Article 15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) sets out a certain number of obligations, both for countries that possess genetic resources and those that use them. Switzerland, a developed country in which biological diversity is modest compared to that of tropical countries, has naturally increasingly concentrated on the objectives of conservation and the sustainable use of biological diversity, as well as access to genetic resources. This study aims to make good this deficit by establishing an «inventory» of the Swiss legislation applicable to access to genetic resources. It demonstrates that, despite a large mosaic of diverse texts (much earlier texts as well as those enacted with aims distinct from those of the CBD), Swiss legislation broadly conforms to Article 15 of the CBD. Indeed, the majority of restrictions on access to genetic resources imposed by Swiss law are motivated by a concern for nature conservation, and are thus a priori compatible with the CBD’s objectives.