Court orders Swiss government to disclose Covid vaccine contracts
The Swiss government must disclose contracts concluded with pharmaceutical companies for the procurement of Covid vaccines. The Federal Administrative Court has upheld the appeals of three private individuals.
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The plaintiffs requested access to the contracts concluded by the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) and the army pharmacy for Covid vaccines on the basis of the Freedom of Information Act. The FOPH rejected the requests at the end of 2023. The rulings concerned the companies Novavax, Moderna Tx and Moderna Switzerland.
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In a judgement published on Tuesday, the Federal Administrative Court stated that no exceptional grounds specified in the law were met that would allow access to be denied. In particular, there was no reason to fear that Switzerland’s foreign policy interests would be jeopardised.
Furthermore, no evidence of an interest in confidentiality regarding prices, delivery conditions and other points had been provided. The judgement is not yet legally binding.
Translated from German by AI/jdp
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