On March 6, 2026, the Bernese High Court ruled in response to an appeal against a non-prosecution order issued by the Emmental-Oberaargau Regional Public Prosecutor’s Office (BK 25 252, Swisslex) states, among other things, that the Official secrecy not violated just because the envelope of a letter addressed to the debtor contains a Attachment number visible is: such a number could also be used in dealings with a creditor and it was not apparent that the envelope had been seen by third parties:
Equally, criminal liability of the accused based on the [Swiss Criminal Code] or another criminal law provision is out of the question or is not even asserted by the complainant. For the sake of completeness only, it should be noted that Art. 320 SCC (violation of official secrecy) in particular is out of the question from the outset, especially since the debt enforcement or seizure number visible in the envelope window is used in correspondence with debtors and creditors and, contrary to the complainant’s opinion, it cannot therefore be readily inferred from this that debt enforcement proceedings are being conducted against him and correspondingly specific information was disclosed by means of the envelope. In addition, the letter carrier acts as a debt enforcement agent when delivering debt enforcement documents and his actions are attributed to the debt enforcement office […], which means that no breach of official secrecy can be committed from the outset if he takes note of the debt enforcement proceedings. Moreover, the fact that letters are misdirected or accidentally placed in the wrong letterbox in the complainant’s residential environment, with the result that third parties gain knowledge of these letters, is a mere, unsubstantiated allegation by the complainant. In any case, the envelope copies he submitted bear the correct address.
It was clear that no criminal provision of the DPA applied.