National Council must once again deal with national address service
Published: Monday, Sep 16th 2024, 19:20
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The National Council must once again deal with the federal law proposed by the federal government for the creation of a national address service. The Council of States rejected a referral of the law to the Federal Council on Monday by 31 votes to 11.
The small chamber thus followed the majority of its State Policy Committee (SPK-S). The latter had requested the Council to reject the referral by 9 votes to 4.
The Federal Council's draft provides for the creation of a central database containing the addresses of natural persons. It would be set up and managed by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Access should be granted to certain administrative offices and third parties that fulfill a legal mandate. They should now be able to query address data for the entire resident population throughout Switzerland. The Federal Council explained that this would simplify the work of the administration.
The Council of States had already approved the Address Service Act (ADG) by a large majority in last year's winter session. A majority of the National Council's Political Institutions Committee (SPK-N), however, criticized the Federal Council's draft law as immature. It lacked a constitutional basis for the federal government to take action in this area. The large chamber then voted in favor of a rejection - against the will of the Council's left wing, the GLP and the two EPP representatives.
The SPK-S consulted constitutional lawyers and a representative of the Conference of Cantonal Governments (KDK) before making its decision, said spokesperson Mathias Zopfi (Greens/GL) in the Council on Monday. The hearings had shown that the constitutionality was justifiable. According to the commission, the cantons also want the project to be implemented quickly. They consider the bill to be an important project in the area of digitalization of the administration.
This means that the National Council will once again have to decide on the matter. If the upper chamber sticks to its decision, the referral to the Federal Council will still take effect.
©Keystone/SDA
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