Swiss Criminal Code

¹ The gen­er­al pro­vi­sions of this Code ap­ply to of­fences provided for in oth­er fed­er­al acts un­less these fed­er­al acts them­selves con­tain de­tailed pro­vi­sions on such of­fences.

² In the oth­er fed­er­al acts, the terms be­low are re­placed as fol­lows:

a.

pen­al ser­vitude by a cus­todi­al sen­tence of more than one year;

b.

im­pris­on­ment by a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or by a mon­et­ary pen­alty;

c.

im­pris­on­ment for less than six months by a mon­et­ary pen­alty, whereby a one-month cus­todi­al sen­tence cor­res­ponds to a mon­et­ary pen­alty of 30 daily pen­alty units up to a max­im­um of 3000 francs.

³ An of­fence that car­ries a max­im­um pen­alty of de­ten­tion or a fine or of a fine only is a con­tra­ven­tion. Art­icles 106 and 107 ap­ply. Art­icle 8 of the Fed­er­al Act of 22 March 1974⁴³² on Ad­min­is­trat­ive Crim­in­al Law is re­served. An of­fence is also a con­tra­ven­tion if, in terms of an­oth­er Fed­er­al Act that came in­to force be­fore 1942, it car­ries a term of im­pris­on­ment not ex­ceed­ing three months.

⁴ Sen­tences of lengths dif­fer­ing from those men­tioned in para­graph 2 and Art­icle 41 as well as fines of amounts dif­fer­ing from those men­tioned in Art­icle 106 are re­served.

⁵ If an­oth­er fed­er­al act provides for a fine to be im­posed for a felony or mis­de­mean­our, Art­icle 34 ap­plies. Rules on de­term­in­ing a pen­alty that dif­fer from Art­icle 34 do not ap­ply. Art­icle 8 of the Fed­er­al Act of 22 March 1974 on Ad­min­is­trat­ive Crim­in­al Law re­mains re­served. If the fine is lim­ited to a sum un­der 1 080 000 francs, this lim­it no longer ap­plies. If the fine is lim­ited to a sum ex­ceed­ing 1 080 000 francs, this lim­it con­tin­ues to ap­ply. In this case, the max­im­um num­ber of daily pen­alty units equals the cur­rent max­im­um fine di­vided by 3000.

⁶ Un­til they have been amended, the fol­low­ing ap­plies in oth­er fed­er­al acts:

a.

the lim­it­a­tion peri­ods for the pro­sec­u­tion of felon­ies and mis­de­mean­ours are in­creased by half and the lim­it­a­tion peri­ods for the pro­sec­u­tion of con­tra­ven­tions by twice the or­din­ary dur­a­tion;

b.

the lim­it­a­tion peri­ods for the pro­sec­u­tion of con­tra­ven­tions that ex­ceed one year are in­creased by the or­din­ary dur­a­tion;

c.

the rules on the in­ter­rup­tion and sus­pen­sion of the lim­it­a­tion peri­od for pro­sec­u­tion are re­pealed. Art­icle 11 para­graph 3 of the Fed­er­al Act of 22 March 1974 on Ad­min­is­trat­ive Crim­in­al Law re­mains re­served;

d.

the lim­it­a­tion peri­od for pro­sec­u­tion no longer ap­plies if a judg­ment is is­sued by a court of first in­stance be­fore ex­piry of the lim­it­a­tion peri­od.

e.

the lim­it­a­tion peri­ods for the ex­e­cu­tion of pen­al­ties for felon­ies and mis­de­mean­ours con­tin­ue to ap­ply, and those for pen­al­ties for con­tra­ven­tions are in­creased by one half.

f.

the pro­vi­sions on the sus­pen­sion of the lim­it­a­tion peri­od for the ex­e­cu­tion of a pen­alty con­tin­ue to ap­ply, and those on in­ter­rup­tion are re­pealed.

⁷ The con­tra­ven­tions provided for in oth­er fed­er­al acts are of­fences, even if they have been com­mit­ted through neg­li­gence, un­less only in­ten­tion­al com­mis­sion is an of­fence in terms of the pro­vi­sion con­cerned.