la­tions:

a.

It may reg­u­late the trans­port of patho­gens and in­tro­duce a li­cens­ing re­quire­ment for their im­port, ex­port and trans­it.

b.

It may re­strict or pro­hib­it the hand­ling of spe­cif­ic patho­gens.

c.⁵

It may spe­cify re­quire­ments for con­tained sys­tem equip­ment and the train­ing of per­sons hand­ling patho­gens.

d.

It may re­quire the mark­ing of con­tain­ers that hold patho­gens.

¹ A meas­ure in ac­cord­ance with Art­icles 33–38 may only be ordered if:

a.

less strin­gent meas­ures to pre­vent the spread of a com­mu­nic­able dis­ease are not suf­fi­cient or ap­pro­pri­ate; and

b.

the meas­ure serves to avert a ser­i­ous risk to the health of oth­er per­sons.

² The meas­ure must be ne­ces­sary and reas­on­able.

¹ The com­pet­ent can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies shall or­der the meas­ures in ac­cord­ance with Art­icles 33–38.

² The com­pet­ent fed­er­al au­thor­it­ies shall sup­port the can­tons in identi­fy­ing and no­ti­fy­ing per­sons, in par­tic­u­lar per­sons trav­el­ling on in­ter­na­tion­al trans­port ser­vices.

³ When or­der­ing meas­ures, the per­sons con­cerned must be giv­en an ex­plan­a­tion of why the meas­ures are be­ing ordered and how long they are ex­pec­ted to ap­ply.

⁴ The meas­ures may only ap­ply for as long as is ne­ces­sary to pre­vent the spread of a com­mu­nic­able dis­ease and to avert a ser­i­ous risk to the health of oth­er per­sons. They must be reg­u­larly re­viewed.

The com­pet­ent can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies may com­pulsor­ily en­force their or­ders re­lat­ing to med­ic­al mon­it­or­ing, quar­ant­ine, isol­a­tion or med­ic­al test­ing.

Any per­son who is ill, sus­pec­ted of be­ing ill, in­fec­ted or sus­pec­ted of be­ing in­fec­ted or who is spread­ing patho­gens may be iden­ti­fied and no­ti­fied.

¹ Any per­son who is ill, sus­pec­ted of be­ing ill, in­fec­ted or sus­pec­ted of be­ing in­fec­ted or who is spread­ing patho­gens may be made sub­ject to med­ic­al mon­it­or­ing.

² The per­son con­cerned is re­quired to in­form the doc­tor re­spons­ible about their state of health and their con­tacts with oth­er per­sons.

¹ If med­ic­al mon­it­or­ing is in­suf­fi­cient, the fol­low­ing meas­ures may be taken:

a.

a per­son who sus­pec­ted of be­ing ill or sus­pec­ted of be­ing in­fec­ted may be placed in quar­ant­ine;

b.

a per­son who is ill or in­fec­ted or who is spread­ing patho­gens may be placed in isol­a­tion.

² The per­son con­cerned may if ne­ces­sary be ad­mit­ted to a hos­pit­al or an­oth­er suit­able in­sti­tu­tion.

³ The hos­pit­al or the in­sti­tu­tion must en­sure that its staff and oth­er per­sons at risk are pro­tec­ted against in­fec­tion.

Any per­son who is ill, sus­pec­ted of be­ing ill, in­fec­ted or sus­pec­ted of be­ing in­fec­ted or who is spread­ing patho­gens may be re­quired to un­der­go a med­ic­al ex­am­in­a­tion and to al­low samples to be taken.

Any per­son who is ill, sus­pec­ted of be­ing ill, in­fec­ted or sus­pec­ted of be­ing in­fec­ted or who is spread­ing patho­gens may be re­quired to un­der­go med­ic­al treat­ment.

¹ Any per­son who is ill, sus­pec­ted of be­ing ill, in­fec­ted or sus­pec­ted of be­ing in­fec­ted or who is spread­ing patho­gens may be wholly or partly pro­hib­ited from car­ry­ing out cer­tain activ­it­ies or prac­tising their pro­fes­sion. They may be re­quired to give no­tice of any change in their can­ton of res­id­ence, their activ­ity or pro­fes­sion to the com­pet­ent can­ton­al au­thor­ity without delay.

² If a per­son is wholly or partly pro­hib­ited from car­ry­ing out cer­tain activ­it­ies or from prac­tising their pro­fes­sion and if they have been re­quired to give no­tice of a change in their can­ton of res­id­ence, their activ­ity or pro­fes­sion, the com­pet­ent can­ton­al au­thor­ity shall no­ti­fy the com­pet­ent au­thor­ity in the can­ton con­cerned about the pro­hib­i­tion or re­stric­tion.

Doc­tors who are treat­ing or mon­it­or­ing a per­son who is ill, sus­pec­ted of be­ing ill, in­fec­ted or sus­pec­ted of be­ing in­fec­ted or who is spread­ing patho­gens shall take all the meas­ures avail­able to them to pre­vent the spread of a com­mu­nic­able dis­ease. If of­fi­cial meas­ures are re­quired, this must be re­por­ted to the com­pet­ent can­ton­al au­thor­ity.

