Deadline calculator for Swiss law

Calculate a time limit

• Which time limit? Choose a time limit from the catalogue; the governing law and the duration are then filled in. For other time limits, choose “Enter your own time limit”.
• Law governing the time limit: Civil procedure (CPC), Debt enforcement and bankruptcy (DEBA), Federal Supreme Court (FSCA), Criminal procedure (CrimPC), Federal administrative procedure (APA), Social insurance (ATSG), Direct federal tax (DFTA), Code of Obligations (CO), Cantonal proceedings (administration, taxes, building law)
• How did you receive the letter? By registered post or accepted in person; Collection notice in the letterbox; By ordinary post (e.g. A-Post Plus); No letter: the time limit runs from an event
• Duration of the time limit: Days, Weeks, Months, Years. This day is not counted; counting starts on the following day.
• Does the decision state that the court holidays do not apply? If this notice is missing, the time limits are stayed nonetheless (Art. 145 para. 3 CPC, BGE 139 III 78).

Catalogue of time limits: the key time limits under federal law

The calculator knows these time limits with their duration, start and governing law. Each is based on the wording of the statutory provision cited. Cantonal time limits are covered for all 26 cantons; objections “during the public inspection” of a building application are mostly omitted on purpose, because the law does not say whether the first day of public inspection counts.

Examples

This is how the deadline calculator works. Every example has been checked with the calculator.

Which rules apply in which proceedings?

Each procedural act calculates time limits slightly differently. Most errors occur with public holidays and court holidays.

Court holidays 2026 and 2027

In civil proceedings, statutory and court-ordered time limits are stayed three times a year (Art. 145 para. 1 CPC): from the seventh day before Easter until the seventh day after Easter inclusive, from 15 July until 15 August inclusive and from 18 December until 2 January inclusive.

This stay does not apply in conciliation proceedings or in summary proceedings, nor to appeals against decisions in summary proceedings (Art. 145 para. 2 CPC, BGE 139 III 78). The court must give notice of this; if the notice is missing, the time limits are stayed nonetheless (Art. 145 para. 3 CPC, BGE 139 III 78 consid. 5). According to case law, the stay also applies after conciliation proceedings to the time limit for filing an action following the authorisation to proceed and to the rejection of a proposed decision (BGE 138 III 615, BGE 144 III 404). If service takes place during the stay, the time limit only begins to run on the first day after the stay ends (Art. 146 para. 1 CPC). The same periods apply before the Federal Supreme Court and in federal administrative proceedings, there only to time limits set in days (Art. 46 FSCA, Art. 22a APA), and in social insurance (Art. 38 para. 4 ATSG). There are no court holidays in criminal proceedings (Art. 89 para. 2 CrimPC).

Debt enforcement holidays 2026 and 2027

Debt enforcement holidays are the seven days before and seven days after Easter and Christmas and the period from 15 July to 31 July; there are none in enforcement based on bills of exchange (Art. 56 no. 2 DEBA). They do not stop time limits from running: if the end of a time limit falls within them, the time limit is extended until the third day after their end; Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays are not counted (Art. 63 DEBA).

How the deadline calculator works

You choose the governing law and enter how and when you received the letter and the duration of the time limit. The calculator counts according to the wording of the relevant statute: the day of service is not counted, and the time limit ends on its last day. It then checks court holidays and debt enforcement holidays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, and shows the statutory text for each step. On the English page, federal law is shown in its official German wording, as there is no official English version.

It only gives a date where the date is certain. If the end depends on a circumstance it does not know, such as a public holiday observed only in certain cantons, it states the reason and the earliest day that may apply. An end of a time limit calculated too late can cost you a right; an open result is therefore intentional.

Collection notice: when is a consignment deemed served?

Anyone who does not collect a registered consignment must nevertheless accept it as effective against them: it is deemed served on the seventh day after the unsuccessful attempt at service (Art. 138 para. 3 let. a CPC, Art. 85 para. 4 let. a CrimPC, Art. 44 para. 2 FSCA, Art. 20 para. 2bis APA, Art. 38 para. 2bis ATSG). This presupposes that you had to expect service; for the CPC and the CrimPC, this is laid down in the statute.

The seventh day applies even if it falls on a Saturday or a public holiday; the time limit begins on the following day (BGE 127 I 31). If you collect the consignment earlier, the day of collection counts. For the DEBA, the DFTA and the CO, the statute does not provide for such deemed service; there, the calculator gives no certain date but calculates cautiously from the day of the attempted delivery.

