Federal Court complains about work load
The Swiss federal court says the number of cases it had to handle increased again in 1999, and appealed to voters to adopt reforms to cut the workload in a nationwide referedum next month.
The Swiss federal court says the number of cases it had to handle increased again in 1999, and appealed to voters to adopt reforms to cut the workload in a nationwide referedum next month.
At its annual news conference in Lausanne, the court said it had received 5,415 new cases last year, compared to 5,278 in 1998 and 5,435 in the record year of 1997.
It said the figures showed the number of cases it was being asked to handle was stabilising, but at a level which was too high. It said its burden had almost doubled in the last two decades, while the number of judges had remained at 30.
The court called on voters to approve a package of reforms in a referendum on March 12. But the judges warned that some key measures to ease their load had been dropped from the proposed changes. They said that the federal insurance court, which was most in need of reform, would not benefit at all.
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