¹ The com­pet­ent can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies shall or­der meas­ures to pre­vent the spread of com­mu­nic­able dis­eases among the pop­u­la­tion or with­in spe­cif­ic groups of per­sons. They shall co­ordin­ate their meas­ures.

² They may in par­tic­u­lar take the fol­low­ing meas­ures:

a.

pro­hib­it or re­strict events;

b.

close schools, oth­er pub­lic in­sti­tu­tions and private busi­nesses or is­sue reg­u­la­tions on their op­er­a­tion;

c.

re­voke or re­strict the right to enter or leave cer­tain build­ings or areas and to carry out spe­cif­ic activ­it­ies at defined loc­a­tions.

³ The meas­ures may only ap­ply for as long as is ne­ces­sary to pre­vent the spread of a com­mu­nic­able dis­ease. They must be reg­u­larly re­viewed.

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall is­sue reg­u­la­tions on in­ter­na­tion­al travel to pre­vent com­mu­nic­able dis­eases spread­ing from one coun­try to an­oth­er.

² If re­quired to pre­vent the spread of a com­mu­nic­able dis­ease, the FOPH may re­quire per­sons en­ter­ing or leav­ing Switzer­land:

a.

to make their iden­tity, travel route and con­tact de­tails known;

b.

to present a cer­ti­fic­ate of vac­cin­a­tion or oth­er pro­phy­lax­is;

c.

to provide in­form­a­tion on their state of health;

d.

to present proof of a med­ic­al test;

e.

to un­der­go a med­ic­al ex­am­in­a­tion.

³ The FOPH may re­quire per­sons en­ter­ing Switzer­land to sub­mit to a meas­ure in ac­cord­ance with Art­icles 34, 35, 37 and 38; Art­icles 30–32 ap­ply in an ana­log­ous man­ner. If re­quired, the Fed­er­al Coun­cil may ex­tend these meas­ures tem­por­ar­ily to all per­sons en­ter­ing Switzer­land from re­gions con­sidered to pose a risk.

⁴ The FOPH may tem­por­ar­ily deny any per­son who is ill, sus­pec­ted of be­ing ill, in­fec­ted or sus­pec­ted of be­ing in­fec­ted or who is spread­ing patho­gens the right to leave Switzer­land if this is re­quired to pre­vent the spread of a com­mu­nic­able dis­ease.

¹ Op­er­at­ors of ports and air­ports shall make the re­quired op­er­a­tion­al pre­par­a­tions for im­ple­ment­ing the meas­ures un­der Art­icle 41. They shall have their own emer­gency plans.

² The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall des­ig­nate the op­er­at­ors of ports and air­ports that must provide the re­quired ca­pa­cit­ies in ac­cord­ance with An­nex 1 B of the In­ter­na­tion­al Health Reg­u­la­tions (2005) of 23 May 2005⁶.

¹ Com­pan­ies that trans­port per­sons by rail, bus, ship or air in­ter­na­tion­ally, air­port op­er­at­ors, port op­er­at­ors, rail­way and bus sta­tions and travel busi­nesses are re­quired to co­oper­ate in car­ry­ing out the meas­ures un­der Art­icle 41. They may with­in the lim­its of their op­er­a­tion­al and tech­nic­al ca­pa­cit­ies be re­quired:

a.

to in­form trav­el­lers about the dangers of com­mu­nic­able dis­eases and the op­tions for pre­vent­ing and con­trolling such dis­eases;

b.

to col­lect the in­form­a­tion re­quired for the iden­ti­fic­a­tion or early de­tec­tion of per­sons who are ill, sus­pec­ted of be­ing ill, in­fec­ted or sus­pec­ted of be­ing ill and per­sons sus­pec­ted of spread­ing patho­gens;

c.

to provide the com­pet­ent au­thor­it­ies with lists of pas­sen­gers or goods;

d.

to en­able pas­sen­gers to un­der­go med­ic­al tests;

e.

to en­able the trans­port of per­sons who are ill, sus­pec­ted of be­ing ill, in­fec­ted, sus­pec­ted of be­ing in­fec­ted or who are spread­ing patho­gens to a hos­pit­al or oth­er suit­able in­sti­tu­tion.

² They must provide the op­er­a­tion­al and staff ca­pa­cit­ies ne­ces­sary to carry out the meas­ures un­der para­graph 1.

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall en­sure that the pop­u­la­tion is sup­plied with the most im­port­ant thera­peut­ic products that are suit­able for con­trolling com­mu­nic­able dis­eases, in­so­far as it is un­able to guar­an­tee sup­ply by means of meas­ures un­der the Na­tion­al Eco­nom­ic Sup­ply Act of 8 Oc­to­ber 1982⁷.

