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Under the current Swiss Data Protection Act, protected data are not only data relating to persons but also data relating to legal entities. In order to protect personal data from unauthorised processing, adequate technical and organizational measures must be taken. Data processing is any operation with personal data, regardless of the means employed and the process used, including collection, storage, use, revision, disclosure, archiving, or destruction. It is therefore possible to be covered by Swiss data protection law even if you are providing information or comparing products on a website (unless the data are public). If the services, prices or business situation are reduced by inaccurate, misleading or unnecessarily infringing statements, such a comparison may be unfair under the UCA. It may be sufficient for Swiss data protection law to apply to personal data stored on a server in Switzerland.¹

It is possible to consider digital profiling to be a personality profile or even to include sensitive personal data within the meaning of the Data Protection Act. In other words, it is a collection of data that allows a natural person's essential characteristics to be assessed. Personality profiles (and sensitive personal data) must not be disclosed to third parties without consent. In addition, the data processor must inform the person concerned of:

• the controller of the data file;
• the purpose of the processing;
• the categories of data recipients (if disclosure were planned). ¹

A new Data Protection Act (more aligned but not identical to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)) was approved by parliament on 25 September 2020.¹

Parliament approved the new Data Protection Act on 25 September 2020 (more aligned with the GDPR, but not identical).¹

Cross-border payments in Switzerland

Fintech in Switzerland

Fintech in other countries

Notes

1. https://thelawreviews.co.uk/title/the-financial-technology-law-review/switzerland