The Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA, German: Bundesamt für Zivilluftfahrt, BAZL; French: Office fédéral de l'aviation civile, OFAC; Italian: Ufficio federale dell'aviazione civile, UFAC) is the Swiss civil aviation agency, a division of the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications. Its head office is in Bern, and it has an office at Zurich Airport.
It is within the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications responsible for the regulation and oversight of civil aviation. For civil aviation in this regard include the staff (air traffic controllers and pilots, among others), the aircraft (including aircraft and hot air balloons) and infrastructure (mainly the airports).
In addition to it, the FOCA supports the international contacts of Switzerland in the field of aviation, such as the numerous air services agreements with other states. The FOCA also issues permits for hazardous shipments from air freight, this concerns mainly chemical hazardous substances such as ammunition, as well as biological or radioactive cargo. These authorizations shall be communicated to the Air Force which then monitors the corresponding flight in Swiss airspace with FLORAKO System. The FOCA is also the focal point for the embassies of other nations, if they want to use Swiss airspace with a State aircraft. The FOCA granted to so-called Diplomatic Clearances who usually for 72h validity. Compliance with the Diplomatic clerance monitors the Swiss Air Force, this is authorized to grant such licenses within the meaning of the FOCA (or deny) if these are sent outside the opening times of the FOCA.
2004 has the FOCA has a budget of 75 million Swiss francs and has 194 employees. The headquarters of the FOCA is located together with the Federal Office of Transport, Federal Office of Energy, and the Federal Roads in the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications building in Bern suburb Ittigen.
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