² It may is­sue reg­u­la­tions on:

a.

al­loc­at­ing thera­peut­ic products;

b.

dis­trib­ut­ing thera­peut­ic products;

c.

fa­cil­it­at­ing the im­port and re­strict­ing or pro­hib­it­ing the ex­port of thera­peut­ic products, provided this is ne­ces­sary in or­der to avert a pub­lic health risk;

d.

main­tain­ing stocks of thera­peut­ic products in hos­pit­als and oth­er health­care in­sti­tu­tions.

³ It may provide for meas­ures to sup­ply Swiss cit­izens liv­ing abroad with thera­peut­ic products.

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil may is­sue reg­u­la­tions on the trans­port and on the im­port, ex­port and trans­it of goods that may be car­ri­ers of patho­gens. It may in par­tic­u­lar:

a.

is­sue re­quire­ments for pre­vent­ive meas­ures re­lat­ing to the trans­port of goods;

b.

re­quire the test­ing of goods for spe­cif­ic patho­gens;

c.

is­sue re­stric­tions and bans on trans­port and on the im­port, ex­port and trans­it of goods.

² It may in­struct the can­tons to take in­di­vidu­al meas­ures.

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall is­sue the re­quired reg­u­la­tions on the trans­port and the buri­al of dead bod­ies.

² It shall reg­u­late the trans­port of dead bod­ies through Switzer­land, from an­oth­er coun­try to Switzer­land and from Switzer­land to an­oth­er coun­try.

¹ If or­gan­isms oc­cur that can trans­mit patho­gens to hu­man be­ings, the com­pet­ent fed­er­al and can­ton­al bod­ies shall co­ordin­ate any meas­ures re­quired to con­trol such or­gan­isms or to pre­vent their oc­cur­rence.

² Com­pan­ies that trans­port per­sons by rail, bus, ship or air, air­port op­er­at­ors, port op­er­at­ors, rail­way and bus sta­tions and travel busi­nesses are re­quired to co­oper­ate in car­ry­ing out these meas­ures.

¹ The com­pet­ent can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies shall en­sure that dis­in­fec­tion and dis­in­fest­a­tion, in par­tic­u­lar of means of trans­port and goods, are car­ried out to pre­vent the spread of com­mu­nic­able dis­eases.

² Com­pan­ies that trans­port per­sons by rail, bus, ship or air, air­port op­er­at­ors, port op­er­at­ors, rail­way and bus sta­tions and travel busi­nesses are re­quired to co­oper­ate in car­ry­ing out dis­in­fec­tion and dis­in­fest­a­tion meas­ures.

The com­pet­ent can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies shall is­sue the re­quired health cer­ti­fic­ates for in­ter­na­tion­al ship­ping.

The FOPH may with­in the lim­its of the au­thor­ised budget grant fin­an­cial as­sist­ance to pub­lic and private or­gan­isa­tions for meas­ures in the na­tion­al pub­lic in­terest for de­tect­ing, mon­it­or­ing, pre­vent­ing and con­trolling com­mu­nic­able dis­eases.

¹ The Con­fed­er­a­tion may provide fin­an­cial as­sist­ance for man­u­fac­tur­ing thera­peut­ic products un­der Art­icle 44 in Switzer­land if sup­plies to the pop­u­la­tion in spe­cial or ex­traordin­ary situ­ations can­not oth­er­wise be guar­an­teed.

² It may provide the fin­an­cial as­sist­ance with­in the lim­its of the au­thor­ised budget in the form of ba­sic con­tri­bu­tions, in­vest­ment con­tri­bu­tions or pro­ject-re­lated con­tri­bu­tions.

³ It may make the con­tri­bu­tions provided the man­u­fac­turer:

a.

is proven to have the know­ledge and abil­ity to de­vel­op or pro­duce the thera­peut­ic products con­cerned;

b.

un­der­takes to man­u­fac­ture the thera­peut­ic products in Switzer­land; and

c.

guar­an­tees to pri­or­it­ise the sup­ply of such thera­peut­ic products to the au­thor­it­ies in spe­cial or ex­traordin­ary situ­ations.

The FOPH shall make com­pens­at­ory pay­ments to the labor­at­or­ies des­ig­nated as na­tion­al ref­er­ence centres or as con­firm­a­tion labor­at­or­ies for the ex­penses that they in­cur in car­ry­ing out their spe­cial tasks.

¹ Each can­ton shall ap­point a chief med­ic­al of­ficer. Can­tons may ap­point a joint chief med­ic­al of­ficer.

² Chief med­ic­al of­ficers shall co­ordin­ate their activ­it­ies with oth­er au­thor­it­ies and in­sti­tu­tions in­volved in con­trolling com­mu­nic­able dis­eases. If a com­mu­nic­able dis­ease arises in con­nec­tion with a food­stuff, the chief med­ic­al of­ficer shall no­ti­fy the can­ton­al chem­ist.

³ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall spe­cify the re­quired qual­i­fic­a­tions for chief med­ic­al of­ficers.

