1 The withdrawal of a popular initiative is normally unconditional.
2 However, if Federal Assembly has approved an indirect counter-proposal in the form of a federal act at the latest at the same time as the final vote on the popular initiative, the initiative committee may withdraw its popular initiative under the express condition that the indirect counter-proposal is not rejected in a popular vote.
3 The conditional withdrawal becomes effective as soon as:
the deadline for requesting a referendum against the indirect counter-proposal has expired without a request being filed;
a legally binding declaration has been made that the request for a referendum against the indirect counter-proposal has failed; or
the Federal Council has, in accordance with Article 15 paragraph 1, validated the result of the popular vote where a request for a referendum has succeeded and the People have voted for the indirect counter-proposal.
1 Inserted by No I of the Federal Act of 25 Sept. 2009 (Conditional Withdrawal of a Popular Initiative), in force since 1 Feb. 2010 (AS 2010 271; BBl 2009 3591 3609).
