Take-Aways (AI)
  • Natio­nal Coun­cil adopts Fede­ral Coun­cil pro­po­sal: All gene­tic data is con­side­red per­so­nal data wort­hy of spe­cial protection.
  • Natio­nal Coun­cil rejects spe­cial right to object to pro­fil­ing by majority.
  • Majo­ri­ty wants to dele­te Coun­cil of Sta­tes con­cept of “high-risk pro­fil­ing”; mino­ri­ty wants to retain it.
  • In the case of cre­dit checks, the Natio­nal Coun­cil justi­fi­ca­ti­on con­cept applies: over­ri­ding pri­va­te inte­rest, pro­vi­ded data ≤10 years and not par­ti­cu­lar­ly wort­hy of protection.

On Sep­tem­ber 17, 2020, the Natio­nal Coun­cil deli­be­ra­ted on the remai­ning dif­fe­ren­ces of the revi­sed Data Pro­tec­tion Act (E‑DSG). The Pro­vi­sio­nal text on the cour­se of the mee­ting and the results of the voting (Offi­ci­al Bul­le­tin) is under the fol­lo­wing link available. The latest published flag with the moti­ons of the Natio­nal Council’s Sta­te Poli­cy Com­mis­si­on of July 2, 2020 can be found at here.

Accor­ding to the cur­rent sta­tus, the fol­lo­wing points have been adjusted:

  • The Natio­nal Coun­cil fol­lows the ori­gi­nal pro­po­sal of the Fede­ral Coun­cil, accor­ding to which all gene­tic data as per­so­nal data requi­ring spe­cial pro­tec­tion shall app­ly (Art. 4 lit. c No. 3 E‑DSG).
  • Accor­ding to the majo­ri­ty no Spe­cial right to object to pro­fil­ing intro­du­ced which means that the mino­ri­ty moti­on, which was sub­mit­ted in July in the Sta­te Poli­cy Com­mis­si­on, is again drop­ped (cf. Art. 5 para. 8 E‑DSG in the July 2 Flag).

In most points, howe­ver, no cle­a­nup fol­lo­wed:

  • Accor­ding to the majo­ri­ty of the Natio­nal Coun­cil, the con­cept of the Coun­cil of Sta­tes on the High risk pro­fil­ing to be dele­ted (Art. 4 lit. fto E‑DSG). A mino­ri­ty fol­lows the Coun­cil of Sta­tes decis­i­on of June 2, 2020 and wants to retain the concept.
  • A pos­si­bly requi­red Con­sent shall be given only for the Pro­ce­s­sing of per­so­nal data requi­ring spe­cial pro­tec­tion express­ly but not – as requi­red by the Coun­cil of Sta­tes – also in the case of pro­fil­ing by a fede­ral body and, whe­re appli­ca­ble, high-risk pro­fil­ing by pri­va­te per­sons (Art. 5(7) E‑DSG).
  • With regard to the cre­dit­wort­hi­ness check, the Natio­nal Coun­cil adhe­res to its con­cept of justi­fi­ca­ti­on (Art. 27 lit. c E‑DSG) and devia­tes from the stric­ter stance of the Fede­ral Coun­cil and the Coun­cil of Sta­tes. A over­ri­ding pri­va­te inte­rest of the respon­si­ble per­son is to be assu­med, accor­ding to the Natio­nal Coun­cil, if: 
    • no per­so­nal data requi­ring spe­cial pro­tec­tion is pro­ce­s­sed (the Coun­cil of Sta­tes would also omit such a requi­re­ment for high-risk pro­fil­ing); and
    • the pro­ce­s­sed Per­so­nal data not older than ten years (Fede­ral Coun­cil and Coun­cil of Sta­tes plead for five years).

The flag with the final decis­i­on of the Natio­nal Coun­cil will be posted here after publi­ca­ti­on. Accor­ding to the ses­si­on pro­gram, the DPA is also alre­a­dy on the agen­da in the Coun­cil of Sta­tes for the cur­rent ses­si­on on Sep­tem­ber 23. In the Natio­nal Coun­cil, ano­ther date is sche­du­led for Sep­tem­ber 24, 2020. Howe­ver, it is curr­ent­ly not known to what ext­ent the Natio­nal Coun­cil will then deli­be­ra­te again.