Time limits in months: the day of service counts (BGE 150 III 367)

A time limit calculated in months expires in the last month on the day with the same number as the day on which it began to run; if there is no such day, on the last day of the month (Art. 142 para. 2 CPC). It was long disputed whether this refers to the day of service or the following day.

The Federal Supreme Court has decided: the decisive day is the day of notification or of the event (BGE 150 III 367 consid. 5.6). In the case decided, the authorisation to proceed was served on 26 January 2022; the three-month time limit ended on 26 April 2022 and, because of the stay around Easter, 15 days later, on 11 May 2022 (consid. 4.5). Other procedural acts contain no such rule; there, for time limits in months, the calculator gives the cautious day.

Public holidays of the 26 cantons

Which public holidays extend a time limit is determined by cantonal law, often differently for each type of proceedings. For each canton, the calculator keeps separate lists for civil procedure, the DEBA, criminal procedure and other proceedings, each with the wording of the cantonal provision. In Zurich, for example, Berchtoldstag (St Berchtold’s Day) counts in civil and criminal proceedings (§ 122 GOG); the Rest Days Act does not mention it (§ 1 RLG), so for time limits before the Federal Supreme Court or under the CO it remains uncertain. In Ticino and Valais, Good Friday is not a public holiday. In Neuchâtel, in civil proceedings, every day on which the cantonal administration is closed for at least half a day counts as a public holiday (Art. 10a LI-CPC).

The basis is the official law collections of the cantons, retrieved on 24 October 2026; a test checks every quotation against the official text. The 2026 dates have also been checked against the cantons’ lists of public holidays. Where a list and the statute differ, the statute prevails. Public holidays observed only in certain districts or municipalities are treated by the calculator as uncertain, insofar as a cantonal statute mentions them; it does not know other municipal holidays or administrative closing days decided at short notice, and indicates in the result where these may count.

When the calculator gives no date

In these cases, the calculator states the reason and the earliest day that may apply:

• The end falls on a public holiday that applies only in some of the cantons or municipalities, for example Berchtoldstag, Whit Monday or All Saints’ Day, and you have not chosen a canton. Or, even in the chosen canton, it is uncertain whether the day counts for these proceedings, for instance because the statute only mentions it for other proceedings.
• The time limit touches the court holidays and it is uncertain whether it is stayed: the type of proceedings is unknown (for instance, whether an interim measure is being challenged before the Federal Supreme Court), no answer has been given on the notice in the decision, or conciliation proceedings are involved.
• In civil proceedings, service by ordinary post falls on a public holiday that applies only in some of the cantons, and it is uncertain whether it counts at the place of the court.
• A time limit in months under the FSCA, CrimPC, APA, ATSG or DFTA, or a time limit in months that begins with service during the court holidays.
• A collection notice under the DEBA, DFTA or CO, where the statute does not provide for deemed service.
• A time limit under the CO ends on a Saturday, and it is uncertain whether it derives from a statute or a contract.
• Under the DEBA, it is uncertain whether debt enforcement, bankruptcy or attachment proceedings or an action before a court are involved, and the rules produce different days.

Frequently asked questions on calculating time limits

Which time limit applies in your case?

RechtsKI answers legal questions under Swiss law with statutory provisions and Federal Supreme Court decisions, and reviews your documents. 5 free credits, no credit card.

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Sources

• Official sources: Arts. 138–146 CPC (Fedlex, version of 1 July 2026) · Arts. 31, 56 and 63 DEBA (Fedlex, version of 1 January 2026) · Arts. 44–48 FSCA (Fedlex, version of 1 April 2026) · Arts. 85 and 89–91 CrimPC (Fedlex, version of 1 April 2025) · Arts. 20–22a APA (Fedlex, version of 1 July 2022) · Arts. 38 and 39 ATSG (Fedlex, version of 1 January 2024) · Art. 133 DFTA (Fedlex, version of 2 September 2026) · Arts. 77 and 78 CO (Fedlex, version of 1 October 2026) · Federal Act on the Running of Time Limits on Saturdays (SR 173.110.3) · Art. 110 para. 3 Cst. (Fedlex) · BGE 150 III 367 (Federal Supreme Court) · BGE 139 III 78, BGE 138 III 615, BGE 144 III 404, BGE 127 I 31 (Federal Supreme Court)