Facts
On June 7, 1990, [S.] had four used passenger cars cleared for import into Switzerland at the Customs Office in Lucerne. The examination of the accompanying documents led to the suspicion that there could be fictitious invoices among them. The Basel Customs Directorate then opened a criminal investigation, which has not been completed to this day. On August 4 and 26, 1993, respectively, S.'s lawyer requested access to the files of the ongoing criminal investigation. The Basel Customs Directorate granted access to the files, but rejected the delivery of the files to the lawyer's office. Instead, the file inspection was to take place at the authority's headquarters.
By complaint dated December 20, 1993, S.'s lawyer applied to the Federal Customs Directorate to revoke the decision of the Basel Customs Directorate and to determine that the files should be delivered to him for the proper preparation of the defense. The Federal Customs Directorate dismissed the complaint on February 25, 1994.
Thereupon, [S.] appealed to the Federal Customs Appeals Commission by complaint dated March 10, 1994, which referred the matter to the Indictment Chamber of the Federal Supreme Court.
Considerations
The Indictment Chamber of the Federal Supreme Court examined whether the administration had exceeded its discretion by imposing the condition that the file inspection be carried out at the authority's headquarters. It concluded that this was not the case.
According to Art. 26 et seq. of the Federal Act on Administrative Procedure (VwVG), the general principles derived from Art. 4 of the Federal Constitution (BV) regarding the right of access to files have found expression. Case law and doctrine on the minimum constitutional right of access to files under Art. 4…