Facts
Walter Beckers Editions, in Antwerp (Belgium), imported into Switzerland prospectuses for the subscription of a series of 24 novels entitled "Erotica", a subscription which entitled the recipient to the free delivery of another series of six volumes, entitled "The Files of Sexual Freedom by the Sexologist Carson Davis". The Customs Administration submitted a copy of these prospectuses to the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office to examine whether they constituted obscene publications under Art. 204 of the Swiss Criminal Code. The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office was unable to determine whether the publications were obscene and therefore authorized their importation.
Notwithstanding Art. 25 para. 1 lit. b of the Postal Services Act, the PTT Administration admitted that the prospectuses, which had been handed over to it for this purpose, should be distributed. The Investigating Magistrate of the District Court of Sierre, considering that the books offered by the prospectus were very likely obscene within the meaning of Art. 204 of the Swiss Criminal Code, opened a criminal investigation and ordered the sequestration of all the prospectuses that were still in the post offices of the district.
The PTT General Directorate then appealed to the Criminal Chamber of the Federal Tribunal to establish that the sequestration order constituted a request for judicial assistance within the meaning of Art. 352 et seq. of the Swiss Criminal Code and that the Swiss Confederation, the PTT enterprise, was entitled to refuse the requested assistance.
Considerations
According to case law, judicial assistance covers any measure that an authority is required to take, within the limits of its competence, in the course of pending criminal proceedings, for the purposes of the proceedings or for the enforcement of the judgment. Disputes concerning judicial assistance fall within the…