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Index

Federal Act of 17 March 2023 on the Use of Electronic Means to Carry Out Official Tasks

Source : Federal law
Code/RS : SR 172.019
  • Abbreviation :

    EMOTA

  • Provision :

    Art. 10

  • Short description :

    Publication of open government data

  • Nature of the provision :

    Obligation to publish

  • Status :

    Transitional period [Note: see Art. 19 para. 1 EMOTA: 1 Depending on the resources available to them, administrative units may provide access to their data in stages, but no later than three years after the commencement date of Art. 10.

  • Sector :

    Administration (government)

Legal text :


1 Administrative units subject to this Act shall publish their data which they gather or generate pursuant to their lawful tasks and which they have saved in electronic form and regrouped in registers.

2 The following shall not be published::

a. data which are personal or concern legal persons;

b. data not cleared for publication, or cleared only subject to tighter restrictions under cantonal or other federal legislation, in particular by virtue of copyright, secrecy obligations, breach of which is punishable as a criminal offence, information security requirements or provisions relating to official records;

c. data which require major additional material or human resources in order to be processed or supplied.

3 The Federal Council shall adopt the necessary measures concerning processing and supply in accordance with paragraph 2c; paying special attention to the state of the art and the usefulness of the data to society, the environment and the economy.

4 Data shall be made available online free of charge, in good time, in machine-readable format and in open format. Data may be reused freely, subject to special legal obligations to name the source of the data.

5 The obligation to publish shall not apply to the data referred to in paragraph 1, which shall be archived in accordance with the Federal Act on 26 June 1998 on archiving. Archived data which were gathered or generated in the context of performance of lawful tasks, saved in electronic form and regrouped in registers may be published if the circumstances justify this.

6 Administrative units are not required to verify the accuracy, completeness, plausibility or any other characteristic of the data referred to in paragraph 1 on the sole grounds that the data are going to be published.

7 No-one may avail himself or herself of a right to obtain the data mentioned in paragraph 1.

Actor with an obligation to share data

Central Federal Administration [Note 1; The Parliamentary Services, the federal courts and the Office of the Attorney General of the Switzerland may conclude an agreement with the Federal Council in order to be subject to all or part of this act] [Note 2: From [a later date],The Federal Council may make decentralised administrative units subject to all or part of the law; see Art. 2 para. 2 and 20 para. 2 EMOTA)

Beneficiaries

Open to all (no restrictions)

Linking criteria for Switzerland

Linking criteria for Switzerland

Financial aspects

Free

Binding and/or enforceable

Binding obligation; no enforceable claim [Note: the law is binding on the administrative units concerned. Nonetheless, there is no legal right to access the data (Art. 10 al. 7 EMOTA)]

Conditions for accessing data

None

Exceptions and limitations

Administrative units are not required to publish data they collected or produced before 1 January 2024 (see Art. 19 para. 2 and 20 para. 2 EMOTA). Certain data is not published, in particular personal data and data concerning companies / legal entities, data whose publication is not authorised by virtue of a legal provision and data which it would require significant resources to provide.

Dynamic data; static data

Format

Machine-readable form and open format

Plateform

opendata.swiss

Actor with an obligation to share data Central Federal Administration [Note 1; The Parliamentary Services, the federal courts and the Office of the Attorney General of the Switzerland may conclude an agreement with the Federal Council in order to be subject to all or part of this act] [Note 2: From [a later date],The Federal Council may make decentralised administrative units subject to all or part of the law; see Art. 2 para. 2 and 20 para. 2 EMOTA)

Beneficiaries Open to all (no restrictions)

Linking criteria for Switzerland n/a

Financial aspects Free

Binding and/or enforceable Binding obligation; no enforceable claim [Note: the law is binding on the administrative units concerned. