The Federal Civil Protection Crisis Management Board's operations and support unit


If an incident with national implications is imminent or has occurred, the Federal Civil Protection Crisis Management Board, under Article 4 paragraph 2 of the Ordinance on the Federal Civil Protection Crisis Management Board, is responsible for:

  • ensuring both the flow of information and the coordination with other federal and cantonal staffs and offices, the operators of critical infrastructures and the responsible authorities abroad    
  • assessing the overall situation, in particular where it comprises a combination of different situations
  • providing the information that the Federal Council and the responsible federal department or office need to make their decisions
  • coordinating expert knowledge at federal level
  • coordinating the deployment of national and international resources.

The National Emergency Operations Centre NEOC acts as the operations and support unit for the Federal Civil Protection Crisis Management Board.

The Federal Civil Protection Crisis Management Board comprises the directors' conference, a planning unit made up of experts from the authorities involved, and the operations and support units. Permanent members of the Federal Civil Protection Crisis Management Board are:

  • Federal Chancellery

Federal Department of Foreign Affairs:

  • Crisis Management Centre
  • Swiss Humanitarian Aid and Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit

Federal Department of Home Affairs:

  • MeteoSwiss
  • Federal Office of Public Health
  • Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office

Federal Department of Justice and Police:

  • Federal Office of Police
  • State Secretariat for Migration

Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport:

  • Federal Office for Civil Protection
  • Armed Forces Joint Operations Command
  • Coordinated Medical Services
  • Federal Intelligence Service
  • Federal Office of Topography

Federal Department of Finance:

  • Federal Customs Administration
  • Federal IT Steering Unit

Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research:

  • Federal Office for Agriculture
  • Federal Office for National Economic Supply
  • Federal Office for Civilian Service

Federal Department of the Environment, Traffic, Energy and Communications:

  • Federal Office of Transport
  • Federal Roads Office
  • Federal Office of Civil Aviation
  • Federal Office of Energy
  • Federal Office of Communications
  • Federal Office for the Environment

Federal institutes:

  • Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research
  • Swiss Seismological Service at ETH Zurich
  • Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate

Cantonal bodies:

  • Conference of the Cantonal Governments of Switzerland
  • Conference of the Cantonal Justice and Police Directors
  • Intergovernmental Conference for the Military, Civil Protection and Fire Services
  • Conference of the Cantonal Energy Directors
  • Conference of the Cantonal Directors of Public Health
  • four cantonal management organisations
  • Swiss Security Network

The conference of directors and the planning unit are composed individually according to the emergency.

The National Emergency Operations Centre, as the Federal Management Board's operations and support unit, is responsible for convening the Federal Management Board rapidly in the event of an emergency and providing it with information and continuing updates on developments in both the overall situation and the situations in the various sectors. Reports on these individual situations are compiled by the authorities and specialist bodies concerned and made available via NEOC.

task force organisation in the event of national emergencies related to civil protection