Switzerland collaborates in the fight against organized crime on several fronts:

International judicial cooperation
Switzerland has ratified several other bilateral and multilateral international agreements through which it is committed to providing judicial cooperation - also referred to as mutual assistance - in criminal matters. The most significant agreement was constituted by the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters on 20 April 1957. In accordance with the "Federal Act on international mutual assistance in criminal matters" (1983), Switzerland grants international judicial cooperation in criminal matters. In such procedures, capital assets can be frozen and, if need be, released to the foreign authorities. Judicial cooperation is granted when the crime under prosecution is also punishable in Switzerland and the foreign authority guarantees that it will not use the information issued from Switzerland for any purpose other than the investigation.

Interpol
Switzerland is a member of the International Criminal Police Organization and thus participates in the exchange of information between police authorities.

Basle Committee on Banking Supervision
Switzerland played an active part in concluding the Declaration of the Basle Calmat on Banking Supervision, which, in 1988, established the first international code of conduct for banks, with an aim to prevent any abuse of the banking industry for money laundering purposes.

Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF)
Switzerland is also a member of the FATF, an intergovernmental body that was set up in 1989 at the G7 economic summit in Paris and is open to most members of the OECD. Its purpose is to develop and promote strategies to combat laundering the proceeds of criminal activities. To this end, in 1990 it implemented 40 recommendations that all the countries are encouraged to adopt. These recommendations form the internationally recognized standard of measures that a country must take to fight effectively against money laundering. They concern the countries' legal and financial systems, as well international cooperation. An active participant since the FATF was founded, Switzerland has integrated these recommendations into its system of law (criminal code, Money Laundering Act). Many of the FATF recommendations were drawn from the standards put in place by the Code of Conduct on due diligence between the Swiss Bankers Association and the Swiss banks. Member countries of the FATF have accepted the discipline of being subjected to multilateral surveillance.
On the occasion of its most recent study (February 1998), the Swiss anti-laundering provision was judged conform with FATF Recommendations. The efforts of the banks were thus confirmed and acknowledged.

Strasbourg Convention
In 1993, Switzerland also ratified the "Council of Europe Convention no. 141 on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime". The Strasbourg Convention, just like the Federal Act on International Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, allows Switzerland to cooperate effectively on an international level for the fight against cross-border criminality and the financial tools it employs.

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