¹ The Con­fed­er­a­tion and the can­tons shall es­tab­lish a body to pro­mote co­oper­a­tion (co­ordin­a­tion body). Sub­si­di­ary bod­ies may be es­tab­lished to deal with spe­cif­ic fields, in par­tic­u­lar de­tect­ing and mon­it­or­ing, pre­vent­ing and com­bat­ing zo­onoses.

² The co­ordin­a­tion body and its sub­si­di­ary bod­ies shall be made up of fed­er­al and can­ton­al rep­res­ent­at­ives. They may also in­clude oth­er spe­cial­ists, as re­quired.

³ Their tasks shall in­clude the fol­low­ing:

a.

co­ordin­at­ing meas­ures to pre­pare for situ­ations that pose a par­tic­u­lar risk to pub­lic health;

b.

co­ordin­at­ing meas­ures to de­tect, pre­vent and con­trol the dis­ease;

c.

en­cour­aging uni­form im­ple­ment­a­tion;

d.

co­ordin­at­ing the pro­vi­sion of in­form­a­tion and com­mu­nic­a­tion;

e.

sup­port­ing the Fed­er­al Task Force in man­aging spe­cial or ex­traordin­ary situ­ations.

⁴ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall reg­u­late the es­tab­lish­ment and man­age­ment of the co­ordin­a­tion body and its sub­si­di­ary bod­ies.

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall have a task force at its dis­pos­al for events that may pose a spe­cial risk to pub­lic health, in par­tic­u­lar to man­age a spe­cial or ex­traordin­ary situ­ation.

² The Task Force shall have the fol­low­ing tasks:

a.

ad­vising the Fed­er­al Coun­cil;

b.

sup­port­ing the Con­fed­er­a­tion and the can­tons in co­ordin­at­ing the meas­ures.

¹ Fed­er­al Com­mis­sion for Vac­cin­a­tion shall ad­vise the Fed­er­al Coun­cil on is­su­ing reg­u­la­tions and the au­thor­it­ies on im­ple­ment­ing this Act.

² The Com­mis­sion's tasks shall in­clude the fol­low­ing:

a.

draw­ing up vac­cin­a­tion re­com­mend­a­tions for sub­mis­sion to the FOPH;

b.

de­vis­ing med­ic­al cri­ter­ia for as­sess­ing the sever­ity of a vac­cin­a­tion re­ac­tion;

c.

ad­vising the FDHA on mat­ters re­lated to com­pens­a­tion (Art. 64) or sat­is­fac­tion (Art. 65).

³ It shall com­prise spe­cial­ists from out­side the ad­min­is­tra­tion who have sci­entif­ic or prac­tic­al know­ledge of vac­cin­a­tion mat­ters.

⁴ It shall work with oth­er fed­er­al and can­ton­al bod­ies that deal with vac­cin­a­tion mat­ters.

The Swiss Ex­pert Com­mit­tee for Biosafety shall ad­vise the Fed­er­al Coun­cil on is­su­ing reg­u­la­tions and the au­thor­it­ies on im­ple­ment­ing this Act.

¹ In­so­far as is re­quired in or­der to identi­fy per­sons who are ill, sus­pec­ted of be­ing ill, in­fec­ted, sus­pec­ted of be­ing in­fec­ted and per­sons sus­pec­ted of spread­ing patho­gens, the FOPH, the com­pet­ent can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies and the pub­lic and private in­sti­tu­tions en­trus­ted with tasks un­der this Act may pro­cess or ar­range for the pro­cessing of per­son­al data, in­clud­ing health data, with a view to tak­ing meas­ures to pro­tect pub­lic health, in par­tic­u­lar to de­tect, mon­it­or and con­trol com­mu­nic­able dis­eases.

² They shall be re­spons­ible for com­ply­ing with the data pro­tec­tion reg­u­la­tions.

³ The data may be re­tained for a max­im­um of ten years, un­less the spe­cif­ics of the dis­ease re­quire a longer re­ten­tion peri­od. There­after they shall be des­troyed or an­onymised.

¹ The fed­er­al and can­ton­al bod­ies re­spons­ible for im­ple­ment­ing this Act may dis­close to each oth­er per­son­al data, in­clud­ing data on health, which they re­quire in or­der to carry out the tasks as­signed to them un­der this Act.

² In par­tic­u­lar the fol­low­ing data may be dis­closed:

a.

sur­name, first name, ad­dress, date of birth and oc­cu­pa­tion;

b.

de­tails of travel routes, places of stay and con­tacts with per­sons, an­im­als and ob­jects;

c.

res­ults of med­ic­al tests;

d.

res­ults of epi­demi­olo­gic­al in­vest­ig­a­tions;

e.

de­tails of be­long­ing to a spe­cif­ic risk cat­egory;

f.

de­tails of meas­ures to pre­vent and com­bat a com­mu­nic­able dis­ease.

