Tasks: data protection

The Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) is responsible for two areas: the federal data protection regulations and the Federal Act on Freedom of Information in the Administration (Freedom of Information Act, FoIA).

More about the principle of Freedom of Information

Data protection

The Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) is the authority responsible for data protection in the case of data processing by private parties (e.g. companies) and by federal bodies. Data processing by municipal and cantonal authorities is the responsibility of the data protection supervisory authorities of the cantons or municipalities.The FDPIC has the following tasks in particular in the area of data protection:

• It supervises data processing by the federal administration and federal-related companies (including SBB, Swiss Post, Swisscom) as well as by private parties (e.g. companies),
• it advises citizens, companies and private organizations as well as the federal administration and federal-related companies. 
• it comments on federal legislative projects,
• it exchanges information with domestic and foreign data protection authorities and cooperates with them on a case-by-case basis,
• it raises awareness and informs the public.