Federal Act
on International Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters
(Mutual Assistance Act, IMAC)

¹ An au­thor­ity pro­sec­ut­ing of­fences may, without be­ing re­ques­ted to do so, trans­mit to a for­eign au­thor­ity pro­sec­ut­ing of­fences in­form­a­tion or evid­ence that it has gathered in the course of its own in­vest­ig­a­tion, when it de­term­ines that this trans­mis­sion may:

a.

per­mit the open­ing of crim­in­al pro­ceed­ings; or

b.

fa­cil­it­ate an on­go­ing crim­in­al in­vest­ig­a­tion.

² The trans­mis­sion as defined in para­graph 1 does not have any ef­fect on the crim­in­al pro­ceed­ings pending in Switzer­land.

³ The trans­mis­sion of evid­ence to a State with which Switzer­land does not have an in­ter­na­tion­al agree­ment shall be sub­ject to au­thor­isa­tion by the FOJ.

⁴ Para­graphs 1 and 2 do not ap­ply to evid­ence that is sub­ject to the rules on secrecy.

⁵ In­form­a­tion that is sub­ject to the rules on secrecy may be trans­mit­ted if it may en­able the for­eign State to present a re­quest for mu­tu­al as­sist­ance.

⁶ A re­cord shall be made of each spon­tan­eous trans­mis­sion.