³ The FOPH and the can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies re­spons­ible for im­ple­ment­ing this Act may dis­close per­son­al data, in­clud­ing data on health, which are re­quired to pre­vent the spread of a com­mu­nic­able dis­ease to the fol­low­ing per­sons and au­thor­it­ies:

a.

doc­tors re­quired to treat com­mu­nic­able dis­eases;

b.

can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies that carry out tasks re­lated to de­tect­ing, mon­it­or­ing, pre­vent­ing and con­trolling com­mu­nic­able dis­eases;

c.

oth­er fed­er­al au­thor­it­ies, in­so­far as it is ne­ces­sary in or­der to im­ple­ment the le­gis­la­tion ap­plied by those au­thor­it­ies.

¹ The FOPH shall op­er­ate an in­form­a­tion sys­tem for stor­ing data re­lat­ing to per­sons who are ill, sus­pec­ted of be­ing ill, in­fec­ted or sus­pec­ted of be­ing in­fec­ted or who are spread­ing patho­gens.

² The in­form­a­tion sys­tem shall con­tain the fol­low­ing data:

a.

iden­ti­fic­a­tion data that en­able a per­son to be uniquely iden­ti­fied and to be con­tac­ted;

b.

de­tails of travel routes, places of stay and con­tacts with per­sons, an­im­als and ob­jects;

c

res­ults of med­ic­al tests;

d.

de­tails of meas­ures to pre­vent and con­trol a com­mu­nic­able dis­ease.

³ The in­form­a­tion sys­tem shall be used to:

a.

identi­fy and no­ti­fy per­sons who are ill, sus­pec­ted of be­ing ill, in­fec­ted or sus­pec­ted of be­ing in­fec­ted or who are spread­ing patho­gens;

b.

or­gan­ise meas­ures in re­la­tion to in­di­vidu­al per­sons in ac­cord­ance with Art­icles 33–38.

⁴ It shall also as­sist with the uni­form pro­cessing of data by the re­spons­ible au­thor­it­ies, the pro­duc­tion of stat­ist­ics and checks on im­ple­ment­a­tion.

⁵ The FOPH is re­spons­ible for the se­cur­ity of the in­form­a­tion sys­tem and the leg­al­ity of the pro­cessing of per­son­al data. The can­tons shall take ap­pro­pri­ate or­gan­isa­tion­al and tech­nic­al meas­ures to se­cure per­son­al data in their area of re­spons­ib­il­ity.

⁶ The FOPH shall check wheth­er the data it re­ceives are ac­cur­ate. It shall cor­rect in­ac­cur­ate data and des­troy un­ne­ces­sary data and no­ti­fy the data pro­viders con­cerned.

⁷ The in­form­a­tion sys­tem shall be made avail­able on­line to the FOPH, the can­ton­al bod­ies re­spons­ible for im­ple­ment­ing this Act and the Co­ordin­ated Med­ic­al Ser­vices for tasks with­in their area of re­spons­ib­il­ity.

⁸ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall stip­u­late the re­quire­ments for safe­guard­ing and de­let­ing data and reg­u­late the ac­cess rights.

⁹ The right to re­ceive in­form­a­tion on the data in the in­form­a­tion sys­tem and the right to have the data cor­rec­ted are gov­erned by Art­icles 25 and 41 of the Data Pro­tec­tion Act of 25 Septem­ber 2020⁸.⁹ Re­quests for in­form­a­tion on per­son­al data and for cor­rec­tions to be made to the data must be sent to the FOPH.

The Swiss Fed­er­al Stat­ist­ic­al Of­fice shall, for stat­ist­ic­al pur­poses, provide the FOPH each year with data from the stat­ist­ics on causes of death and the med­ic­al stat­ist­ics from hos­pit­als.

¹ In or­der to im­ple­ment this Act, the FOPH and the com­pet­ent can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies may provide for­eign au­thor­it­ies that have cor­res­pond­ing tasks and supra­na­tion­al and in­ter­na­tion­al or­gan­isa­tions with per­son­al data, in­clud­ing data on health, provided the state con­cerned and in par­tic­u­lar its le­gis­la­tion or the supra­na­tion­al or in­ter­na­tion­al or­gan­isa­tion guar­an­tees an ap­pro­pri­ate level of pri­vacy pro­tec­tion for the per­son con­cerned:

a.

the le­gis­la­tion of the state con­cerned or the supra­na­tion­al or in­ter­na­tion­al or­gan­isa­tion guar­an­tees an ap­pro­pri­ate level of data pro­tec­tion in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 16 para­graph 1 FADP¹¹; or

b.

the per­son­al data are dis­closed with spe­cif­ic guar­an­tees in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 16 para­graph 2 let­ter c FADP.¹²

² In par­tic­u­lar the fol­low­ing data may be dis­closed:

a.

sur­name, first name, ad­dress, date of birth and oc­cu­pa­tion;

b.

de­tails of travel routes, places of stay and con­tacts with per­sons, an­im­als and ob­jects;

c.

res­ults of med­ic­al tests;

d.

res­ults of epi­demi­olo­gic­al in­vest­ig­a­tions;

e.

de­tails of be­long­ing to a spe­cif­ic risk cat­egory;

f.

de­tails of meas­ures to pre­vent and com­bat a com­mu­nic­able dis­ease.

