Federal Court rules in favor of journalist: access to Federal Council files

The Federal Department of Justice and Police and subsequently the Federal Administrative Court had previously opposed the publication of the document in question. They took the view that the application to the full Federal Council for approval of the severance agreement qualified as a co-reporting procedure. However, according to the Public Access Act, there is no right to public access to documents from these proceedings. The Federal Supreme Court has now overturned this decision at its hearing on Wednesday and upheld the appeal of the journalist who had requested access.
According to the judges in Lausanne, the departure regulation itself is not part of the co-reporting procedure. This only begins with the application to the Federal Council as a whole. As the departure regulation had already been drawn up beforehand, it should therefore be released. The court reached its decision by three votes to two.