Art. 151 FC regulates when and how the two chambers of Parliament (National Council and Council of States) convene. The provision prescribes regular sessions and determines who can convene extraordinary sessions.
Regular sessions: Parliament normally sits in ordinary sessions. The Parliament Act (ParlA) specifies this requirement: four sessions of three weeks each take place annually (Art. 2 ParlA). These are the spring session, the special session in May or June, the autumn session and the winter session. Members of Parliament are obliged to participate (Art. 10 ParlA).
Extraordinary sessions: When urgent business cannot wait until the next ordinary session, there are two possibilities for an additional sitting: Either one quarter of the members of a chamber or the Federal Council can demand convocation (Art. 33 ParlA). With 200 National Councillors, this means at least 50 persons; with 46 Councillors of States, at least 12 persons.
Example: If a financial crisis requires rapid legislative measures, the Federal Council can convene the chambers for an extraordinary session. Likewise, 50 National Councillors can jointly demand an additional sitting, for instance to deal with an urgent referendum.
The provision ensures that Parliament both sits regularly and can react flexibly in special circumstances. However, extraordinary sessions are used only sparingly, as four ordinary sessions per year are normally sufficient.
N. 1 Art. 151 FC continues the tradition of parliamentary sessions that applied under Art. 75 FC 1848 and Art. 86 FC 1874. The Message on a New Federal Constitution of 20 November 1996 (BBl 1997 I 1) emphasises that the provision was deliberately designed to be flexible, leaving the legislature scope for concrete implementation. The constitutional revision refrained from detailed requirements on the number and duration of sessions in order to meet future parliamentary needs (Thurnherr, BSK BV, Art. 151 N. 1).
N. 2 The right to convene extraordinary sessions (para. 2) was modernised compared to the old constitutional law. Whereas Art. 23 para. 8 FC 1874 still provided for a right of convocation for five cantons, Aubert describes this regulation as a «misguided symmetrical provision» (Thurnherr, BSK BV, Art. 151 N. 13). The new Constitution restricts the right to convene to one quarter of the council members or the Federal Council, which better corresponds to parliamentary reality.
N. 3 Art. 151 FC is classified in Section 1 of Chapter 5 on the federal authorities and together with Art. 148–162 FC forms the constitutional foundation of the Federal Assembly. The provision is closely connected with:
→ Art. 148 FC (Position of the Federal Assembly as supreme authority)
→ Art. 157 FC (Separate deliberation by the councils)
→ Art. 163 para. 2 FC (Quorum for capacity to pass resolutions)
→ Art. 185 para. 4 FC (Reporting by the Federal Council)
N. 4 According to Biaggini, the bicameral system requires «the material equivalence of both councils, not the formal identity of the procedure of both councils» (Thurnherr, BSK BV, Art. 151 N. 3). Art. 151 FC concretises this principle by having both councils convene for the same sessions but deliberate separately.
#3. Elements of the Legal Norm / Normative Content
N. 5Regular sessions (para. 1): The Constitution merely prescribes that the councils shall convene «regularly» for sessions. The concrete implementation is provided by the Parliament Act. According to Art. 2 ParlA, four ordinary sessions of three weeks' duration each take place annually (spring session, special session in May/June, autumn session, winter session).
N. 6Convocation: The competence to convene ordinary sessions lies with the law. Art. 2 para. 2 ParlA delegates the determination of session dates to the presidiums of both councils. Coordination between the councils is mandatory, since Art. 151 FC assumes joint sessions.
N. 7Extraordinary sessions (para. 2): The right to convene belongs alternatively to:
One quarter of the members of a council (50 of 200 National Councillors or 12 of 46 Council of States members)
The Federal Council as a collegiate body
The request must relate to the convening of the «councils» (plural). An extraordinary session of only one council is not constitutionally provided for (Thurnherr, BSK BV, Art. 151 N. 11-12).
N. 8 Convening for ordinary sessions occurs by operation of law. According to Art. 10 ParlA, council members have a duty to participate. Absence is only permitted for important reasons and must be excused to the council president.
