Schel­bert par­lia­men­ta­ry initia­ti­ve (06.460): Data pro­tec­tion. From pro­tec­tion against abu­se to the right to self-determination

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Take-Aways (AI)
  • The Fede­ral Con­sti­tu­ti­on should sup­ple­ment the right to infor­ma­tio­nal self-deter­mi­na­ti­on as an expli­cit fun­da­men­tal right.
  • Infor­ma­tio­nal self-deter­mi­na­ti­on encom­pas­ses the know­ledge and con­trol of per­so­nal data in the social environment.
  • The right of access to data coll­ec­tions is a fun­da­men­tal right; inter­fe­rence by the sta­te or pri­va­te indi­vi­du­als requi­res a legal basis and justification.
  • Tech­no­lo­gi­cal deve­lo­p­ments increa­se data pro­ce­s­sing; legal pro­tec­tion must pro­vi­de cla­ri­ty as to whe­re and how data may be stored.

Schel­bert par­lia­men­ta­ry initia­ti­ve (06.460): Data pro­tec­tion. From pro­tec­tion against abu­se to the right to self-determination
Done (11.12.2008)

Sub­mit­ted text

Based on Artic­le 160 para­graph 1 of the Fede­ral Con­sti­tu­ti­on and Artic­le 107 of the Par­lia­men­ta­ry Act, I sub­mit the fol­lo­wing par­lia­men­ta­ry initiative:

The Fede­ral Con­sti­tu­ti­on must be amen­ded so that data pro­tec­tion no lon­ger only inclu­des pro­tec­tion against abu­se, but also the right to infor­ma­tio­nal self-deter­mi­na­ti­on as a fun­da­men­tal right.

Justi­fi­ca­ti­on

One of the fun­da­men­tal rights is to have some over­view of the data con­cer­ning ones­elf and to know to some ext­ent which of the data con­cer­ning ones­elf are known in the social environment.

It is part of indi­vi­du­al free­dom to be able to assess with a rea­sonable degree of cer­tain­ty what the com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on part­ners know about you. And it is also part of indi­vi­du­al free­dom to deci­de whe­re or to whom what per­so­nal infor­ma­ti­on is disclosed.

It is a fun­da­men­tal right to be able to demand and recei­ve access to data coll­ec­tions rela­ting to one’s per­son. Inter­fe­rence by the sta­te or by pri­va­te indi­vi­du­als con­sti­tu­tes a rest­ric­tion of this fun­da­men­tal right, requi­res a legal basis and must be justifiable.

In addi­ti­on, the tech­no­lo­gi­cal pos­si­bi­li­ties of data pro­ce­s­sing are in con­stant deve­lo­p­ment and are advan­cing inex­orab­ly. Indi­vi­du­als must be able to know whe­re the data in que­sti­on is (allo­wed to be) stored. The more files the­re are, the more con­fu­sing the situa­ti­on becomes.

The Fede­ral Con­sti­tu­ti­on does not expli­ci­t­ly grant the indi­vi­du­al the fun­da­men­tal right of infor­ma­tio­nal self-deter­mi­na­ti­on to which he or she is entit­led, but mere­ly pro­tects indi­vi­du­als from abu­se (Art. 13 (2) BV). The fact that the pro­tec­tion of per­so­na­li­ty is a part of per­so­nal free­dom is igno­red. From the point of view of indi­vi­du­al per­so­nal free­dom, this is a defi­ci­en­cy that needs to be remedied.

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