In which situations does the BÜPF actually allow telecom surveillance to be ordered (its "sachlicher Geltungsbereich", Art. 1)?
In six situations: a criminal proceeding, the execution of a mutual-legal-assistance request, the search for a missing person, the manhunt for a convicted fugitive, the execution of the intelligence-service law (NDG), and mobile-phone localisation under the internal-security law (BWIS).
The "sachlicher Geltungsbereich" (material scope) of a law lists exactly the cases it applies to — outside those, the law gives no authority. Art. 1 BÜPF names six:
- In a criminal proceeding (Strafverfahren) — the everyday case: police investigating a suspected crime.
- To execute a mutual-legal-assistance request (Rechtshilfeersuchen) — a foreign authority asks Switzerland for help and Swiss law must back the measure.
- To find a missing person (vermisste Person) — the Notsuche track (Art. 35), a protective measure.
- For the manhunt after a convicted person (Fahndung) — the Fahndung track (Art. 36), enforcing an existing sentence.
- To execute the intelligence-service law (NDG, of 25 September 2015) — work by the intelligence service NDB, not ordinary police.
- For mobile-phone localisation under the BWIS — the federal act on measures to safeguard internal security.
The key lesson is that surveillance is never an open-ended power: every measure must be pinned to one of these statutory situations. The list also explains why Notsuche and Fahndung (cards below) need their own articles — they happen outside a criminal proceeding, so the first ground alone wouldn't reach them.
Tip: Two are criminal/assistance (Strafverfahren, Rechtshilfe), two are person-searches (vermisst, Fahndung), two are security-service (NDG, BWIS).
Go deeper:
The SPTA / BÜPF — Swiss legal basis (li.admin.ch) — the official scope and purpose of the Swiss surveillance regime.