Swiss National Council votes in favour of pursuing an amended proposal to the Responsible Business Initiative
"Nationalrat will Konzerne in die Pflicht nehmen", 13 June 2019
[unofficial summary translation of the SDA press release on the Swiss Parliament's website]
On Thursday 13 June 2019, the Swiss National Council [the Parliament's lower house] voted in favour of an indirect counter-proposal to the citizen Responsible Business Initiative.
A year ago, the National Council had already agreed to take up the concerns of the Initiative and decided on legal rules meant to serve as an indirect counter-proposal [which maintained key elements of the Initiative]. The Council of States [the Parliament's upper house/Senate], however, then rejected a counter-proposal [in a first vote in March 2019]. The National Council has now confirmed its decision to pursue a counter-proposal [and referred the dossier back to the Council of States].
The National Council will not be able to discuss the content again until the Council of States agrees to a counter-proposal. However, reaching such an agreement could be difficult.
If the Parliament were to adopt the initial version of the counter-proposal, the organisers would withdraw their Initiative.