N. 9 In the case of extraordinary sessions, a legal right to convocation arises with the request of an authorised organ. The bureaux of the councils must schedule the extraordinary session but have a certain temporal discretion regarding the specific date. Parliamentary practice shows restrained use of this instrument (cf. parliamentary protocols of the 1980s: «only for cases where the urgency of business is so great that treatment only in the following session would not suffice»).
N. 10Place of assembly: While the Constitution does not specify a place of assembly, Art. 33d para. 1 lit. b SRO provides that the bureaux may determine a venue other than Bern «in special situations». The doctrine agrees that the Federal Assembly does not necessarily have to meet in Bern, although practical considerations speak for the parliamentary seat in the federal city (Thurnherr, BSK BV, Art. 151 N. 9-10).
N. 11Relationship to Art. 185 para. 4 FC: It is disputed whether the Federal Council may also use its right to convene under Art. 151 para. 2 FC to report outside ordinary sessions. Sägesser (Die Bestimmungen über die Bundesbehörden in der neuen Bundesverfassung, LeGes 1999, 11–49) affirms this, while Lombardi (Volksrechte und Bundesbehörden in der neuen Bundesverfassung, AJP 1999, 706–721) refers to the primary purpose designation for urgent legislation.
N. 12 Parliamentarians should consider session planning when planning motions. Urgent business should be placed on the agenda so that it can be dealt with in the next ordinary session. The instrument of the extraordinary session is reserved for genuine emergencies.
N. 13 Coordination between the councils takes place through the Coordination Conference (Art. 53 SPOR). The administrative delegations of the councils are responsible for practical session planning. The business load is made transparent through the reporting on pending business provided for in Art. 85 ParlA.
N. 14 In the context of emergency law, Art. 151 para. 2 FC gains special significance. Trümpler (Notrecht. Eine Taxonomie der Manifestationen und eine Analyse des intrakonstitutionellen Notrechts de lege lata und de lege ferenda, 2012, p. 187 ff.) points to the function of extraordinary sessions as an instrument of parliamentary control in crisis situations.
There is no published supreme court case law on Art. 151 Cst. This is explained by the organisational legal character of the provision, which primarily governs internal parliamentary procedures and does not establish individual legal claims. The convening of the chambers for ordinary and extraordinary sessions takes place according to the procedures specified in the Parliamentary Act (ParlA; SR 171.10), without typically giving rise to questions that would require judicial clarification.
Parliamentary proceedings show that Art. 151 para. 2 Cst. is applied with restraint in practice. In the parliamentary records of the 1980s, there are discussions about the expediency of extraordinary sessions, where it was emphasised that «with four annual sessions, the need for extraordinary sessions is significantly less» than in times «when the chambers met only once a year». An extraordinary instrument should «only be provided for cases in which the urgency of a matter is so great that treatment only in the following session would not suffice».
#Administrative Court Case Law on the Parliamentary Act
Judgment 6B_186/2012 of 11.1.2013 E. 3.2
The Federal Supreme Court held in criminal proceedings for publication of official secret proceedings:
«According to Art. 47 para. 1 of the Federal Act of 13 December 2002 on the Federal Assembly (Parliamentary Act, ParlA; SR 171.10), the deliberations of committees are confidential. In particular, it is not disclosed how individual participants took positions or voted.»
Relevance: Shows the concretisation of constitutional provisions on the Federal Assembly in the Parliamentary Act and their judicial recognition.
Judgment 1C_222/2018 of 21.3.2019 E. 2.4
In connection with the Freedom of Information Act, the Federal Supreme Court confirmed:
«Art. 47 of the Federal Act of 13 December 2002 on the Federal Assembly (Parliamentary Act, ParlA; SR 171.10) constitutes a special provision according to which the deliberations of committees are confidential and in particular it is not disclosed how individual participants took positions or voted.»
Relevance: Illustrates the relationship between constitutional organisational norms and their statutory implementation.
The absence of case law on Art. 151 Cst. reflects the character of this constitutional provision as a procedural organisational norm. Practical application takes place within the framework of the parliamentary rules of procedure and the Parliamentary Act, whereby the courts can only be called upon in case of violation of justiciable rights. Existing practice shows restrained use of the possibility of extraordinary sessions, which corresponds to the original purpose as an extraordinary instrument for urgent matters.