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This Law regulates the safety of accumulation works and civil liability for damage caused by the discharge of their waters.
1 This Act applies to works of accumulation that meet any of the following conditions:
2 The Federal Supervisory Authority (s. 22) has the following skills:
1 It shall be considered as an accumulation of structures for the purpose of raising a water body or accumulating water or sludge. Also considered are works for the use of plated materials, as well as for ice and snow, or for a brief retention of water (holding tanks).
2 The works presenting one of the following characteristics shall be considered to be major works of accumulation:
1 Accumbral structures shall be dimensioned, constructed and operated in accordance with the state of science and technology so that their safety shall remain secure in all cases of foreseeable loading and exploitation.
2 When determining the measures to be applied, the economic use of the hydraulic forces should be taken into account as much as possible. These measures shall be decided by the supervisory authority after hearing the owner of the work. As long as these are technical measures and no agreement has been reached with the owner of the work, they are decided upon after consultation with recognized experts in the technology and the energy industry.
3 The restraint shall be capable of being emptied in preparation for the control and maintenance work and its level must be able to be lowered in the event of imminent danger. For this purpose, the accumulating structures shall be equipped with at least one bottom discharge or a bottom valve of sufficient capacity. The Federal Council may provide for exceptions for particular categories of accumulation.
4 Floods must be able to be safely evacuated even when the basin is full.
1 Any person who wishes to construct or modify an accumulation work shall have the approval of the plans issued by the competent authority.
2 Where the construction or alteration of an accumulation must be authorized under another Act, the authorization decision made under that other Act is also determinative of the approval of the plans referred to in the Act. Present law.
3 The application for approval of the plans is approved if the technical safety requirements are met.
4 The application must contain all the indications required for the assessment of technical safety.
5 The monitoring authority reviews the application. If it is not the approval authority, it will inform the approval authority of the outcome of the technical safety review. To the extent that the technical safety of the facility requires it, it proposes to set conditions for construction.
6 The approval authority shall include in its decision the outcome of the technical safety review and the technical safety conditions.
7 The approval authority shall order special technical measures when the protection of the work against acts of sabotage so requires.
8 During construction work, the monitoring authority controls whether the technical safety requirements are met.
1 Any person who wishes to put in service an accumulation work must hold an authorization issued by the supervisory authority.
2 The application for authorisation must contain all the indications required for the assessment of technical safety.
3 The supervisory authority shall examine the indications provided by the requesting party and check whether the technical safety requirements are met. To the extent that the technical safety of the facility requires it, it sets conditions for commissioning and operation.
1 The operator must ensure that:
2 It shall carry out the checks, measures and examinations necessary to judge the state and conduct of the accumulating work and shall conduct the evaluation of the results without delay. It forwards the reports to the supervisory authority.
3 It has the following obligations:
4 The monitoring authority reviews reports and controls whether technical safety requirements are met. It shall carry out periodic checks of the work.
5 To the extent that the technical safety of the work requires it, the supervisory authority shall submit the subsequent exploitation under conditions.
6 The accumulation must be monitored and maintained for as long as it can accumulate or retain water, sludge and other materials. In the absence of an operator, the owner of the property is responsible for meeting these obligations.
The competent authority shall consult the supervisory authority before authorising the construction or modification of a construction or installation which may affect the safety of an existing accumulation structure.
1 The operator shall make arrangements for the event that the security of the operation of the accumulation is no longer guaranteed by reason of an anomaly, natural event or act of sabotage.
2 In the event of an emergency, it is obliged to take all measures to avoid endanging people, property and the environment.
1 The operator of an accumulation volume with a holding volume greater than 2 million m 3 Must install and maintain an alarm-water device in the near area.
2 The operator of an accumulation volume with a holding volume of less than 2 million m 3 And whose submersible territory is exposed to a great danger shall install and maintain an alarm-water device in the near area if ordered by the monitoring authority.
3 The close area is the territory that would be submerged within two hours of the complete and sudden rupture of the work.
1 In the event of an emergency, the Confederation, the cantons and the municipalities shall ensure that the population is informed about the behaviour to be adopted and evacuated if necessary; in order to do so, they shall use the means and facilities of the Protection of the population.
2 The body designated by the Federal Council may make special arrangements in the event of a military threat.
The provisions of this Chapter shall not apply to articles of accumulation which are used exclusively for protection against natural hazards.
1 The operator of an accumulating structure shall respond to the physical and physical damage caused by the realization of the risks inherent in the flow of large quantities of water, sludge or other materials.
2 It also responds to the impact of the measures ordered by the authorities in order to prevent or reduce an imminent danger; it does not respond to the loss of profits.
