Tasks of the SFAO

There are three groups:

Persons and political organisations whose campaign expenditure for a federal vote exceeds 50 000 francs.

Persons and political organisations whose campaign expenditure for a National Council election exceeds
50 000 francs.

Persons and political organisations whose campaign expenditure for a successful Council of States election exceeds 50 000 francs. Only campaigns of State Councillors who are elected are subject to the reporting requirement.

Political parties and non-party members who are represented in the Federal Assembly. Party branches at cantonal and communal levels are in principle not affected.

Here you can find out what needs to be reported and when.

To gain access to the electronic reporting register, political actors must register in advance: request for registration.

For security reasons, the registration form is sent to the political actors by post once their request for registration has been validated. Only then is it possible to access the register electronically. Political actors can authorise third parties to access the electronic register on their behalf (registration form).

The authorised users are informed via email of the access to the electronic reporting register. A user manual is available for the electronic reporting register.

Non-compliance with the rules on transparency in political funding can be reported to the SFAO via its whistleblowing plattform. A justified suspicion is sufficient grounds for reporting.

Budgeted receipts and previously granted or pledged benefits exceeding 15 000 francs (applies only for votes and National Council elections, not for Council of States elections); the final statement of receipts (broken down into monetary/non-monetary benefits, receipts from events, receipts from the sale of goods and services, and own monetary funds); specifically, all benefits exceeding 15 000 francs (monetary and non-monetary).

The same information as for National Council election campaigns, plus all anonymous benefits and benefits from abroad.

The final statement of receipts broken down into monetary and non-monetary benefits, receipts from events, receipts from the sale of goods and services, as well as receipts from member contributions and receipts from federal mandate contributions (shown separately). For non-party members of the Federal Assembly, the SFAO publishes all monetary and non-monetary benefits exceeding 15 000 francs.

All data subject to the reporting requirement can be consulted in the electronic reporting register.

The SFAO generally performs two types of controls: formal and material.

In the case of a formal control, the SFAO checks whether the reports are complete and submitted within the deadline.

In the case of a material control, it checks whether the content of data and documents is correct, and whether the stated sources of receipts, benefits and amounts are correct and complete. Material controls are conducted on a sampling basis and may also take place on site.

For campaigns subject to the reporting requirement, the control takes place within 15 days after the data has been submitted. In complex cases, it may also take place after the 15-day deadline.

The SFAO has no investigative powers and does not issue orders. If the SFAO finds that certain data or documents were submitted late, incomplete or incorrectly, or that the content is incorrect, it sets a deadline for retrospective reporting. If the required data and documents are not reported by the retrospective reporting deadline, or in the case of invalid content, the SFAO is obliged to refer this to the prosecution authorities as a potential criminal offence.

The SFAO publishes a list of all political actors who have been subject to a material control under News and deadlines.