Government and
Administration Organisation Ordinance
(GAOO)

(Art. 13, 16 paras. 1 and 4, 17 GAOA)

¹ As a gen­er­al rule, Fed­er­al Coun­cil ses­sions shall be held once a week.

² Busi­ness of ma­jor im­port­ance or polit­ic­al sig­ni­fic­ance shall be dis­cussed and de­cided in­di­vidu­ally. Busi­ness of far-reach­ing sig­ni­fic­ance may be dealt with in the con­text of closed-door meet­ings.

³ The re­main­ing busi­ness may, if un­con­tested, be passed as a whole without in­di­vidu­al dis­cus­sion or may be dealt with by writ­ten res­ol­u­tion. Pres­id­en­tial de­cisions pur­su­ant to Art­icle 26 para­graph 4 GAOA re­main re­served.⁴

⁴ If cir­cum­stances re­quire it and there is no time to hold a meet­ing, the Fed­er­al Coun­cil may also dis­cuss in­di­vidu­al items of busi­ness as men­tioned in para­graph 2 in writ­ing or by oth­er means. These res­ol­u­tions are equi­val­ent to those taken at meet­ings. Pres­id­en­tial de­cisions pur­su­ant to Art­icle 26 para­graphs 1-3 GAOA re­main re­served.⁵

⁵ The res­ol­u­tions shall be re­cor­ded in writ­ing for each item of busi­ness.