The Swiss Federal government (Federal Council) has adopted a set of draft amendments to the Telecommunications Law of 1997.

Key features of the proposed text, which still has to be voted by Parliament (Federal Assembly) are:

• Abolition of the concession system for most networks and services, and its replacement by a simple notification procedure (a concession system is maintained for universal service provider(s)).
• Introduction of the notion of dominance of network operators and service providers.
• Confirmation by law (of prior secondary regulations) that dominant operators must provide interconnection, local loop unbundling, shared access to the local loop, bitstream access, and leased lines at cost-oriented tariffs.
• Possibility for the Communications Commission (COMCOM) to impose specific further access obligations on dominant operators (e.g. wholesale line rental).
• Rules on bundling (and separation of bundled services) by dominant operators.

The full text of the draft amendments to the Telecommunications Law (in French) can be accessed by clicking here.

An explanatory memorandum is available by clicking here.

For a detailed discussion of the implications of this draft, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it