On Tuesday, the office shared a position paper on the annual assessment of the Swiss-US Privacy Shield: a mutual agreement that includes stricter data protection for participating companies. This ensures that certified American companies respect Swiss data protection legislation and vice versa. It also addresses the processing of data of non-US citizens for anti-terrorism and national security purposes.
In his latest assessment of the Shield, the data protection commissioner concluded that “although it guarantees special protection rights for persons in Switzerland, it does not provide an adequate level of protection for data transfer from Switzerland to the US pursuant to the Federal Act on Data Protection”.
Unlike the European Union – and countries like Canada, New Zealand, Uruguay and Argentina – the US was never on the Swiss list of countries whose legislation could be considered to provide adequate data protection. However, to help simplify data transfer between the two countries the US was placed on a list of those with “Adequate protection under certain circumstances”. On Tuesday, the Swiss authorities announced that they were removing the US from this list.
Swiss money laundering office registers record number of reports
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The Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS) registered a record number of reports of suspicious activity last year.
Two teens accused of planning terror attack released from custody
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The Schaffhausen judiciary has released the two teenagers from custody who allegedly planned bomb attacks in Switzerland.
OECD: Sluggish economic activity slowing growth in Switzerland
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Sluggish economic activity at the start of the year is weighing on growth in Switzerland, with GDP expected to fall to 1.1% in 2024.
Report finds mistakes which led to Swiss government data breach
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Mistakes were made by both the government and internet company Xplain in the case of a criminal cyber-attack on the Bern-based IT business.
Swiss government wants better gender balance in federal administration
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New Swiss government personnel management targets say there must be even more female managers in the federal administration.
Swiss national science foundation funded over 5,000 projects in 2023
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In 2023, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) provided a total of CHF961 million worth of funding towards research projects.
Switzerland invites 160 delegations to June Ukraine peace talks
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Russia is currently not among the delegations invited to talks aimed at helping bring about peace in the conflict between Moscow and Ukraine.
Survey: air travel most popular way to go on holidays for Swiss
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Despite the climate crisis, flying is the most popular mode of transport for private travel – particularly among young, urban and high-income travellers.
Swiss government to use phone data to identify asylum seekers
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From April 2025, authorities plan to be able to analyse data from mobile phones, computers and other data carriers to identify asylum seekers.
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Swiss create ‘shield’ to protect US-bound data
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The Swiss cabinet has established a new framework for transferring personal data from Switzerland to companies based in the United States.
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Switzerland is an attractive target for industrial espionage. For the first time, a study shows the extent of the problem.
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The Swiss Supreme Court has already issued a ruling that bans the indiscriminate disclosure of people’s names without forewarning the individuals involved. This applies even when Switzerland has a treaty to automatically exchange tax information with other countries, as it does with 30 nations including the US. These treaties were signed following a US criminal…
Snowden’s memoir: Key takeaways on his time in Geneva
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Former US spy Edward Snowden has published his memoir. We take a closer look at the chapter on the two years he spent in Geneva.
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.