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External Relations of the Swiss Cantons

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2016

Luzius Wildhaber
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Extract

In the past years, the most important impetus for the renewed interest in the relationship between federal states and international law has come primarily from Canada. In Switzerland, the extent and significance of the external relations of the cantons is not a burning political problem. It seems, however, worthwhile to sketch the empirical state of these cantonal affairs, because there is, in this field, a constant feedback from comparative to international law, which makes a precise knowledge of the municipal law of the main federal states imperative. Questions concerning the treaty-making capacity and responsibility of member units in federal states should not be answered on the basis of dogmatic and a priori assertions, but rather on the basis of exact comparative studies.

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Notes and Comments
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Canadian Yearbook of International Law/Annuaire canadien de droit international , Volume 12 , 1975 , pp. 211 - 221
Copyright
Copyright © The Canadian Council on International Law / Conseil Canadien de Droit International, representing the Board of Editors, Canadian Yearbook of International Law / Comité de Rédaction, Annuaire Canadien de Droit International 1975

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References

1 See the recent comparative studies by Bernier, Ivan, International Legal Aspects of Federalism (London 1973)Google Scholar; Blumenwitz, Dieter, Der Schutz inner-staatlicher Rechtsgemeinschaften beim Abschluss völkerrechtlicher Verträge (München 1972)Google Scholar; Wildhaber, Luzius, Treaty-Making Pomer and Constitution (Basel-Stuttgart 1971), 254–343 Google Scholar; and, as to Canada, Gotlieb, A. E., Canadian Treaty-Making (Toronto 1968)Google Scholar; Jacomy-Millette, Anne-Marie, L’introduction et l’application des traités internationaux au Canada (Paris 1971).Google Scholar

2 Declaration of war, conclusion of peace, maintenance of independence and neutrality, international representation, conclusion of treaties. See articles 2; 8–11; 85 nos. 5–6; 89 (4); 102 Nos. 8–9, of the federal constitution.

3 Army (art. 19–20), protection of civilians (art. 22 bis), reserves of cereals (art. 23 bis), film import (art. 27 ter), customs duties (art. 28), war precautions [art. 31 bis (3) (e)], retaliatory taxes [art. 41 bis (1) (d)], Swiss citizens abroad (art. 45 bis), emigration (art. 63), entry, exit, residence and settlement of foreigners (art. 69 ter), expulsion of foreigners (art. 70), crimes against international law (art. 112, No. 2), appeals against violation of treaties [art. 113 (1), No. 3], exclusion of judicial review of the constitutionality of treaties [art. 113 (3) and 114 bis (3)].

4 Cf. infra IV.

5 Message of the Federal Council to the Federal Assembly of March 19, 1973, concerning a Bill for International Development and Humanitarian Aid, Bundesblatt (=BBL) 1973 I, 896–900.

6 Cf. the Directives on the Pre-Parliamentary Procedure of Legislation, enacted by the Federal Council on May 6, 1970, BBL 1970 I, 993, art. 12.

7 In 1916, the Federal Council informed the canton of Bern that “the cantonal authorities have no right of entertaining direct relations with foreign legations.” Burckhardt, Walther, Schweizerisches Bundesrecht, Vol. 1 (Frauenfeld 1930), No. 9a, 1.Google Scholar

8 The modern catchword is that of an “executory federalism,” in which the primary task of the cantons is the application and execution of federal law.

9 The following information is based on a review of all cantons in the spring of 1973. See also Wildhaber, Luzius, Procedures for Consultation at National and International Level Prior to the Setting Up of Polluting Plants in Border Areas, Report on Swiss Law, Council of Europe, Committee of Experts on Air Pollution, Doc EXP/Air (73) 2 (November 22, 1973), 41–53.Google Scholar

10 Theoretically, there would be an appeal to the Federal Assembly under article 85, no. 5, of the federal constitution, but in practice such an appeal has never been presented.

