# Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications

The Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC, German: Eidgenössisches Departement für Umwelt, Verkehr, Energie und Kommunikation, French: Département fédéral de l'environnement, des transports, de l'énergie et des communications, Italian: Dipartimento federale dell'ambiente, dei trasporti, dell'energia e delle comunicazioni, Romansh: Departament federal per ambient, traffic, energia e communicaziun) is one of the seven departments of the Swiss federal government, headed by a member of the Swiss Federal Council.

## Organisation

The department is composed of the following offices:
* General Secretariat
* Federal Office for Spatial Development (ARE): Coordinates area planning between the federal agencies, the cantons and the municipalities.
* Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN): Responsible for matters of the environment, including the protection of plants and animals and the protection against noise, air pollution or natural hazards.
* Federal Office for Civil Aviation (FOCA): Regulates civil aviation.
* Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM): Regulates radio and TV stations, notably the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation.
* Federal Office of Energy (FOE): Responsible for the provision of electrical energy at the federal level, as well as for the supervision of dams.
* Federal Office of Transport (FOT): Responsible for public transport at the federal level, including the development of the federal rail network and navigation on the Rhine.
* Federal Roads Office (FEDRO): Responsible for the construction, maintenance and operation of the national highway network.
The following independent authorities are affiliated to the DETEC for administrative purposes:
* Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board (STSB, formerly Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau and Investigation Bureau for Railway, Funicular and Boat Accidents).
* Federal Communications Commission (ComCom): Regulates the telecommunications market, awards service licences, rules on interconnection disputes and approves frequency and numbering plans.
* Federal Electricity Commission (ElCom): monitors electricity prices, rules as a judicial authority on disputes relating to network access and payment of cost-covering feed-in of electricity produced from renewable energy, monitors electricity supply security and regulates issues relating to international electricity transmission and trading.
* Federal Postal Services Commission (PostCom): Regulates the Swiss Post and Swiss postal market.
* Rail Transport Commission (RailCom): Arbitrates in disputes over access to the rail network and the calculation of fees for the use of infrastructure.
* Independent Complaints Authority for Radio and Television (ICA): Decides on complaints related to radio and television programmes.
* Safety Office (formerly known as the Civil Aviation Safety Office, CASO): supports the development of safety in land, sea and air transport, in the use, transport and distribution of energy, and for communications infrastructures
* Reporting Office for Just Culture in Civil Aviation (ROJCA): strengthens Just Culture through the protection of the information source of an occurrence reporting in Swiss Civil Aviation.
* Federal Inspectorate for Heavy Current Installations (ESTI): Responsible for inspecting low and heavy-current electrical installations.
* Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI): Assesses and monitors security and radiation protection in Swiss nuclear installations.
* Federal Pipelines Inspectorate (ERI): Responsible for the planning, construction and operation of fuel pipeline systems in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
* The building of the Federal Office of Civil Aviation, the Federal Roads Office and the Federal Office of Energy

## Name of department

* 1848–1859: Department of Posts and Construction
* 1860–1872: Department of Posts
* 1873–1878: Department of Posts and Telegraph
* 1879–1962: Department of Posts and Railways
* 1963–1978: Department of Transport, Communications and Energy
* 1979–1997: Federal Department of Transport, Communications and Energy
* Since 1998: Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications

## List of heads of the department

* 1848–1852: Wilhelm Matthias Naeff
* 1853–1854: Josef Munzinger
* 1855–1866: Wilhelm Matthias Naeff
* 1867 only: Jakob Dubs
* 1868 only: Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel
* 1869 only: Jakob Dubs
* 1870–1872: Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel
* 1873–1875: Eugène Borel
* 1876 only: Joachim Heer
* 1877–1879: Emil Welti
* 1880–1881: Simeon Bavier
* 1882–1883: Emil Welti
* 1884 only: Adolf Deucher
* 1885–1891: Emil Welti
* 1892–1901: Josef Zemp
* 1902 only: Robert Comtesse
* 1903–1907: Josef Zemp
* 1908–1911: Ludwig Forrer
* 1912 only: Robert Comtesse
* 1912 only: Louis Perrier
* 1911–1917: Ludwig Forrer
* 1918–1929: Robert Haab
* 1930–1940: Marcel Pilet-Golaz
* 1940–1950: Enrico Celio
* 1950–1954: Josef Escher
* 1955–1959: Giuseppe Lepori
* 1960–1965: Willy Spühler
* 1966–1968: Rudolf Gnägi
* 1968–1973: Roger Bonvin
* 1974–1979: Willy Ritschard
* 1980–1987: Leon Schlumpf
* 1988–1995: Adolf Ogi
* 1995–2010: Moritz Leuenberger
* 2010–2018: Doris Leuthard
* 2019–2022: Simonetta Sommaruga
* Since 2023: Albert Rösti