³ In derog­a­tion from para­graph 1, per­son­al data may only be dis­closed abroad if:¹³

a.¹⁴

...

b.

the per­son con­cerned has con­sen­ted in the giv­en case;

c.

dis­clos­ure in the giv­en case is es­sen­tial in or­der to safe­guard pub­lic health; or

d.¹⁵

dis­clos­ure in the giv­en case is re­quired to pro­tect the life or phys­ic­al in­teg­rity of the per­son con­cerned and it is not pos­sible to ob­tain con­sent from the per­son con­cerned with­in a reas­on­able time.

The or­der­ing au­thor­ity may com­pensate per­sons who suf­fer loss or dam­age as a res­ult of of­fi­cial meas­ures in ac­cord­ance with Art­icles 33–38 and 41 para­graph 3, tak­ing ac­count of the fin­an­cial cir­cum­stances of the per­sons con­cerned, in­so­far as the loss or dam­age is not oth­er­wise covered.

¹ Any per­son who is harmed by an of­fi­cially ordered or of­fi­cially re­com­men­ded vac­cin­a­tion has the right to com­pens­a­tion.

² Com­pens­a­tion shall only be awar­ded if the loss or dam­age can­not oth­er­wise be covered through reas­on­able ef­fort.

¹ Any per­son who is harmed by an of­fi­cially ordered or of­fi­cially re­com­men­ded vac­cin­a­tion has the right to sat­is­fac­tion if the harm is suf­fi­ciently ser­i­ous to jus­ti­fy this; Art­icles 47 and 49 of the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions¹⁷ ap­ply by ana­logy.

² The sat­is­fac­tion is de­term­ined by the ser­i­ous­ness of the harm.

³ It may not ex­ceed 70,000 francs.

⁴ Sat­is­fac­tion shall only be awar­ded if no pay­ment or an in­suf­fi­cient pay­ment is made by oth­er per­sons. The sat­is­fac­tion shall be re­duced by the amount of any sat­is­fac­tion pay­ments made by oth­er per­sons.

¹ Any per­son who wishes to claim com­pens­a­tion or sat­is­fac­tion must file a claim with the FDHA.

² Any per­son who has been harmed by a vac­cin­a­tion must file the claim for com­pens­a­tion or sat­is­fac­tion be­fore reach­ing the age of 21 or with­in five years of the vac­cin­a­tion.

³ No in­terest shall be pay­able on the com­pens­a­tion or the sat­is­fac­tion.

The FDHA may re­duce the com­pens­a­tion or sat­is­fac­tion or fore­go mak­ing any pay­ment if the per­son suf­fer­ing harm was sub­stan­tially to blame for the harm suffered.

¹ In the case of re­com­men­ded vac­cin­a­tions, the Con­fed­er­a­tion and the can­ton in which the vac­cin­a­tion takes places shall each pay one half of the costs of the com­pens­a­tion or sat­is­fac­tion.

² In the case of com­puls­ory vac­cin­a­tions, the en­tire costs of the com­pens­a­tion or sat­is­fac­tion shall be paid by:

a.

the Con­fed­er­a­tion if it has de­clared the vac­cin­a­tion to be man­dat­ory;

b.

the can­ton that de­clared the vac­cin­a­tion to be man­dat­ory.

¹ The FDHA de­cides after con­sult­ing the Fed­er­al Com­mis­sion for Vac­cin­a­tion and the can­ton con­cerned wheth­er com­pens­a­tion or sat­is­fac­tion is to be paid.

² Any per­son who claims com­pens­a­tion or sat­is­fac­tion must cred­ibly demon­strate that oth­er per­sons have not made any pay­ments or that the pay­ments made by oth­er per­sons are in­ad­equate.

³ Ap­peal pro­ceed­ings are gov­erned by the gen­er­al pro­vi­sions on the ad­min­is­tra­tion of fed­er­al justice.

¹ The Con­fed­er­a­tion may un­der­take to cov­er any loss or dam­age for which the man­u­fac­turer of a thera­peut­ic product un­der Art­icle 44 may be held li­able as the con­sequence of the product be­ing used as re­com­men­ded or ordered by the Con­fed­er­a­tion in a spe­cial or ex­traordin­ary situ­ation.

² The ex­tent and the mod­al­it­ies of the cov­er shall be set out in an agree­ment between the Con­fed­er­a­tion and the man­u­fac­turer.

The can­tons shall bear the cost of:

a.

meas­ures in re­la­tion to the pop­u­la­tion or in­di­vidu­al per­sons, in­so­far as the costs are not oth­er­wise covered;

b.

epi­demi­olo­gic­al in­vest­ig­a­tions un­der Art­icle 15 para­graph 1.

The pro­pri­et­or of a mode of trans­port, an in­stall­a­tion or a product shall bear the costs of dis­in­fec­tion or dis­in­fest­a­tion.

¹ The Con­fed­er­a­tion shall bear the cost of sup­ply­ing the pop­u­la­tion with thera­peut­ic products pur­su­ant to Art­icle 44.

