Federal Administrative Court confirms practice of the FDPIC
In a ruling dated 6 October 2025, the Federal Administrative Court dismissed the appeal lodged by the Swiss citizens’ association ‘Bürgerforum Schweiz’ against a processing ban imposed by the FDPIC.
As part of its online campaign ‘Pfarrer-Check’ (Priest Check), the association Bürgerforum Schweiz collected contact details of priests and other persons working in the church environment. These individuals were sent a questionnaire, and the association kept a record in an online database of who had received the questionnaire and how they had responded. The association wanted to use the questionnaire to determine whether these individuals shared its religious views. The association refused to delete entries relating to individuals who had been included in the database against their will when they requested that their details be removed.
In an investigation, the FDPIC concluded that the association was violating the principle of proportionality by publishing data on the internet about individuals who had merely been ‘registered’ or ‘asked’. In the FDPIC’s view, this data is neither suitable for obtaining reliable information about the religious beliefs of the persons concerned nor necessary to demonstrate the representativeness of the survey. On 9 April 2024, the FDPIC issued a corresponding ruling and prohibited the association from processing the data. The Bürgerforum association lodged an appeal against this ruling with the Federal Administrative Court, which dismissed it on 6 October 2025.