Facts
Lawyer [A.] and his associate B. currently represent a party in pending proceedings before the Criminal Law Division of the Federal Criminal Court. By electronic registered mail, they requested the Federal Criminal Court to notify all of its communications intended for the lawyers of their firm electronically, based on Art. 9 of the Ordinance on Electronic Communication in Civil and Criminal Proceedings (OCEI-PCPP).
The Criminal Law Division refused to grant this request, considering that Art. 86 of the Swiss Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP) does indeed provide for the possibility of notifying communications electronically, but does not make it an obligation. Furthermore, the Court cited technical considerations, in particular the impossibility of opening an account in the name of the Court on recognized platforms.
[A.] then appealed against this decision to the Federal Tribunal, arguing that Art. 9 para. 3 OCEI-PCPP established a genuine right to electronic notification.
Considerations
The Federal Tribunal dismissed the appeal. It considered that Art. 86 para. 1 CCP, which provides that communications may be notified electronically with the consent of the person concerned, should be interpreted as a mere faculty offered to the criminal authorities (a "Kann-Vorschrift"), and not as a right for the litigant.
According to the Federal Tribunal, the provisions of the OCEI-PCPP, in particular its Art. 9 para. 3, cannot go beyond this simple faculty provided for by law. They cannot therefore…