The Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA, , french: Département fédéral de l'intérieur, links=no, , rm, ) is a department of the

federal administration of Switzerland The federal administration of Switzerland (german: Bundesverwaltung, french: Administration fédérale, it, Amministrazione federale, rm, Administraziun federala) is the ensemble of agencies that constitute, together with the Swiss Federa ...

and serves as the Swiss

ministry of the interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministr ...

. As of 2012, it is headed by Federal Councillor

Alain Berset Alain Berset (; born 9 April 1972) is a Swiss politician who has served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council since 2012. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SP/PS), he has headed the Federal Department of Home Affairs since he took off ...

Organisation

Like the other federal departments, the FDHA is composed of a General Secretariat, several Federal Offices, and a number of other and affiliated administrative entities.

General Secretariat

The General Secretariat is responsible for planning, coordination and controlling, and coordinates the decision-making process between the federal offices and the Head of Department. It provides

consultancy A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

services for the entire department. Its legal service is also responsible for supervising

charitable foundation A foundation (also a charitable foundation) is a category of nonprofit organization or charitable trust that typically provides funding and support for other charitable organizations through grants, but may also engage directly in charitable ac ...

s. The

Federal Commission against Racism Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

, the

Service for Combating Racism Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a ...

and the

Office for the Equality of People with Disabilities An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific du ...

are also affiliated to the General Secretariat. It has a staff of 62, annual revenues of CHF 1 million and annual expenditures of CHF 36 million.

Federal Office for Gender Equality

The FOGE's main concern are equal rights in the workplace and at home. For 2008, the FOGE declares its priorities to be equal pay, prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace, striking a balance between the requirements of professional and family life and prevention of domestic violence. The Secretariat of the

Federal Commission for Women’s Issues Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General * Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies * Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states ...

is also affiliated to this office. As of 2008, the FOGE is led by Director

Patricia Schulz Patricia is a female given name of Latin origin. Derived from the Latin word '' patrician'', meaning "noble"; it is the feminine form of the masculine given name Patrick. The name Patricia was the second most common female name in the United S ...

. It has a staff of 12, no revenues and annual expenditures of CHF 8 million.

Federal Office of Culture

The

Federal Office of Culture The Federal Office of Culture (FOC) is an administrative unit of the Federal Department of Home Affairs, based in Bern, Switzerland. The agency has two extensive areas of responsibility: promoting Swiss culture and preserving the country’s ...

is active in the areas of cultural promotion and awareness, cultural heritage and the conservation of

historic building This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many i ...

s and monuments. It looks after the federal art collection, operates the

Swiss National Library The Swiss National Library (german: Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek, french: Bibliothèque nationale suisse, it, Biblioteca nazionale svizzera, rm, Biblioteca naziunala svizra) is the national library of Switzerland. Part of the Federal Offic ...

with the

Swiss Literary Archives The Swiss Literary Archives (SLA - ''Schweizerische Literaturarchiv'') in Bern collects literary estates in all four national languages of Switzerland (German, French, Italian and Romansh language). It is part of the Swiss National Library ...

and the Graphic Collection, the

National Museums A national museum is a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In other countries a much greater numbe ...

and the Confederation’s valuable collections. The FOC also supports the arts, design and film-making and promotes the concerns of linguistic and cultural minorities. It is the contact point for queries regarding

looted art Looted art has been a consequence of looting during war, natural disaster and riot for centuries. Looting of art, archaeology and other cultural property may be an opportunistic criminal act or may be a more organized case of unlawful or uneth ...

and the transfer of cultural goods. As of 2008, the FOC is led by Director Jean-Frédéric Jauslin. It has a staff of 220, annual revenues of CHF 4 million and annual expenditures of CHF 202 million.

Swiss National Library

The

’s task is to collect, preserve, catalogue and make available all printed and electronic publications relating to Switzerland. In addition, the NL also houses a series of special collections, the most important being the

and the Graphic Collection. The Dürrenmatt Centre in Neuchâtel is also part of the Swiss National Library. As of 2008, the NL is led by Director Marie-Christine Doffey. It has a staff of 126, no revenues and annual expenditures of CHF 34 million.

