Moti­on Fonio (26.3771): Trans­pa­ren­cy and Fair­ness in the Rela­ti­on­ships Bet­ween Digi­tal Plat­forms and Businesses

Sub­mit­ted text

The Fede­ral Coun­cil is ins­truc­ted to draw up a Draft the legal basis and sub­mit to Par­lia­ment pro­po­sals aimed at grea­ter trans­pa­ren­cy, con­trac­tu­al fair­ness, data pro­tec­tion, and effec­ti­ve access to dis­pu­te reso­lu­ti­on in rela­ti­ons bet­ween the major digi­tal plat­forms and is aimed at retail­ers and ser­vice pro­vi­ders ope­ra­ting in the Swiss mar­ket. It should be based in par­ti­cu­lar on inter­na­tio­nal best prac­ti­ces, spe­ci­fi­cal­ly the Regu­la­ti­on (EU) 2019/1150.

Justi­fi­ca­ti­on

Digi­tal plat­forms have beco­me indis­pensable infras­truc­tu­re for lar­ge parts of the Swiss eco­no­my. Indu­stries such as tou­rism, e‑commerce, digi­tal ser­vices, and the use of AI-based tools are incre­a­sing­ly depen­dent on inter­na­tio­nal plat­forms like Boo­king, Airbnb, Ama­zon, and Shop­i­fy, as well as on pro­vi­ders of digi­tal and AI solutions.

Howe­ver, the rela­ti­on­ships bet­ween the­se plat­forms and Swiss com­pa­nies are cha­rac­te­ri­zed by a strong Imba­lan­ce in bar­gai­ning power . The terms of the con­tract are gene­ral­ly set uni­la­te­ral­ly. The­re is a lack of trans­pa­ren­cy regar­ding visi­bi­li­ty cri­te­ria, the use of algo­rith­ms, decis­i­ons on the sus­pen­si­on or ter­mi­na­ti­on of busi­ness rela­ti­on­ships, and data manage­ment. In addi­ti­on, clau­ses sti­pu­la­ting for­eign juris­dic­tions often make it vir­tual­ly impos­si­ble for Swiss SMEs to assert their rights.

The incre­a­sing Inte­gra­ti­on of Arti­fi­ci­al Intel­li­gence Inte­gra­ti­on into the­se plat­forms fur­ther rein­forces this depen­den­cy wit­hout ade­qua­te­ly gua­ran­te­e­ing access to the gene­ra­ted data and the trans­pa­ren­cy of auto­ma­ted decis­i­on-making mechanisms.

With the adop­ti­on of the P2B Regu­la­ti­on, the Euro­pean Uni­on has addres­sed the­se issues and intro­du­ced requi­re­ments regar­ding trans­pa­ren­cy, com­pli­ance with con­tract terms, and com­plaint and dis­pu­te reso­lu­ti­on pro­ce­du­res. Thanks to a a simi­lar regu­la­ti­on adapt­ed to Swiss con­di­ti­ons This would streng­then legal cer­tain­ty, pro­tect busi­nesses, and ensu­re fair and com­pe­ti­ti­ve con­di­ti­ons wit­hout hin­de­ring innovation.