11 “La responsabilité internationale de l’Etat fédéral est de même ordre et de même étendue que celle de l’Etat unitaire,” Federal Council in League of Nations, Doc. C. 75.M.69.1929.V.3., 243; and see Bernier, supra n. 1, 84–101; Wildhaber, supra n. 1, at 266–72.

12 In re Schmid, Bundesgerichtsentscheide (= BGE) 18 (1892), 203.

13 X.v. Eidgenössische Steuerverwaltung, BGE 96 (1970) I, 737, at 747; In re Leuthardt, BGE 9 (1883) 175, at 178; Aubert, Jean-Francois, Traité de Droit Constitutionnel Suisse (Neuchâtel 1967), 256–59Google Scholar; Burckhardt, Walther, Kommentar der Schweizerischen Bundesverfassung (Bern 3d ed., 1931), 81–89 Google Scholar; Fleiner, Fritz and Giacometti, Zaccaria, Schweizerisches Bundesstaatsrecht (Zürich 1949), 810–14Google Scholar; Wildhaber, supra n. I, at 315–19.

14 Cf. supra n. 9, and Wildhaber, supra n. 1, 315–19.

15 See, as to immunity, Bernier, supra n. I, 121–46, and as to state succession, Blumenwitz, supra n. 1, at 171–77.

16 Agreements with the municipality of Inzlingen concerning drainage of December 18, 1961/April 12, 1962/June 18, 1962, with the Wieseverband concerning the passage of sewage of December 5, 1963/March 16, 1964, with the town of Weil am Rhein concerning drainage of June 24, 1970/July 21, 1970, and concerning rubbish disposal of June 10, 1970/July 14, 1970.

17 See generally Blix, Hans, Treaty-Making Power (London-New York 1960)Google Scholar; Karl Geck, Wilhelm, Die völkerrechtlichen Wirkungen verfassungswidriger Verträge (Köln-Berlin 1963)Google Scholar; De Visscher, Paul, De la conclusion des traités internationaux (Bruxelles 1943)Google Scholar; Wildhaber, Luzius, “Provisions of Internal Law Regarding Competence to Conclude a Treaty,” 8 Virginia Journal of Int’l Law (1967), 94–149 Google Scholar; id., supra n. 1, at 146–82, 269–72, 347–49.

18 Cf. SirWaldock’s, Humphrey proposal in Y.B. I.L.C. 1965 2, 71 Google Scholar, and its rejection, ibid., 1966 I, 124; cf. Wildhaber, supra n. 1, at 347–49.

19 See in particular, Bernier, supra n. 1, at 101–20; Blumenwitz, supra n. 1, at 166–71, 178–86; Wildhaber, Luzius, “Die völkerrechtlichen Wirkungen von Verträgen, welche die bundesstaatliche Kompetenzverteilung einer Bundesverfassung verletzen,” 24 Annuaire Suùse de Droit International (1967), 161–72.Google Scholar

20 In that sense, SirFitzmaurice, Gerald, “Third Report on the Law of Treaties,” art. 8 (3), Y.B. I.L.C. 1958 II, 24, at 32Google Scholar; Ghosh, R. C., Treaties and Federal Constitutions (London 1961), 74–85 Google Scholar; SirWaldock, Humphrey, “First Report on the Law of Treaties,” art. 3 (2), Y.B. I.L.C. 1962 II, 36–37.Google Scholar

21 In that sense, Bernier, supra n. 1, at 13–82; Blumenwitz, supra n. 1, at 138–66; Morin, Jacques-Yves, “La conclusion d’accords internationaux par les provinces canadiennes à la lumière du droit comparé,” 3 Can. Y.B. Int’l Law (1965), 144–47, 184–85Google Scholar; Wildhaber, supra n. I, at 260–66.

22 Cf. Steinberger, Helmut, “Constitutional Subdivisions of States of Unions and their Capacity to Conclude Treaties,” 27 Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Vōlkerrecht (1967), 411–28.Google Scholar