Switzerland: Federal Act Respecting Financial Assistance for the Safeguard and Promotion of the Rumansh and Italian Languages and Cultures

Context

The Federal Act Respecting Financial Assistance for the Safeguard and Promotion of the Rumansh and Italian Languages and Cultures legislates that the Confederation may grant financial assistance to the cantons of Grisons and Tessin to support: 1) general measures to safeguard and promote these two languages and cultures; 2) organizations and institutions that assume the task of safeguarding and promoting these two languages and cultures; and 3) publishing in Swiss Rhaeto-Romanic and Swiss Italian. The Act also provides for support for the Rumansh-language press. In 1999, financial assistance of this kind amounted to 4,631,300 SwF for the Grisons canton and 2,246,132 SwF for the Tessin canton.

Complete Text of the Act

Federal Act Respecting Financial Assistance for the Safeguard and Promotion of the Rumansh and Italian languages and Cultures
Dated October 6, 1995

(Translated from French)

Section 1
Object

This law governs the granting by the Confederation of financial assistance to the canton of Grisons for the safeguard and promotion of the Rumansh and Italian languages and cultures, and the canton of Tessin for the promotion of the Italian language and culture.

Section 2
Financial assistance

  1. The Confederation may, within the budget allocated, grant financial assistance to the cantons of Grisons and Tessin to support:

    a. general measures to safeguard and promote the Rumansh and Italian languages and cultures;
    b. organizations and institutions assuming supra-regional tasks of safeguarding and promoting the Rumansh and Italian languages and cultures;
    c. publishing in Swiss Rheto-Rumansh and Swiss-Italian.

  2. The Confederation may, for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the Rumansh language, support the Rumansh media.
  3. The granting of federal financial assistance shall be subject to an appropriate contribution from the cantons of Grisons and Tessin.
  4. Federal financial assistance may not exceed 75 percent of the total costs. The contribution of the cantons themselves shall be a minimum of 25 percent of such costs.
  5. The Federal Council may set different rates.

Section 3
Conditions and charges

  1. The Federal Council may link the granting of financial assistance to conditions and charges.

Section 4
Budget and report

  1. The cantons of Grisons and Tessin shall present the federal Department of the Interior (the Department) each year with a budget and a program concerning the measures they propose to implement and for which they request federal financial assistance.
  2. The Department shall decide on the granting of financial assistance.
  3. The cantons of Grisons and Tessin shall give the Department a report each year on the use of the financial assistance.

Section 5
Legal recourses

  1. Legal proceedings shall be governed by the federal Act respecting administrative proceedings and by the federal Act respecting the judicial system.

Section 6
Enforcement

  1. The Federal Council shall decide on the terms of enforcement.

Section 7
Repeal of current law

  1. The federal Act of June 24, 1983 respecting grants to the cantons of Grisons and Tessin to safeguard their culture and languages is repealed.

Section 8
Referendum and coming into force

  1. This law is subject to an optional referendum.
  2. The Federal Council shall set the date of its coming into force.