Parliamentary technical cooperation includes technical activities undertaken by a parliament or its administration in favour of another parliament. These activities seek to strengthen a parliament in the exercise of its constitutional functions. Parliamentary technical cooperation differs from parliamentary diplomacy in that its activities and exchanges are mainly of a technical rather than a political nature. Switzerland’s parliamentary technical cooperation commitments involve SPS staff and mainly target foreign parliamentary administrations.

SPS parliamentary technical cooperation mainly involves exchanges between administrations of best parliamentary practices, training or guidance. In particular, the SPS offer their expertise to help parliamentary administrations develop new skills and offer new services to their MPs and citizens.
Engagements take the form of missions abroad lasting a few days or hosting foreign delegations as part of study visits to Switzerland. A large part of the work is carried out remotely using online means of communication (email, videoconferencing).

The SPS work with parliaments in countries where the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Human Security Division (HSD) conduct projects in the areas of parliamentary strengthening and the contribution of parliaments to human security. The SPS and the FDFA signed a declaration of intent that defines the terms and conditions governing their collaboration in parliamentary technical cooperation.

The costs of missions abroad and of hosting study visits are borne by the HSD and the SDC. The work carried out by SPS staff is paid for by the SPS.

The SPS favours projects of a certain duration (1-2 years) with the objective to achieve tangible results (for example, the development of a handbook on parliamentary control or of a civic education game explaining parliamentary work).

According to Article 24 of the Parliament Act (ParlA), the Federal Assembly participates in shaping foreign policy and cultivates relations with foreign parliaments. The SPS assist the Federal Assembly in the fulfilment of its duties. They also assist the Federal Assembly in its activities with regard to foreign relations and are responsible for all other tasks relevant to the administration of Parliament (Article 64 para. 2, let. f and g ParlA). The activities of the SPS in the field of parliamentary technical cooperation fall within this legal framework. Furthermore, Article 10 para. 2 let. b in the SPS regulations explicitly mentions parliamentary technical cooperation as part of the SPS’s portfolio of activities.
In a broad sense, the technical cooperation activities of the SPS are consistent with the goals of Swiss foreign policy as defined in the Federal Constitution (Article 54, para. 2), in relation to the promotion of democracy in the world.

• Legislative work of Parliament
• Government control activities
• Budget process
• Committee system
• Parliamentary law
• Participation in foreign policy and parliamentary diplomacy
• Informing citizens on the role of Parliament
• Communication policy
• Information technologies
• Minutes (drafting technique, recording system)
• Role of the parliamentary employee
• Building security policy

The Swiss Parliament’s multilingual character (German, French and Italian), its proximity to its citizens, its respect for minorities and its federal nature may make it an interesting source of expertise for other, foreign parliaments. In addition, the mechanisms of direct democracy in Switzerland or the way in which civil society is involved in the legislative process could provide a wealth of informative insights for a parliament in a country in democratic transition. The way in which the Swiss Parliament exercises parliamentary control through committees (CCs and FCs) specialised in this task could also be very interesting for other parliaments.

cooperation@parl.admin.ch