New digi­tizati­on regu­la­ti­on: EMBAV and VDTI merged

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Take-Aways (AI)
  • The DigiV comes into force on 1 May 2025 and com­bi­nes EMBAV and VDTI in order to har­mo­ni­ze stan­dards, inter­ope­ra­bi­li­ty and cen­tral ICT provision.
  • Decen­tra­li­zed admi­ni­stra­ti­ve units are gene­ral­ly sub­ject to EMBAG, with con­se­quen­ces such as dis­clo­sure of source code and open govern­ment data, excep­ti­ons regulated.

On 2 April 2025, the Fede­ral Coun­cil adopted the new “Ordi­nan­ce on Digi­tal Ser­vices and Digi­tal Trans­for­ma­ti­on in the Fede­ral Admi­ni­stra­ti­on” (Digi­ta­lizati­on Ordi­nan­ce, DigiV):

The DigiV comes into force on May 1, 2025. It brings tog­e­ther two ordi­nan­ces: the Ordi­nan­ce on the Use of Elec­tro­nic Means for the Per­for­mance of Offi­ci­al Duties (EMBAV) and the Ordi­nan­ce on the Coor­di­na­ti­on of Digi­tal Trans­for­ma­ti­on and ICT Gover­nan­ce in the Fede­ral Admi­ni­stra­ti­on (VDTI). A review by the Fede­ral Chan­cel­lery had shown that a mer­ger would make sen­se becau­se both ordi­nan­ces address simi­lar topics such as stan­dards, inter­ope­ra­bi­li­ty and the cen­tral pro­vi­si­on of IT resources.

The DigiV is based on the EMBAG and the RVOG. The con­tent of the exi­sting pro­vi­si­ons has lar­ge­ly been adopted and for­mal­ly adapt­ed. Howe­ver, a signi­fi­cant inno­va­ti­on of the DigiV is the regu­la­ti­on of the Vali­di­ty of the EMBAG for decen­tra­li­zed admi­ni­stra­ti­ve units. The EMBAG its­elf con­ta­ins an Art. 2 para. 2, which is not yet in force, but is also due to come into force on May 1, 2025 and reads as follows:

2 The Fede­ral Coun­cil may make admi­ni­stra­ti­ve units of the decen­tra­li­zed Fede­ral Admi­ni­stra­ti­on sub­ject to this Act or parts the­reof, unless other fede­ral acts pro­vi­de otherwise.

On the basis of this pro­vi­si­on, the DigiV now sti­pu­la­tes that the pro­vi­si­ons of the EMBAG listed in Annex 1 do not app­ly to the admi­ni­stra­ti­ve units of the decen­tra­li­zed fede­ral admi­ni­stra­ti­on listed the­re. Howe­ver, this only applies to the ÜPF ser­vice, ENSI and the Decom­mis­sio­ning and Waste Dis­po­sal Fund for Nuclear Instal­la­ti­ons. All other units of the decen­tra­li­zed fede­ral admi­ni­stra­ti­on (accor­ding to Appen­dix RVOV) are in prin­ci­ple sub­ject to the EMBAG. A fur­ther excep­ti­on to the bin­ding natu­re of stan­dards in accordance with Art. 12 EMBAG can be deci­ded on a case-by-case basis by the Digi­tal Trans­for­ma­ti­on and ICT Stee­ring Divi­si­on of the Fede­ral Chan­cel­lery (DTI Division).

The Sub­or­di­na­ti­on to the EMBAG has con­se­quen­ces for the­se units, in particular:

  1. they must dis­c­lo­se the source code of soft­ware that they deve­lop or have deve­lo­ped to ful­fill their tasks (Art. 9 EMBAG); and
  2. Make data acce­s­si­ble as open govern­ment data (Art. 10 EMBAG).

Howe­ver, accor­ding to Art. DigiV, soft­ware that is deve­lo­ped wit­hout fede­ral fun­ding and soft­ware that is deve­lo­ped as part of rese­arch is exempt from the dis­clo­sure requirement.

DigiV also inclu­des the fol­lo­wing Regu­la­ti­ons adapt­ed sel­ec­tively:

  • Repea­led:
    • EMBAV
    • VDTI
  • Ordi­nan­ce on Infor­ma­ti­on Secu­ri­ty in the Fede­ral Admi­ni­stra­ti­on and the Armed Forces (ISV)
  • Ordi­nan­ce on Elec­tro­nic Com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on in the Fede­ral Admi­ni­stra­ti­on (VILB)
  • GEVER Ordi­nan­ce
  • Ordi­nan­ce on the Iden­ti­ty Manage­ment Systems and Direc­to­ry Ser­vices of the Con­fe­de­ra­ti­on (IAMV)
  • Ordi­nan­ce on ICT Pro­cu­re­ment in the Fede­ral Admi­ni­stra­ti­on (Org-VöB)
  • Orga­nizatio­nal ordi­nan­ces for the Fede­ral Chan­cel­lery (OV-BK), the DDPS (OV-VBS) and the FDF (OV-EFD)