Swiss Federal Archives

The

Swiss Federal Archives The Swiss Federal Archives (german: Schweizerisches Bundesarchiv, french: Archives fédérales suisses, it, Archivio federale svizzero, rm, Archiv federal svizzer) are the national archives of Switzerland. Additionally, the cantons have offic ...

are charged with evaluating, safeguarding, cataloguing and raising public awareness of the Confederation’s official documents, which amount to 11.4

terabyte The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit ...

s of information as of 2008, or to a bookshelf over 50 kilometres long. The inventory includes original documents such as the

Swiss Constitution The Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation (SR 10; german: Bundesverfassung der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft (BV); french: Constitution fédérale de la Confédération suisse (Cst.); it, Costituzione federale della Confederaz ...

, deeds, photos, films, recordings and databases. As of 2008, the SFA are led by Director Andreas Kellerhals. They have a staff of 47, no revenues and annual expenditures of CHF 16 million.

Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology

MeteoSwiss MeteoSwiss (german: MeteoSchweiz, french: MétéoSuisse, it, MeteoSvizzera), officially the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology, is an office of the federal administration of Switzerland. It employs 290 people at locations in Zurich ...

issues

weather forecast Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the conditions of the atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia and formally since the 19th cent ...

s and warnings in the event of bad weather conditions. It gives information on the dangers to

disaster protection A disaster is a serious problem occurring over a short or long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources ...

units, the media and the general public. MeteoSwiss also operates

telemetry Telemetry is the in situ collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Greek roots ''tele'', "remote", and ' ...

ground stations,

rainfall radar Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern weather radars are mostly puls ...

s and

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Ear ...

instruments at over 700 locations. Weather models use this data to calculate forecasts up to ten days in advance. As a federal office with an autonomous budget ("FLAG office"), MeteoSwiss sells customised forecasts to businesses and private individuals. As of 2008, MeteoSwiss is led by Director

Daniel K. Keuerleber-Burk Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength ...

. It has a staff of 273, annual revenues of CHF 36 million and annual expenditures of CHF 79 million.

Federal Office of Public Health

The stated aim of the Federal Office of Public Health is to promote and maintain the health of all people living in Switzerland. It seeks to increase awareness of health-related matters so that people can take responsibility for their own health. It also aims at a general improvement in people’s health through disease prevention and health protection campaigns and by curing illnesses and alleviating suffering caused by disease and accidents. The FOPH is charged with tackling issues such as

epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evide ...

and

infectious diseases An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable d ...

substance abuse Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods which are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder. Differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, ...

and drug prevention,

food safety Food safety (or food hygiene) is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, food processing, preparation, and food storage, storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness, food-borne illness. The occurrence of two or ...

, noise and

radiation protection Radiation protection, also known as radiological protection, is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "The protection of people from harmful effects of exposure to ionizing radiation, and the means for achieving this". Expos ...

, assessment and monitoring of

chemicals A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wit ...

and

toxic products Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a ...

stem cell research In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type o ...

and

bioterrorism Bioterrorism is terrorism involving the intentional release or dissemination of biological agents. These agents are bacteria, viruses, insects, fungi, and/or toxins, and may be in a naturally occurring or a human-modified form, in much the sa ...

, and

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

and

accident insurance Accident insurance is a type of insurance where the policy holder is paid directly in the event of an accident resulting in injury of the insured. The insured can spend the benefit payment however they choose. Accident insurance is complementary to ...

. The FOPH is led by Director Pascal Strupler. It has a staff of 581 and has an annual budget of CHF 207 million.

Federal Statistical Office

The Federal Statistical Office collects and publishes statistical information on the situation and trends in Switzerland in many different areas of life. It produces publications such as the Statistical Yearbook and the Pocket Statistics, as well as making information available through an

internet portal A web portal is a specially designed website that brings information from diverse sources, like emails, online forums and search engines, together in a uniform way. Usually, each information source gets its dedicated area on the page for displayi ...

. Since 2009, the FSO is led by Director Jürg Marti. It has a staff of 509, annual revenues of CHF 1 million and annual expenditures of CHF 142 million.

