Facts
On 24 December 2004, the Federal Tax Administration (FTA) was authorised to initiate a special tax investigation against lawyers A.A. and B.A., the latter being the owner of a law and notary firm in Lugano. On 2 and 3 February 2005, the Special Investigations Division of the FTA searched the law firm and seized several paper and digital documents, which were placed under seal. On 11 April 2005, the FTA requested the Criminal Appeals Chamber of the Federal Criminal Court to remove the seals on these documents and digital media.Considerations
The Criminal Appeals Chamber granted the request to remove the seals, establishing a three-stage procedure for the selection of documents: 1) separate the documents useful for the investigation from those not useful, 2) distinguish the documents covered by the lawyer's professional secrecy from those not covered, 3) for the remaining useful documents for the investigation, mask or replace with codes the names of clients, if necessary with the help of an external expert, in order to protect their identity.
The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the lawyers' appeal against this decision. It considered that the three-stage procedure adopted by the Criminal Appeals Chamber was in line with the case law…