When it comes to assessing the need for a complete revision, the following key issues are raised:

• Firstly, the purpose of and, therefore, the need for the act are examined. Is government involvement still required in the public interest or can it be renounced? The key issues to take into account when seeking to answer this question are the developments to be expected in society and in the economy.
• If it is deemed that a revised act is required, the type of government involvement needs to be defined. Should the State provide its own services (e.g. public services) or should it control private activities through government requirements and intervention (e.g. financial market supervision)?
• After that, the level of state intervention needs to be defined. Here, great importance is attached to the principle of proportionality, according to which State involvement must be limited to what is necessary to achieve objectives that are in the public interest, it must be in keeping with the objectives pursued and must be proportional to the restricted freedom imposed on private individuals.
• The next step is task allocation, whereby it is decided whether the tasks in question should be the responsibility of the Confederation or whether they should be delegated to the individual cantons.
• Finally, the responsibilities within the Confederation are to be defined.

The complete revision procedure can essentially be broken down into the following steps:

1. Analysis of the initial situation: In this first step, the aim is to clarify in what respect the act in question no longer meets the current or future requirements and should therefore be repealed without replacement or completely revised.

2. The basic parameters are established: Providing the act is not to be repealed without replacement, the overall objective of the complete revision is to be determined in the form of a strategy. The parameters of a complete revision are often submitted to the Federal Council for approval.

3. The initial draft act and the explanatory report are drawn up: The initial draft act is usually drawn up by the administrative unit responsible for enforcing the act being revised.

4. Consultation procedure: The consultation procedure is initiated by the Federal Council and allows all interested parties outside the Federal Administration to express their opinion on the draft act. Upon expiry of a term of at least three months, the consultation procedure is analysed and evaluated.

5. Amendment of the draft act and drafting of the message: Based on the outcome of the consultation procedure, the initial draft act is revised, and the explanatory report is developed into a message.

6. The Federal Council's request to Parliament: The Federal Council then adopts the draft act as well as the message submitted to Parliament.

7. Parliamentary discussion: The act and message are discussed in the parliamentary commissions and the Federal Assembly.

8. Referendum deadline: Within a term of 100 days, 50,000 voters may demand that the completely revised act be submitted to a referendum.

9. Popular vote if applicable: if an optional referendum takes place, the completely revised act is put to the public vote.

10. Entry into force of the act: If a referendum is not held by the set deadline or if the act is approved by a referendum, the Federal Council sets the date on which the revised act is due to come into force.