² If thera­peut­ic products are sup­plied, the costs shall be borne ac­cord­ing to the re­quire­ments:

a.

of the Fed­er­al Act of 18 March 1994¹⁸ on Health In­sur­ance;

b.

of the Fed­er­al Act of 20 March 1981¹⁹ on Ac­ci­dent In­sur­ance;

c.

of the Fed­er­al Act of 19 June 1992²⁰ on Mil­it­ary In­sur­ance.

³ If the costs are not or not com­pletely as­sumed in ac­cord­ance with para­graph 2, they shall be borne by the Con­fed­er­a­tion.

¹ The Con­fed­er­a­tion shall bear the cost of test­ing, mon­it­or­ing, quar­ant­ine, isol­a­tion and treat­ment ordered by its bod­ies for pas­sen­gers on in­ter­na­tion­al trans­port ser­vices, as well as the costs in­curred as a res­ult of the duty to co­oper­ate un­der Art­icle 43 para­graph 1 let­ters b, d and e.

² Com­pan­ies that trans­port per­sons in­ter­na­tion­ally by rail, bus, ship or air, air­port op­er­at­ors, port op­er­at­ors, rail­way sta­tions and bus sta­tions and travel busi­nesses shall bear the costs in­curred for pre­par­a­tions made un­der Art­icle 42 and as a res­ult of the duty to co­oper­ate un­der Art­icle 43 para­graph 1 let­ters a and c. The Con­fed­er­a­tion may con­trib­ute to ex­cep­tion­al out­lays and ex­pendit­ures if these place the com­pan­ies con­cerned un­der an un­reas­on­able fin­an­cial bur­den.

The can­tons shall im­ple­ment this Act, un­less the Con­fed­er­a­tion is re­spons­ible.

¹ The can­tons shall re­port to the FDHA on the im­ple­ment­a­tion of the Act.

² The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall reg­u­late the fre­quency, form and con­tent of the re­ports.

¹ The Con­fed­er­a­tion shall su­per­vise the im­ple­ment­a­tion of this Act by the can­tons.

² It shall co­ordin­ate the im­ple­ment­ing meas­ures taken by the can­tons, in­so­far as there is an in­terest in uni­form im­ple­ment­a­tion.

³ It may for this pur­pose:

a.

spe­cify the meas­ures that the can­tons must take to achieve uni­form im­ple­ment­a­tion;

b.

in­struct the can­tons to take spe­cif­ic im­ple­ment­ing meas­ures in re­sponse to risks to pub­lic health;

c.

re­quire the can­tons to in­form the Con­fed­er­a­tion about im­ple­ment­ing meas­ures;

d.

spe­cify the re­quire­ments the can­tons must meet in their pre­par­at­ory and emer­gency plans.

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall is­sue the im­ple­ment­ing pro­vi­sions.

² It may del­eg­ate the is­su­ing of im­ple­ment­ing pro­vi­sions to the re­spons­ible fed­er­al of­fice, tak­ing ac­count of their scope.

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil may del­eg­ate im­ple­ment­a­tion tasks to pub­lic or private or­gan­isa­tions.

² It shall su­per­vise the or­gan­isa­tions and per­sons en­trus­ted with im­ple­ment­a­tion tasks.

³ Pub­lic or private or­gan­isa­tions that carry out im­ple­ment­a­tion tasks un­der para­graph 1 are en­titled to com­pens­a­tion. The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall reg­u­late the ex­tent and mod­al­it­ies of com­pens­a­tion.

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil may enter in­to in­ter­na­tion­al agree­ments on:

a.

the ex­change of data used for epi­demi­olo­gic­al mon­it­or­ing;

b.

the mu­tu­al pro­vi­sion of in­form­a­tion on the out­break and spread of com­mu­nic­able dis­eases;

c.

im­me­di­ate no­ti­fic­a­tion where there is an im­min­ent risk of com­mu­nic­able dis­eases cross­ing the na­tion­al bor­der;

d.

the har­mon­isa­tion of meas­ures for de­tect­ing, mon­it­or­ing, pre­vent­ing and con­trolling com­mu­nic­able dis­eases;

e.

the trans­port of dead bod­ies bey­ond the na­tion­al bor­der;

f.²¹

…

² The com­pet­ent fed­er­al agen­cies shall work with for­eign au­thor­it­ies and in­sti­tu­tions and with in­ter­na­tion­al or­gan­isa­tions.

³ The FOPH shall carry out the tasks of the Na­tion­al IHR Fo­cal Point in ac­cord­ance with the In­ter­na­tion­al Health Reg­u­la­tions (2005) of 23 May 2005²². In par­tic­u­lar, it shall re­port events to the WHO that could lead to a pub­lic health emer­gency of in­ter­na­tion­al con­cern.

The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall peri­od­ic­ally re­view the ef­fect­ive­ness, ap­pro­pri­ate­ness and fin­an­cial vi­ab­il­ity of the meas­ures un­der this Act.

