When preparing proposals, the lead office shall invite jointly interested administrative units to comment, setting appropriate deadlines. In justified exceptional cases, the office consultation procedure may be waived or may be limited to a narrow group of addressees.
In the case of confidential and secret Federal Council business, the administrative units responsible for advance legal examination shall be consulted on important and contentious legal issues before the Federal Council meeting if possible.7
Differences shall be resolved as far as possible through the office consultation procedure; the lead department shall report on this to the Federal Council.
The administrative units that have a technical connection to the business or that are responsible for the assessment of financial, legal or formal aspects are considered to be co-interested.