ATSG – Swiss Federal Act on the General Part of Social Insurance Law (SR 830.1)

Core elements

The ATSG of 6 October 2000 (in force since 1 January 2003) harmonises federal social insurance law without replacing the individual acts: it applies wherever the specific acts (UVG, IVG, AHVG, KVG, ALVG, MVG, EOG, ELG, FamZG) declare it applicable. Its first part defines key concepts uniformly – illness (Art. 3), accident as the sudden, unintended harmful effect of an unusual external factor (Art. 4), incapacity for work (Art. 6), incapacity for gainful activity (Art. 7), disability (Art. 8) and helplessness (Art. 9). Art. 16 lays down the assessment of the degree of disability by income comparison, which applies equally to the invalidity insurance (IV) and to accident insurance.

Procedure and coordination

The procedural part governs duties to inform and cooperate, the formal decision, the objection procedure (Art. 52) and the appeal to the cantonal insurance court (Art. 56 et seq.). The coordination part (Art. 63 et seq.) determines which scheme pays first when several benefits coincide, prohibits overcompensation (Art. 69: benefits may not exceed the presumed lost earnings plus additional costs) and regulates advance payments (Art. 70) and the insurers’ recourse against liable third parties (Art. 72 et seq.). Individual acts may deviate – Art. 20 para. 2 UVG, for instance, sets the complementary pension expressly “in derogation of Art. 69 ATSG”.

Practical relevance

For claims practice in accident and sick-pay insurance the ATSG is the key to distinguishing accident from illness, to calculating the degree of disability and to the order in which UVG, IV, AHV and occupational pension schemes pay. Private supplementary insurance under the VVG is not subject to the ATSG but coordinates its benefits contractually with the ATSG insurers.