Under specific legal provisions, the Confederation may set up its own research institutes and take over existing ones in part or in entirety.
Federal research institutes must be closed if they no longer fulfil a need or if their tasks could be fulfilled more efficiently and to a comparable standard by higher education research centres.
The Federal Council shall ensure that federal research institutes are appropriately organised.
Under paragraph 3, it may delegate decision-making powers to the department responsible. Regulations on responsibilities contained in specific legal provisions are reserved.
If measures under paragraphs 1 and 2 affect the activities of other research bodies, the Swiss University Conference or the ETH Board, they shall be consulted beforehand.
Federal research institutes may apply for third-party funding or programme participation fromInnosuisse or other national and international organisations that fund research.29