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The Parliamentary Services (Switzerland) are the administrative services of the Federal Assembly (Swiss Parliament). They support it in the exercise of its functions.

Organisation
The Parliamentary Services report to the two chambers of the Federal Assembly. The Secretary General of the Federal Assembly heads the Parliamentary Services. Philippe Schwab has held this position since 2013. He is assisted by the seven other members of the Management Board.

The Administrative Delegation, comprising three parliamentary members of the Office of the National Council and three parliamentary members of the Office of the Council of States, is the highest organ of the Parliamentary Services.

The Parliamentary Services are organised as follows :


 * The administrative services are comprised of the Secretariat of the National Council, the Secretariat of the Council of States, the Legal Service, the Central Secretariat, the Secretariat of the Control Committees, the Secretariat of the Finance Committees and the Parliamentary Control of the Administration.
 * The Information sector is comprised of the following domains: Information and Editorial Section, Publications and Production, Tours and Events, and the Official Bulletin.
 * The International Affairs & Multilingualism sector includes the Secretariat of the Foreign Affairs Committees, the Secretariats of Delegations to International Parliamentary Assemblies, the Delegations for Relations with Foreign Parliaments, the Protocol & Travel unit, the Italophone Secretariat, and the Translation and Interpretation domains.
 * The Committees & Research sector includes the Committee Secretariats (with the exception of the Secretariats of the Foreign Affairs Committees, the Control Committees and the Finance Committees), the Parliamentary Library and the Centre of expertise for flags.
 * The Infrastructures & Security sector includes a security service, the Operations & Usher Service and Support Pool Infrastructure.

In addition, the Digital Services domain cuts across the entire organisation. It manages the IT infrastructure and provides services to both the Parliamentary Services staff and members of Parliament.

Duties of the Parliamentary Services
The duties of the Parliamentary Services are defined in Article 64 of the Federal Act on the Federal Assembly (SR 171.10).

The Parliamentary Services support the Federal Assembly in various ways. The Secretariat of the National Council and the Secretariat of the Council of States plan and organise the four annual ordinary sessions, as well as any special and extraordinary sessions. They also support the leaders, deputy leaders and members of the offices of the two chambers. The tasks of the Central Secretariat include recording parliamentary items of business.

Throughout the year, the secretariats of the specialist and supervisory committees organise the committees’ meetings and prepare their agenda. They ensure that parliamentary procedures are followed when items are examined. The Centre of expertise for synoptic charts prepares summary tables and charts of the bills dealt with by the committees and the parliamentary chambers.

The Official Bulletin domain draws up the minutes of committee meetings and transcribes all council deliberations. During sessions, it makes these transcripts available to the public on the Parliament website as debates progress.

The Translation service ensures that the documents distributed to members of parliament and the information for the public are available in German and French. Italian translations are handled by the Italian Division of the Federal Chancellery, which, in accordance with article 12 paragraph 3 LangSO, acts as the Italian language service of the Federal Assembly. National Council deliberations are simultaneously translated into German, French and Italian. The secretariats of the Foreign Affairs Committees of both parliamentary chambers, the secretariats of the Delegations to International Parliamentary Assemblies and the secretariats of the Delegations for Relations with Foreign Parliaments support the Federal Assembly in its international relations. The Protocol & Travel unit organises official visits abroad by members of parliament and the reception of official foreign visitors. The Parliamentary Control of the Administration (PCA) is the evaluation service of the Federal Assembly. It conducts studies on behalf of the Control Committees (CC) on the legality, expediency and effectiveness of the activities of the federal authorities.

The Parliamentary Library provides documentation to members of Parliament and monitors current events on their behalf. The Information & Editorial Section responds to media requests and coordinates the communication of the Parliamentary Services, which also provide information for the public about the Federal Assembly and its activities on the internet, and by organising guided tours of the Federal Palace and special events. They broadcast the parliamentary sessions live on the Parliament website.

The Infrastructure & Security sector ensures that the appropriate infrastructure is available to both parliamentary chambers throughout the Federal Palace complex. Ushers, recognisable by their green uniforms, are on hand to provide services to members of parliament. They also accompany the council presidents at public events.

History
The Federal Constitution of 1848 provided for a single secretariat for the Federal Council and Parliament, namely the Federal Chancellery. The Federal Chancellor acted as Secretary to the National Council until 1920, and the Vice Chancellor acted as Secretary to the Council of States until 1980.

The Secretariat of the Federal Assembly was first established in 1919, in the Federal Act on the Organisation of the Federal Chancellery. It was then a department of the Federal Chancellery.

In 1962, the Secretariat of the Federal Assembly was enshrined in the new act on relations between the Councils in the following terms:

1 The chancellery business of the two chambers and of the Federal Assembly (combined chambers) is handled within the Federal Chancellery by the Secretariat of the Federal Assembly, which is under the direction of the Secretary General of the Federal Assembly.

2 The Secretary General of the Federal Assembly is subordinate to the presidents of the two Councils.

In the 1960s, as a result of the Mirage affair, several voices were raised in favour of making the Parliamentary Services independent of the Executive. Following these debates, in 1967, the Federal Assembly created a Documentation Service and a permanent secretariat for the Control Committees. Gradually, the Parliamentary Services became functionally independent of the Chancellery. The Federal Decree on Parliamentary Services of 9 March 1972 stipulates that ‘in the exercise of their functions, the Parliamentary Services are independent of the Federal Council and the Federal Chancellery’. However, they remain legally subordinate to the Chancellery.

Since 1988, the Parliamentary Services have had their own steering organ, namely the Administration Delegation, which comprises the presidents and two vice presidents of each of the two Councils. The Secretary of the Federal Assembly was appointed by the Federal Council, while the Vice-Chancellor held at the same time the position of Secretary of the Council of States. The Parliamentary Control of the Administration was created in 1990, with the task of ‘examining, on the basis of a special mandate from the management committees, the tasks of the Administration, their performance and the effects arising from the activities of the authorities and the administration’.

The separation of the Parliamentary Services from the Chancellery was officially established in 1999 with the adoption of the new Constitution. Article 155 states that the Parliamentary Services are at the disposal of the Federal Assembly. Since then, the Parliamentary Services have been independent of the Federal Administration, but may call on its services in order to fulfil their duties. They may, for example, request specific information on federal affairs.

Since 1919, the Federal Assembly has had seven male secretaries general and two female secretaries general :


 * Philippe Schwab (Head of the Parliamentary Services since 2013)
 * Christoph Lanz (2008-2013)
 * Mariangela Wallimann-Bornatico (1999-2008)
 * Annemarie Huber-Hotz (1992-1999)
 * Jean-Marc Sauvant (1981-1992)
 * Alois Pfister (1969-1981)
 * Hans Brühwiler (1954-1969)
 * Frédéric Geissbühler (1940-1954)
 * Fritz Gygax (1919-1940)