Submitting a complaint to the FDPIC

Have you noticed a violation of personal data and would you like to submit a complaint to the FDPIC? First of all, check your situation to find out how the FDPIC can intervene.

Before submitting a complaint, please also note the following:

• The FDPIC will not follow up on vague or incomplete complaints (mere fears or suspicions, lack of precise descriptions of the steps taken with the data controller, etc.).
• If you have any questions or concerns about data processing, please contact the data controller first. In many cases, they will have a data protection officer who will be able to answer your questions; as a rule, a contact address is provided in the data protection declaration on the data controller's website.
• Please take the time to consult also the FAQs on our website, where you will find many answers to specific situations.
• The FDPIC only intervenes if the reported facts are sufficiently indicative of a significant violation of the Data Protection Act.
• As a whistleblower (third party or data subject), you have no right to obtain intervention from the FDPIC and will not be a party to any proceedings.

The FDPIC cannot:

• Exercise your rights on your behalf. To settle individual disputes, you can take the matter to the civil courts (if the data controller is a private individual) or the administrative courts (if it is a federal body).
• Take action against cantonal or municipal bodies (debt collection agencies, child and adult protection services, cantonal hospitals, public schools, etc.).
• Order the data controller to pay you compensation.
• Resolve situations that do not fall within the scope of data protection: labour law, tenancy law, intellectual property, criminal law, etc.
• The FDPIC is not a criminal prosecution authority: we do not have the power to impose criminal sanctions or prosecute cases of harassment, defamation, discrimination, etc.

Typical situations - See also our FAQs:

Online forms for submitting a complaint