Together with the implementing ordinances, regulations and guidelines, the Telecommunications Act (TCA) 22 ensures that both the population and the private sector are offered manifold, affordable, high-quality telecommunications services that are competitive nationally and internationally. According to the article stating the purpose of the TCA, the universal service must be "reliable". Binding quality requirements regarding the universal service result from the Ordinance on Telecommunications Services (OTS) 23 and the corresponding OFCOM regulations. Furthermore, the TCA should ensure "trouble-free telecommunications that respect personal and intellectual property rights". The TCA and the OTS each include a chapter on "important national interests" containing various security-related provisions. Based on these, OFCOM has issued guidelines that recommend measures concerning the security and availability of telecommunications infrastructure and services. Regarding the security of telecommunications services, it must also be stated that the legally required measures refer solely to the technically faultless functioning of installations. The TCA provides for the "security and availability of telecommunications infrastructure and services". Moreover, reliability and the absence of disruptions are laid down in the act and in other ordinances. Precisely how telecommunications services – and thus telecommunications and information technologies – are to be protected from external threats or natural phenomena is not defined in legislation 24. The National Economic Supply Act (NESA) 25 and the associated ordinances 26 govern the precautionary measures for national economic defence as well as measures for ensuring the country's supply of vital goods and services during serious shortages which the private sector is incapable of facing alone. The ICT infrastructure (ICT-I) area is responsible for safeguarding the information infrastructure (e.g. data security and transmission) and international telecommunications. A draft for an extensive revision of the National Economic Supply Act is currently being prepared. The new orientation provides for switching from a security logic to a risk approach, increasing the resilience of vital economic branches and shifting the focus from goods to services. The Federal Act on the Surveillance of Postal and Telecommunications Traffic (SPTA) 27 and the Swiss Criminal Procedure Code (CrimPC) 28 allow for the monitoring of post and telecommunications, including e-mail, in the case of well-founded suspicions. The retroactive collection of transaction and billing data and the identification of participants are also legally permissible. 22 SR 784.10 Telecommunications Act of 30 April 1997 (TCA), as at 1 July 2010 23 SR 784.101.1 Ordinance of 9 March 2007 on Telecommunications Services (OTS), as at 1 March 2012 24 Crisis and Risk Network (CRN), Center for Security Studies (CSS) (2011): "The Legal Basis for the Protection of Critical Infrastructure in Switzerland" (in progress; assigned by the FOCP) 25 SR 531 Federal Act of 8 October 1982 on the National Economic Supply (NESA), as at 1 January 2011 26 SR 531.11 Ordinance of 6 July 1983 on the Organisation of the National Economic Supply (as at 6 July 2003); SR 531.12 Ordinance of 2 July 2003 on the Preparatory Measures for the National Economic Supply (as at 22 July 2003) 27 SR 780.1 Federal Act of 6 October 2000 on the Surveillance of Postal and Telecommunications Traffic (SPTA), as at 1 January 2011 28 SR 312.0 Swiss Criminal Procedure Code of 5 October 2007 25/42