- Federal Council commissions FDJP with preliminary draft revision of the Data Protection Act (DPA), taking into account European developments.
- The issue of the “right to be forgotten” is being examined as part of the ongoing revision of the FADP.
- Planned consultation draft for the FADP revision will be submitted to the Federal Council by the end of August 2016.
- Switzerland is represented in the EU Dapix working group and takes into account EU reforms to safeguard cross-border data traffic.
Interpellation Munz (15.3657): Right to be forgotten for Internet users
Done (25.09.2015)
Submitted text
1. how far advanced is the implementation of postulate Schwaab 12.3152, “right to be forgotten on the internet”?
2. are changes in the law planned and when are they expected?
3 The EU is currently developing common standards for data protection on the Internet. Is Switzerland involved in this process?
Justification
New standards for data protection on the Internet will soon apply in Europe, and they will be the same for all 28 EU member states. The EU justice ministers recently agreed on a reform to this effect. European users of the Internet are to be given more rights and better protection of their personal data against large Internet corporations such as Google and Facebook. The core of the reform is to be the “right to be forgotten. This is intended to make it possible to have personal data and photos deleted from the web according to certain criteria. For example, search engines would be required to remove links to content that violates the right to privacy and data protection in online searches.
Since Internet corporations tend to establish themselves in countries with low data protection standards, European or international standards are important for reasons of consumer protection.
Statement of the Federal Council
On April 1, 2015, the Federal Council commissioned the FDJP to prepare a preliminary draft for a revision of the Federal Data Protection Act (FADP; SR 235.1), also taking into account developments at the European level. With the revision of the FADP, the Federal Council aims, among other things, to improve the data control and governance of the persons about whom data is processed.
1 As the Federal Council stated in its statement on the postulate Schwaab 12.3152, “Right to be forgotten on the internet”, the concerns of the postulate are being examined as part of the ongoing revision work on the FADP. The “right to be forgotten” was also the subject of the deliberations of the support group set up by the Federal Office of Justice, which discussed the need for legislative action on the FADP from September 2012 to October 2014. The results of the discussions of this advisory group are summarized in a report (see www.bj.admin.ch/bj/de/home/staat/gesetzgebung/datenschutzstaerkung.html).
2 It is planned that the FDJP will submit a consultation draft for a revision of the FADP to the Federal Council by the end of August 2016.
In the context of the EU data protection reforms currently underway, Switzerland is represented in the relevant Council working group on the exchange of information and data protection (Dapix), insofar as these reform projects represent a further development of the Schengen acquis for our country. In addition, the EU data protection reforms are also being taken into account in the revision work on the DPA. It is true that Switzerland is only bound by the new EU data protection decrees within the framework of the Schengen/Dublin association. However, facilitations of cross-border data traffic with the EU are in principle subject to the condition that the EU recognizes the level of data protection in Switzerland as adequate. For this reason, Switzerland also has an interest in strengthening its data protection regulations in light of European standards.