Federal Social Insurance Office

The Confederation spends around one quarter of the federal budget on

social welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

. In the 2000s this amounted to between CHF 13 and 14 billion. The FSIO is charged with ensuring the reliability of this social insurance system within its areas of responsibility: old age and survivors’ insurance ( AHV), invalidity insurance ( IV), supplementary benefits, occupational

pension fund A pension fund, also known as a superannuation fund in some countries, is any plan, fund, or scheme which provides retirement income. Pension funds typically have large amounts of money to invest and are the major investors in listed and priva ...

s, compensation for loss of earnings for people on national service and women on maternity leave, and family allowances in the agricultural sector. As of 2008, the FSIO is led by Director

Yves Rossier Yves may refer to: * Yves, Charente-Maritime, a commune of the Charente-Maritime department in France * Yves (given name), including a list of people with the name * ''Yves'' (single album), a single album by Loona * ''Yves'' (film), a 2019 Fr ...

. It has a staff of 243, annual revenues of CHF 475 million and annual expenditures of CHF 11,921 million.

Federal Institutes of Technology Group

The

ETH Group The Domain of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH Domain, German: ''ETH-Bereich'', French: ''Domaine des Écoles polytechniques fédérales'') is a union of Swiss governmental universities and research institutions. It primarily co ...

is a system of

technical universities An institute of technology (also referred to as: technological university, technical university, university of technology, technological educational institute, technical college, polytechnic university or just polytechnic) is an institution of te ...

and research institutes. These include the

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , ac ...

(ETH Zurich), the

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internati ...

(EPFL), the

Paul Scherrer Institute The Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) is a multi-disciplinary research institute for natural and engineering sciences in Switzerland. It is located in the Canton of Aargau in the municipalities Villigen and Würenlingen on either side of the ...

Villigen Villigen is a municipality in the district of Brugg in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. In January 2006, Villigen incorporated the former municipality of Stilli. The Paul Scherrer Institute is primarily located in Villigen, although part is ...

, the Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research in Birmensdorf, the

Federal Laboratory for Materials Testing and Research The Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa, German acronym for ''Eidgenössische Materialprüfungs- und Forschungsanstalt'') is an interdisciplinary Swiss research institute for applied materials sciences and tech ...

and the

Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology The Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag, German acronym for ''Eidgenössische Anstalt für Wasserversorgung, Abwasserreinigung und Gewässerschutz'') is a Swiss water research institute and an internationally network ...

Dübendorf Dübendorf is a municipality in the district of Uster in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. It is a suburb of Zürich in Switzerland with a population of about 30,000 (2021). It is the fourth largest city in the canton, after Zürich, Winte ...

. All are managed by the

ETH Board The Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH Board, German: ''Rat der Eidgenössischen Technischen Hochschulen'', French: ''Conseil des écoles polytechniques fédérales'') is the strategic unit elected by the Swiss Federal Coun ...

, which is made up of eleven leading figures from the fields of science, industry and politics. As of 2008, the ETH Group is led by

Fritz Schiesser Fritz Schiesser (born 23 April 1954) is a Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tourn ...

, President of the ETH Board. The group's institutes have a staff of 12 000 and some 20 000 students and post-graduates. They are accounted for as having no revenues and annual expenditures of CHF 2,154 million.

Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products

Swissmedic The Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products (Swissmedic) is the Swiss surveillance authority for medicines and medical devices, registered in Bern. It began operations on 1 January 2002 as successor of ''Interkantonale Kontrollstelle für Heilmitte ...

is the central Swiss supervisory authority for

drug A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhal ...

s and other

therapeutic product A therapy or medical treatment (often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx) is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis. As a rule, each therapy has indications and contraindications. There are many differ ...

s. It is an independent public institution, governed by an Agency Council elected by the Federal Council and administratively affiliated to the FDHA. As of 2008, Swissmedic is led by Director

Jürg Schnetzer Jürg is the name of: * Jürg Amann (1947–2013), Swiss author and dramatist * Jürg Baur (1918–2010), German composer and teacher of classical music * Jürg Berger (born 1954), retired Swiss professional ice hockey forward * Jürg Capol (born ...

. It has a staff of 284, annual revenues of CHF 71.5 million and annual expenditures of CHF 67 million.

Former entities

Previously existed State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER) was merged with Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (OPET, part of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs) on 20 December 2012, and formed

State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation The State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI within the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research EAER is the federal government's specialised agency for national and international matters concerning ed ...

(SERI), that began its activities on 1 January 2013 as a part of

Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research The Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER, german: Eidgenössisches Departement für Wirtschaft, Bildung und Forschung; french: Département fédéral de l'économie, de la formation et de la recherche; it, Dipart ...

List of heads of department

Notes and references

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Federal Department Of Home Affairs

Home Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministr ...

Switzerland Switzerland, Home Affairs