The Confederation supports the cultural dissemination, the economic viability, the continuity and the development potential of the independent Swiss film industry. To this end, it may provide financial assistance and other forms of support for the development of projects as well as for the production and exploitation of:

a.

Swiss films;

b.

films co-produced by Switzerland and other countries.

In order to promote the cultural and linguistic diversity and the quality of the films on offer, the Confederation may provide financial assistance and other forms of support, in particular for distribution, public screening and sales.

The Confederation may provide financial assistance and other forms of support for:

a.

the dissemination of film culture and for increasing film awareness;

b.

film festivals that make a significant contribution to the national or international film culture;

c.

the archiving and restoration of films;

d.

cooperation among the various sectors of the film industry;

e.

further institutions and efforts that make a significant contribution to the maintenance and development of film production and film culture in Switzerland as well as innovation in these fields;

f.

international cooperation in the film sector.

The Confederation may provide financial assistance and other forms of support for the continuing education and training of persons working in the film industry.

The Confederation may reward outstanding contributions to film production and film culture by awarding prizes or other distinctions.

¹ Financial assistance is provided in accordance with criteria related to quality (selective promotion), success (success-linked promotion) or location (location-linked promotion).

² The Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA) determines the requirements, in particular the reinvestment obligations, and the procedure.

¹ The Confederation may delegate film promotion in a particular field to a private organisation provided third parties make an important contribution to such promotion.

² The Federal Council decides on the principle of delegation on a case-to-case basis. The FDHA¹ determines the general conditions and appoints the representatives of the Confederation.

³ The Confederation shall enter into a service agreement with the organisation in order to regulate the mutual obligations. The service agreement provides for a court of arbitration that decides, without right of appeal, on disputes between the organisation and entitled parties.

The Confederation may enter into service agreements with legal entities that regularly receive financial assistance.

¹ The FDHA regulates the organisation of film promotion through promotion concepts.

² The promotion concepts are issued for the individual promotion areas in accordance with Articles 3–6 as well as for awards in accordance with Article 7. They define the goals that should be achieved, designate the promotion instruments and determine the decisive criteria.

³ The promotion concepts issued have a period of validity of from three to five years.

¹ The appropriateness and effectiveness of the promotion concepts and the promotion instruments are assessed regularly.

² The results of the assessment are made public.

³ The FDHA regulates the assessment procedure.

¹ Financial assistance shall be provided within the limits of the authorised credits in the form of non-repayable cash payments, deficit guarantees, interest subsidies, credit guarantees, payments in kind or conditionally repayable loans.

² Support may also be provided in the form of advice or recommendations and by issuing letters of comfort or providing other services in kind.

¹ Financial assistance and other forms of support are awarded by the Federal Office¹ responsible (Federal Office).

² If the Federal Office does not have the required technical knowledge, it shall have the applications assessed by technical committees or specially instructed experts.

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¹ The financing of film promotion is governed by Article 27 of the Culture Promotion Act of 11 December 2009¹.²

² Income from the tax on the promotion of the diversity of films on offer, contributions from broadcasting organisations as well as any payments and benefits from third parties are included in the financial budget and earmarked for use in film promotion.

³ The Federal Office allocates the available resources annually to the promotion areas in accordance with Articles 3–6. In doing so it takes account of the promotion concepts and stipulates the maximum amounts of assistance that may be awarded to any individual project in each promotion area.

¹ No financial assistance is awarded to:

a.

advertising films;

b.

films that are primarily educational in their objective;

c.

films that produced to order.

² Films that are completely excluded from film promotion measures include films:

a.

that offend human dignity;

b.

that portray members of either sex of a specific group in a degrading manner;

c.

that glorify or trivialise violence;

d.

that are pornographic in character.

¹ Distribution and projection companies must contribute in their activities to the diversity of films on offer by means of:

a.

their business policy;

b.

measures agreed within the industry.

² The measures include agreements in which distribution and projection companies or their professional associations undertake to organise the programming for a cinema region to provide as much diversity and quality as possible.

³ Before entering into an agreement within the industry, the associations involved shall consult the FDHA on the measures planned to promote the diversity of the films on offer and linguistic diversity.

The diversity of films on offer in a cinema region is guaranteed if the films on offer, given the number of screens used and the size of the cinema region, originate in sufficient numbers from a variety of countries, are of a variety of genres and represent a variety of film styles.

¹ Films subsidised by the Confederation must be made available in more than one national language.

² A company may distribute a title for its first public showing in the cinema or for other uses of the work only if it holds the rights for the whole of Switzerland to all language versions that are available for exploitation in Switzerland.¹

³ The foregoing does not apply to exploitation by broadcasting organisations in programme services under Article 2 letter a of the Federal Act of 24 March 2006² on Radio and Television.³

¹ The Federal Office regularly assesses the effect of the activities and measures in accordance with Article 17 on the basis of the information received in terms of Article 24 periodically. It publishes the results of the assessment and allows the industry, and in particular the promotion organisations that are party to agreements in terms of Article 17 paragraph 3, the opportunity to state its views.

² If the Federal Office establishes in the course of the assessment that the diversity of films on offer in a cinema region is inadequate, it shall require the distribution and projection companies concerned to take measures within a reasonable time to re-establish the diversity of films.

³ In relation to distribution and projection companies that have entered into an agreement in terms of Article 17 paragraph 3, the instructions are issued to the promotion organisation. This shall take the required measures independently in order to re-establish the diversity of films on offer within a reasonable time.

¹ If the position required by the law is not re-established within a reasonable time, the Confederation may levy a tax. The FDHA decides on whether the tax is levied after hearing the parties concerned and the Film Commission (Art. 25).

² The rate of tax is a maximum of 2 francs per admission, and is levied on the admissions achieved by the distribution and projection companies concerned in a cinema region. These companies, subject to the provisions of Article 22, each pay one half of the tax.

³ After deduction of the costs of implementation, the income from the tax is used to promote the diversity of films on offer in the distribution sector and in public projection in the cinema region concerned.

⁴ The tax may be levied for as long as is required to re-establish the position required by the law.

¹ Distribution and projection companies may secure exemption from payment of the tax by making a formal undertaking to the Confederation to make a special contribution to the diversity and quality of the films on offer in a cinema region.

² In the event of wilful non-compliance with the undertaking in terms of paragraph 1, the tax becomes due for payment without any further formalities.

¹ Whoever on a professional basis screens films in public or distributes films intended to be screened in public must be registered in a public federal register before engaging in their activity.

² In order to be able to register, it is necessary to be domiciled or to have one’s head office in Switzerland.

³ In order for a legal entity to be able to register, the members of its senior management must be domiciled in Switzerland. Notice must be given to the Federal Office of any change occurring in the members of the senior management.

¹ The production companies receiving support must submit a report every year on the titles and technical data of the films produced, as well as on the results obtained in Switzerland and abroad from their exploitation.

² The distribution companies must submit a report every month on titles of the films distributed, the places of screening, the screens on which they are projected and the number of admissions attained (cinema attendance).

³ The projection companies in the key towns submit a report every week, and other projection companies every month, on the titles screened, the screens on which they are projected and the admissions achieved per title and per screen.

^3bis Companies that exploit films in order to use the works outside cinemas shall file a report every year on the results obtained from the exploitation of the firms according to language version.¹

⁴ The reports are made to the Confederation or to an organisation recognised by the Confederation.

⁵ The data referred to in paragraphs 2, 3 and 3^bis shall be published regularly.²