3 Is deemed to be responsible for the person who owns, builds or operates an accumulation work. If the installation does not belong to it, the owner of the work is jointly and severally liable for the damage.
4 The Confederation, the cantons, the municipalities or other corporations or institutions of public law shall bear the civil liability of a work of accumulation under this Law to the extent that they exploit it.
The person who proves that the damage was due to a force majeure, to a serious fault of the injured person or to acts of sabotage, terrorism or war is relieved of his responsibility.
Except as otherwise provided in this Law, civil liability shall be governed by the provisions of the Code of Obligations 1 Relating to unlawful acts.
1 After a damaging event of a certain gravity, the Federal Council orders an investigation.
2 It invites all persons who have suffered injury to advertise within three months, indicating the date and place of the damage. The publication must indicate that failure to comply with the three-month time limit does not result in the loss of the right to repair, but that it may make it more difficult to establish the evidence that there is a link between the damage and the discharge The waters of an accumulating structure.
The cantons may provide that liability within the meaning of this Law shall be guaranteed in whole or in part by the conclusion of insurance contracts or by other equivalent means depending on the type and extent of the risks.
1 In the event of a major disaster, the Federal Assembly may adopt a compensation scheme by way of an order.
2 A major disaster occurs when, as a result of a harmful event, one of the following conditions must be assumed:
3 The Federal Assembly sets out in the compensation regulation the general principles of the fair distribution of the means available between the injured parties.
4 She has the following skills:
5 The Federal Council is taking the necessary preventive measures.
1 If a major disaster has resulted in a state of emergency, the Federal Council may address the following in the areas of private insurance, social insurance and public insurance:
2 This jurisdiction does not extend to liability insurance.
The cost of the measures taken by the competent authorities to prevent or reduce an imminent danger may be borne by the operator and the owner.
1 The Federal Supervisory Authority shall monitor the execution of this Law.
2 The large structures of accumulation were placed under the direct supervision of the Confederation.
3 The Federal Council appoints the Federal Supervisory Authority.
1 The cantons are monitoring the works of accumulation which do not fall under the direct supervision of the Confederation.
2 They shall designate their supervisory authority.
1 In the event of special circumstances, the federal supervisory authority may agree with the Township of a regulation of skills derogating from s. 22 and 23.
2 Where several works of accumulation form an operating unit and one of the works is subject to the direct supervision of the Confederation, all the works of accumulation of that operating unit shall be submitted to it.
The supervisory authority, to carry out its task, may:
Persons responsible for the construction or operation of an accumulation work are required to immediately notify the supervisory authority of specific safety events.
1 To carry out its task, the supervisory authority may appeal to experts.
2 The costs shall be borne by the operator of the accumulation.
1 The Federal Supervisory Authority shall levy an annual fee to cover the costs of its activity which are not financed by royalties.
2 Operators of large storage structures are subject to the monitoring fee.
3 The amount of the tax is calculated on the basis of the average cost of the monitoring activity over the past five years.
4 The terms and conditions of the Federal Council shall be laid down by the Federal Council, which shall specify the monitoring costs chargeable and the installations for which the operation is not subject to any tax.
1 Decisions taken pursuant to this Act may be appealed to the Federal Administrative Tribunal.
2 The Federal Supervisory Authority shall be entitled to use the means of appeal provided for by federal law and the cantonal law against the decisions of the cantonal authorities, which are based on this Act and its implementing provisions.
3 The cantonal authorities shall immediately and without charge communicate their contested decisions to the supervisory authority.
1 A custodial sentence shall be punishable by deprivation of liberty for up to three years if:
2 The penalty of deprivation of liberty shall be accompanied by a financial penalty.
3 Any person who acts negligently shall be punished by deprivation of liberty for up to three years or a pecuniary penalty.
1 Criminal proceedings are the responsibility of the Confederation.
2 Federal Law of 22 March 1974 on Administrative Criminal Law 1 Is applicable.
3 The Federal Council appoints the administrative authority for prosecution and judgment.
1 The enforcement bodies shall process the personal data necessary for the application of this Law, including data on prosecutions and criminal sanctions.
2 They may retain these data on electronic media. They may exchange them among themselves in so far as the uniform performance of this Law so requires.
The Federal Council shall issue the implementing provisions.
The Federal Law of 22 June 1877 on the Water Police 1 Is repealed.
1 [RS 4 971; RO 1953 970, 1973 1462, 1993 234 art. 18 hp. 2]
1 This Law shall be subject to the referendum.
2 The Federal Council shall fix the date of entry into force.
Date of entry into force: 1 Er January 2013 3
1 RS 101
2 FF 2006 5761
3 ACF of 17 Oct. 2012