¹ Un­less a more ser­i­ous of­fence un­der the Swiss Crim­in­al Code²³ has been com­mit­ted, any per­son who wil­fully com­mits any of the fol­low­ing acts shall be li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty:

a.

fail­ing to take the re­quired con­tain­ment meas­ures when work­ing with dan­ger­ous patho­gens in con­tained sys­tems (Art. 26);

b.

re­leas­ing or mar­ket­ing patho­gens for ex­per­i­ment­al pur­poses without a li­cence (Art. 27);

c.

mar­ket­ing patho­gens without duly in­form­ing cus­tom­ers about their health-re­lated prop­er­ties and risks and about the re­quired pre­cau­tion­ary and pre­vent­ive meas­ures (Art. 28);

d.

breach­ing re­stric­tions on cer­tain activ­it­ies or the prac­tice of a pro­fes­sion (Art. 38).

² A per­son act­ing through neg­li­gence shall be li­able to a mon­et­ary pen­alty for mis­de­mean­ours un­der para­graph 1.

¹ Any per­son who wil­fully com­mits any of the fol­low­ing acts shall be li­able to a fine:

a.

fail­ing to com­ply with the duty to re­port (Art. 12);

b.

con­duct­ing a mi­cro­bi­o­lo­gic­al test to de­tect com­mu­nic­able dis­eases without a li­cence (Art. 16);

c.

fail­ing to com­ply with the reg­u­la­tions on pre­vent­ing the trans­mis­sion of dis­eases (Art. 19);

d.

is­su­ing an in­ter­na­tion­al cer­ti­fic­ate of vac­cin­a­tion or of oth­er pro­phy­lax­is without a li­cence (Art. 23);

e.

fail­ing to com­ply with the duty of care when hand­ling patho­gens or their tox­ic products (Art. 25);

f.

fail­ing to com­ply with oth­er reg­u­la­tions on hand­ling patho­gens (Art. 29);

g.

fail­ing to com­ply with a med­ic­al mon­it­or­ing or­der (Art. 34);

h.

fail­ing to com­ply with a quar­ant­ine or isol­a­tion or­der (Art. 35);

i.

fail­ing to com­ply with a med­ic­al ex­am­in­a­tion or­der (Art. 36);

j.

fail­ing to com­ply with meas­ures in re­la­tion to the pop­u­la­tion (Art. 40);

k.

fail­ing to com­ply with reg­u­la­tions re­lat­ing to en­ter­ing or leav­ing Switzer­land (Art. 41);

l.

fail­ing to com­ply with ob­lig­a­tions to co­oper­ate (Arts 43, 47 para. 2 and 48 para. 2);

m.

fail­ing to com­ply with reg­u­la­tions on trans­port or on the im­port, ex­port and trans­it of goods (Art. 45);

n.²⁴

…

² A per­son act­ing through neg­li­gence shall be li­able to a fine not ex­ceed­ing 5,000 francs for con­tra­ven­tions un­der para­graph 1.

¹ The pro­sec­u­tion and ad­ju­dic­a­tion of of­fences is a mat­ter for the can­tons.

² Art­icles 6, 7 (of­fences by busi­nesses) and 15 (for­gery of doc­u­ments, ob­tain­ing a false cer­ti­fic­ate by fraud) of the Fed­er­al Act of 22 March 1974²⁵ on Ad­min­is­trat­ive Crim­in­al Law also ap­ply to the can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies.

The fol­low­ing Fed­er­al Acts are re­pealed:

1.

Fed­er­al Act of 18 Decem­ber 1970²⁶ on the Con­trol of Com­mu­nic­able Hu­man Dis­eases;

2.

Fed­er­al Act of 13 June 1928²⁷ on Meas­ures against Tuber­cu­los­is.

The fol­low­ing fed­er­al acts are amended as fol­lows:

...²⁸

¹ Li­cences un­der Art­icles 5 para­graph 1^bis, 29a para­graph 1 and 29c para­graph 2 of the Epi­dem­ics Act of 18 Decem­ber 1970²⁹ re­main val­id un­til their ex­piry date or for for five years after this Act comes in­to force, whichever is earli­er.

² Re­cog­ni­tions un­der Art­icle 5 para­graph 1 of the Epi­dem­ics Act of 18 Decem­ber 1970 re­main val­id un­til their ex­piry date or for five years after this Act comes in­to force, whichever is earli­er.

³ Labor­at­or­ies that did not re­quire a li­cence and did not have val­id re­cog­ni­tion be­fore this Act came in­to force, but which re­quire a li­cence after this Act comes in­to force, must ap­ply for the li­cence with­in one year after this Act comes in­to force. They may con­tin­ue to con­duct tests un­til the com­pet­ent fed­er­al au­thor­ity is­sues its de­cision on the li­cence.

¹ This Act is sub­ject to an op­tion­al ref­er­en­dum.

² The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall de­term­ine the com­mence­ment date.

Com­mence­ment date: 1 Janu­ary 2016³⁰