Purpose and working methods of the Official Bulletin

The Official Bulletin of the Federal Assembly has since 1891 provided the public with a comprehensive record of the debates held in the National Council and Council of States, thus fulfilling the duty set out in Article 158 of the Federal Constitution and Article 4 of the Parliament Act.

Nowadays all speeches given in the National Council and Council of States are immediately and continuously transcribed in their original language by the Official Bulletin Service. Using a digital sound- and database-supported text processing programme developed in-house, a team of 20 to 30 native German, French and Italian speakers ensure that the speeches are written down immediately word-for-word and then checked. In accordance with the Parliamentary Administration Ordinance, members of the Councils then have three days in which to request changes to the style of their speeches, but not to the content.

The Official Bulletin forms part of the legal material used in the legislative process. In addition to the texts of speeches, a wealth of further information on each Council session is therefore also included, such as the titles of items of business, motions, results of votes and electronic links to other debates on the same subject and to related written documents. All the available texts are published immediately on the internet and regularly updated.

Impressum

Publication and distribution

Ressort Amtliches Bulletin
der Bundesversammlung
Parlamentsdienste
3003 Bern
Tel. 058 322 99 82
E-mail: bulletin@parl.admin.ch

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