Key facts
The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) enforces its own orders and Federal Criminal Court judgments, with the exception of penalties and measures delegated to the cantons. The OAG entrusts the execution of the tasks for which it is responsible to the Judgment Enforcement Section (UV), which is part of t he G eneral S ecretariat ( GS). T his s ection h ad fallen b ehind i n p rocessing c ases. At t he e nd o f 2022, 2,000 judgments were pending enforcement, equivalent to about four years of judgments. The OAG created the Operations Staff organisational unit within the GS in April 2023. Enforcing the judgments of the federal criminal justice authorities involves complex legal tasks. The UV Section manages assets sequestered in Switzerland and abroad, and implements compensatory claims and debt recovery procedures with the cantonal debt enforcement and judicial authorities. Judgment enforcement includes issuing and collecting court fees. The OAG will separate the Operations Staff organisational unit from the GS in April 2025 at the earliest. The UV Section will be separated from the GS and will be integrated into a new division that will group all procedural support services together. The new division will be independent of those in charge of conducting proceedings.
The Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) audited the efficiency and effectiveness of the enforcement of judgments handed down by the federal criminal justice authorities. The SFAO analysed the organisation and the enforcement processes, as well as a selection of tasks entailing a particular risk. For comparison purposes, it exchanged views on criminal judgment enforcement practices with representatives of the canton of Zurich.
The audit findings were mixed. The organisation put in place to manage pending cases and avoid the limitation of old cases has proved effective. Procedures for regularly monitoring cases have made it possible to offset the weaknesses of a highly fragmented information system. However, these manual compensatory measures mobilise considerable resources within the UV Section.
