Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications
The Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications is one of the seven departments of the Swiss federal government, headed by a member of the Swiss Federal Council.
Organisation
The department is composed of the following offices:- General Secretariat
- Federal Office for Spatial Development : Coordinates area planning between the federal agencies, the cantons and the municipalities.
- Federal Office for the Environment : Responsible for matters of the environment, including the protection of plants and animals and the protection against noise, air pollution or natural hazards.
- Federal Office for Civil Aviation : Regulates civil aviation.
- Federal Office of Communications : Regulates radio and TV stations, notably the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation.
- Federal Office of Energy : Responsible for the provision of electrical energy at the federal level, as well as for the supervision of dams.
- Federal Office of Transport : Responsible for public transport at the federal level, including the development of the federal rail network and navigation on the Rhine.
- Federal Roads Office : Responsible for the construction, maintenance and operation of the national highway network.
- Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board.
- Federal Communications Commission : Regulates the telecommunications market, awards service licences, rules on interconnection disputes and approves frequency and numbering plans.
- Federal Electricity Commission : monitors electricity prices, rules as a judicial authority on disputes relating to network access and payment of cost-covering feed-in of electricity produced from renewable energy, monitors electricity supply security and regulates issues relating to international electricity transmission and trading.
- Federal Postal Services Commission : Regulates the Swiss Post and Swiss postal market.
- Rail Transport Commission : Arbitrates in disputes over access to the rail network and the calculation of fees for the use of infrastructure.
- Independent Complaints Authority for Radio and Television : Decides on complaints related to radio and television programmes.
- Safety Office : supports the development of safety in land, sea and air transport, in the use, transport and distribution of energy, and for communications infrastructures
- Reporting Office for Just Culture in Civil Aviation : strengthens Just Culture through the protection of the information source of an occurrence reporting in Swiss Civil Aviation.
- Federal Inspectorate for Heavy Current Installations : Responsible for inspecting low and heavy-current electrical installations.
- Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate : Assesses and monitors security and radiation protection in Swiss nuclear installations.
- Federal Pipelines Inspectorate : Responsible for the planning, construction and operation of fuel pipeline systems in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
Name of department
- 1848–1859: Department of Posts and Construction
- 1860–1872: Department of Posts
- 1873–1878: Department of Posts and Telegraph
- 1879–1962: Department of Posts and Railways
- 1963–1978: Department of Transport, Communications and Energy
- 1979–1997: Federal Department of Transport, Communications and Energy
- Since 1998: Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications