The European Commission has recently published a report on the adequacy of data protection in eleven countries that have been recognised as providing a level of protection equivalent to that of the EU for personal data transfers. The report evaluates the developments in the data protection frameworks of these countries since the adoption of the adequacy decisions and assesses whether they continue to meet the standard set by the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
One of the countries covered by the report is Switzerland, which received an adequacy decision from the Commission in 2000. The report highlights the positive developments in the Swiss legal framework that have contributed to an increased level of data protection, especially the modernisation of the Federal Act on Data Protection that has further aligned it with the EU's data protection framework.
Based on these findings, the report concludes that Switzerland continues to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data transferred from the EU, and that the adequacy decision remains valid and does not require any amendments or adaptations at this stage. However, the report also indicates that the Commission will continue to monitor the developments in the Swiss data protection framework and the implementation of the adequacy decision, and that it may review or suspend the decision if necessary.
In practice, this decision is important for the entire Swiss economy: it means that personal data can be transferred between the EU and Switzerland without any additional obligations (like, for example, the establishment of Standard Contractual Clauses). By establishing a principle-oriented Data Protection law that is – compared to the EU GDPR – much leaner, Switzerland managed well to keep its adequacy position vis-à-vis the EU.
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