The Swiss Federal Council,

in accordance with Article 29c paragraphs 2 and 3, 29d paragraphs 2 and 4, 29f, 38 paragraph 3, 39 paragraph 1, 41 paragraphs 2 and 3, 44 paragraph 3, 46 paragraphs 2 and 3, 48 paragraph 2 and 59b of the Environmental Protection Act of 7 October 1983¹ (EPA) with Article 11 paragraph 2, 12 paragraph 2, 14, 17 paragraphs 1, 2, 4 and 5, 19, 20 paragraphs 1–3, 24 paragraphs 2 and 3, 25 and 34 of the Gene Technology Act of 21 March 2003² (GTA) and Article 29a paragraphs 2 and 3 as well as 29d of the Epidemics Act of 18 December 1970³ as well as in implementation of Articles 8 and 19 of the Convention on Biological Diversity of 5 June 1992⁴

ordains:

Section 1: General Requirements for Handling Organisms

Art. 4 Self-supervision for marketing

Art. 5 Informing the recipients

Art. 6 Taking due care

Section 2: Requirements for Handling Genetically Modified Organisms

Art. 7 Protection of human beings, animals, the environment and biological diversity from genetically modified organisms

Art. 8 Protecting habitats and landscapes that are particularly sensitive or worthy of protection against genetically modified organisms

Art. 9 Protection of production that does not use genetically modified organisms

Art. 10 Labelling of genetically modified organisms

Art. 11 Liability guarantee for genetically modified organisms

Section 3: Requirements for Handling Pathogenic Organisms

Art. 12 Protection of human beings, animals, the environment and biological diversity from pathogenic organisms

Art. 13 Protecting habitats that are particularly sensitive or worthy of protection against pathogenic organisms

Art. 14 Liability guarantee for pathogenic organisms

Section 4: Requirements for Handling Alien Organisms

Art. 15 Protection of human beings, animals, the environment and biological diversity from alien organisms

Art. 16 Protecting habitats and landscapes that are particularly sensitive or worthy of protection against alien organisms

Section 1: Experimental Releases

Art. 17 Licensing requirement

Art. 18 Exceptions from the licensing requirement

Art. 19 Licence applications for experimental releases of genetically modified organisms

Art. 20 Licence applications for experimental releases of pathogenic organisms

Art. 21 Licence applications for experimental releases of alien small invertebrates

Art. 22 Simplified licensing procedure

Art. 23 Changes and new findings

Art. 24 Reporting

Section 2: Marketing

Art. 25 Licensing requirement

Art. 26 Applicable licensing procedure

Art. 27 Exceptions from the licensing requirement

Art. 28 Licence applications for marketing genetically modified organisms

Art. 29 Licence applications for marketing pathogenic organisms

Art. 30 Licence applications for marketing alien small invertebrates

Art. 31 New findings

Art. 32 Notification of the release of genetically modified organisms in the environment

Section 3: Common Provisions

Art. 33 Residence, business premises

Art. 34 Number of copies of application

Art. 35 Legal succession

Section 1: Experimental Releases

Art. 36 Application documents, publication and public information

Art. 37 Examination of the application, involvement of the specialist agencies

Art. 38 Issue of a licence

Art. 39 Simplified licensing procedure

Art. 40 New findings

Art. 41 Monitoring of authorised experimental releases

Section 2: Marketing

Art. 42 Application documents and publication

Art. 43 Examination of the application, involvement of federal offices and committees

Art. 44 Issue of a licence

Art. 45 New findings

Art. 46 Monitoring of self-supervision

Art. 47 Subsequent monitoring (supervising the market) in accordance with other regulations

Art. 48 Subsequent monitoring (supervising the market) in accordance with this Ordinance

Section 3: Monitoring the Duty of Care

Art. 49

Section 4: Monitoring Environmental Pollution and Control of Organisms

Art. 50 Surveys

Art. 51 Environmental monitoring

Art. 52 Control

Art. 53 Costs

Section 5: Accessibility of Information

Art. 54 Public nature of the information

Art. 55 Confidentiality of information

Art. 56 Registers

Section 6: Fees

Art. 57

Section 7: Further Duties of the FOEN and of DETEC

Art. 58 Guidelines, training and further education

Art. 59 Modification of the lists in Annex 2

The Federal Authorities of the Swiss Confederation
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