Media Releases

Press Release (14.05.2013, fedpol)
MROS registers a total asset value of more than CHF 3 billion
Berne. The number of suspicious activity reports (SARs) submitted to the Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS) in 2012 remained high, at 1,585 reports. Once again, the total asset value of these reports surpassed CHF 3 billion. Although the proportion of SARs forwarded to law enforcement agencies fell over 2011, it remained at the high level of 86 per cent.

---

Press Release (06.05.2013, FDJP)
Federal Councillors Didier Burkhalter and Simonetta Sommaruga receive the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland
Bern. Federal Councillors Didier Burkhalter and Simonetta Sommaruga today received the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, for an official working visit to Bern. The meeting focused on Switzerland's engagement in the Council of Europe, the Secretary General's efforts to reform this organisation, political challenges, and cooperation between the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Next year, Switzerland will assume the Chairmanship of the OSCE. This evening, Mr Jagland and Mr Burkhalter will be guest speakers at a ceremony at the University of Fribourg to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Switzerland's membership in the Council of Europe.

---

Press Release (24.04.2013, FDJP)
Federal Council invokes safeguard clause for EU-17 and EU-8 states
Berne. In the coming 12 months, workers from EU states will have only restricted access to the Swiss labour market. The Federal Council decided today to invoke the safeguard clause contained in the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons. The quotas apply to category B residence permits for persons from EU-8 states, and, provided the requirements are met by the end of May, from EU-17 states.

---

Press Release (23.04.2013, fedpol)
CYCO receives significantly more complaints of economic crime
Berne. The Swiss Coordination Unit for Cybercrime Control (CYCO) at the Federal Office of Police (fedpol) received a total of 8,241 online complaints from the public in 2012 concerning suspicious Internet content. This represents an increase of 55 per cent over the previous year. For the first time CYCO received more complaints of economic offences than of illegal pornography.

---

Press Release (26.03.2013, FDJP)
Tinner judgments take effect: Copy documents destroyed
Bern. Now that the judgments in the Tinner case have become legally binding, the Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) has implemented the Federal Council's decision and destroyed copies of documents that the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland discovered in its archives at the end of 2008. The files comprise 58 pages containing information on the manufacture of nuclear weapons, together with other documents with information on uranium enrichment. The originals were destroyed with other documents back in 2007 on instructions from the Federal Council.

---

Press Release (26.03.2013, FOM)
48-hour procedure extended to Kosovo and Georgia
Berne. Since the 25th March 2013, the Federal Office for Migration has also been applying the 48-hour procedure to asylum seekers from Kosovo and Georgia. Rapid repatriation can be carried out to both countries of origin. In August 2012, the Federal Office for Migration carried out accelerated asylum procedures (48-hour procedure) for people from visa-exempt European countries for the first time. Since then, asylum applications from the nations concerned have declined significantly.