Swiss airports and airlines green lighted for facial recognition

Airports and airlines should be able to use facial recognition Keystone-SDA

Swiss airports and airlines will be able to use facial recognition systems in certain situations in future. Parliament can now decide on these and other amendments to the Aviation Act.

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The Federal Council adopted the corresponding dispatch on the bill on Wednesday. Among other things, it now provides a legal basis for the use of biometric personal data, as it writes.

However, both airport and airline staff and passengers will only be checked if the person in question has given their express consent for this form of check, according to the Federal Council’s report. Before consent is given, the person concerned must be informed in writing and it must be explained in particular how the biometric personal data will be used.

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The use of biometric personal data should be able to be used as an alternative to existing processes for security checks at machines – particularly in connection with bag drops, check-in, boarding pass checks and boarding. According to the Federal Council, the aim is to speed up the processing of access controls at airports, as is already the case at other European airports.

Numerous changes

The revision includes further changes in the area of aviation that were requested by parliament. For example, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland will in future investigate aviation accidents and serious incidents under criminal law. Furthermore, the creation of a national professional pilot licence for commercial helicopter pilots should make it possible to fly until the age of 65.

In addition, the principle of “just culture” is to be enshrined in law. This should ensure that people who report safety-relevant incidents do not suffer any disadvantages. The revision also includes the expansion of personal checks and alcohol checks on airport staff as well as the utilisation of lost property and confiscated objects at airports.

Operating hours dispute

Finally, the law contains provisions to anchor the operating hours of Geneva and Zurich airports. The Federal Council writes in the dispatch that this will continue to ensure that key aspects of airport operations cannot be restricted without further ado – for example as part of environmental reorganisation procedures. This is not a material extension, but a linguistic clarification in line with the original objective.

Nevertheless, the Air Transport and Health Coalition (Klug) criticised the decision. The Federal Council is sacrificing the health of the population in favour of airports, it said in a written statement. In doing so, it was once again torpedoing efforts to protect the population from excessive aircraft noise pollution.

Translated from German by DeepL/mga

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