To date, the Confederation has incurred legal expenses of CHF 2.5 million in the UBS/US case. The costs associated with the settlement negotiations in the 2009 US civil action amounted to CHF 1 million, while those for the first administrative assistance request in July 2008 were CHF 1.5 million. The second administrative assistance request, of August 2009, is still in progress. However, it is estimated that the costs incurred by the administration for the necessary administrative assistance proceedings could reach CHF 37 million. This figure does not include the estimated expenditure on increasing the number of Federal Administrative Court judges in 2009-2011 (approx. CHF 8.6 million).

Based on the General Fees Ordinance of 8 September 2004 (http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/sr/c172_041_1.html), costs of CHF 1 million can be billed to UBS for assistance in the US civil action. The Fees Ordinance stipulates that whoever triggers an order or requests a service must pay a fee. While the Confederation was indeed primarily pursuing constitutional interests by providing support in the US civil action, the services were directly in the interests of UBS, which is why the costs can be billed to it.

An in-depth examination of the cost transfer issue regarding the two international administrative assistance proceedings revealed that there is no legal basis for more extensive recourse to UBS. Even a voluntary payment from UBS may not be accepted. The reason for this is that it must be avoided under all circumstances to give the impression that the decisions of the state administrative assistance authority responsible were not made entirely independently.

Address for enquiries:

Publisher:

Federal Department of Finance

Internet: http://www.efd.admin.ch