Con­sul­ta­ti­on of the DSG will be con­tin­ued in a stag­ge­red manner

In the Natio­nal Coun­cil today (12.6.) the revi­si­on of the FDPA dis­cus­sed. The main point of con­ten­ti­on was the que­sti­on of how the FDPA will be dis­cus­sed fur­ther. The pro­to­col of the con­sul­ta­ti­on is available on the web­site of the Par­lia­ment, but does not con­tain (at least in the available pro­vi­sio­nal ver­si­on) all requests to speak. – The NZZ has for con­sul­ta­ti­on today published a mes­sa­ge.

The left and part­ly the cen­ter of the Coun­cil – repre­sen­ted, for exam­p­le, by Bal­tha­sar Glätt­li – spo­ke out in favor of the com­pre­hen­si­ve advice while the right(er) side of the Coun­cil (a.o. NR Roma­no, CVP/TI) at a stag­ge­red advice wan­ted to retain, among other things, to ensu­re the ade­qua­cy of Swiss law. BR Som­ma­ru­ga also stres­sed the importance of data pro­tec­tion in the Inter­net age and the ade­qua­cy of Swiss data protection.

During the dis­cus­sion, spea­k­ers from both sides also addres­sed sub­stan­ti­ve issues of the revi­si­on. Glätt­li, for exam­p­le, noted – even though he cri­ti­ci­zed it – that in the Swiss draft, curr­ent­ly no cou­pling pro­hi­bi­ti­on is pro­vi­ded. In gene­ral, he deman­ded that both a posi­ti­ve and a nega­ti­ve Swiss Finish be dis­pen­sed with. The Coun­cil Right pri­ma­ri­ly oppo­sed bureau­cra­tic efforts that do not impro­ve data pro­tec­tion, for exam­p­le in con­nec­tion with data pro­tec­tion decla­ra­ti­ons. The SVP will, accor­ding to Gre­gor Rutz, not agree to a bill that only brings unneces­sa­ry costs and bureau­cra­cy (“Euro­pean nonsense”).

In the end, Wer­muth with­drew the mino­ri­ty moti­on of the SPK to refer the revi­si­on back to the Com­mis­si­on and to dis­cuss it in its enti­re­ty. It is thus clear that the Revi­si­on is advi­sed stag­ge­red. The Par­lia­ment then adopted the Imple­men­ta­ti­on of Schen­gen deci­ded, which is pri­ma­ri­ly car­ri­ed out through adjust­ments to a num­ber of cri­mi­nal offen­ses and other pro­vi­si­ons (cf. our ear­lyeren con­tri­bu­ti­on with the appro­pria­te flags). It con­cerns data pro­ce­s­sing by fede­ral bodies in the Schen­gen area. In the con­text of the sub­se­quent total revi­si­on of the FDPA the­se pro­vi­si­ons are expec­ted to be rein­tro­du­ced into the FDPA be integrated.

The con­sul­ta­ti­on of the FDPA is likely to be con­tro­ver­si­al; with a slim pas­sa­ge of the draft of the FDPA is no lon­ger to be expec­ted in view of today’s consultation.