2024

20.12.2024 – In November 2023, the software company Concevis was the victim of a hacker attack. Their clients included the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Both the FSO and Concevis informed the FDPIC about the incident, as there were indications that FSO data may have fallen into the hands of unauthorised persons. The FDPIC subsequently opened an informal preliminary enquiry against the FSO and Concevis and informed the public with a short news report.

On 1 September 2023, the new Data Protection Act of 25 September 2020 (FADP) came into force, with the aim of better protecting the privacy and fundamental rights of people living in Switzerland.

The Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) attended the 46. Global Privacy Assembly, which took place from 28 October to 1 November in Jersey.

Global data protection authorities issue follow-up joint statement on data scraping after industry engagement.

15.08.2024 - The Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner takes note of the new Data Privacy Framework between Switzerland and the USA.

07.08.2024 - The Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner, Adrian Lobsiger, welcomed his Somali counterpart for talks.

09.07.2024 - The existing explanations on data processing in clubs and associations have been comprehensively supplemented with frequently asked questions and important innovations under the new Data Protection Act.

27.03.2024 - The Conference of Cantonal Justice and Police Directors (CCJPD) has conducted a consultation on an agreement on the exchange of police data. Following the criticism of the agreement expressed by the Commissioner both in the consultation and in the media, several police corps commanders and the CCJPD felt compelled to publicly reject the FDPIC's criticism.

21.06.2024 - Meta will not use the data of Facebook and Instagram users in Switzerland to train its AI either. The US company had originally announced that the data of adult users could be used for AI training from 26 June 2024.

18.6.2024 - Online access to personal data can cause serious prejudice to the fundamental rights of the data subjects concerned. Federal authorities must therefore plan such access in good time in accordance with the Federal Act on Data Protection and justify it to their political overseers. In a new factsheet, the FDPIC shows how this should be done.

04.06.2024 - The Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner, Adrian Lobsiger, met with his Austrian counterpart in Bern for an exchange of views. Dr. Matthias Schmidl has headed the Austrian data protection authority since january 2024. He was accompanied by his deputy, MMag Elisabeth Wagner. The topics of the exchange were the common challenges and bilateral cooperation in the field of digitalization and data protection as well as freedom of information and the principle of publicity.

26.01.2024 - To mark International Data Protection Day, experts will be discussing the topic of ‹Data protection and vulnerability› at the University of Lausanne on 26 January. In his presentation entitled ‹Digital transformation – Do we still have control over our data?›, Florian Harms, head of the Data Protection Division at the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner FDPIC, reflects on the interplay between the ability and willingness to control personal data in light of the authority's recent experiences.

23.01.2024 - The guidelines on technical and organisational data protection measures (TOM) have been extensively revised and are also available in English in the updated version.

15.01.2024 - In its report of 15th January, the European Commission confirmed the adequacy of the Swiss level of data protection. The EU thereby recognises that Switzerland's legislation continues to provide an adequate level of protection for the processing of personal data.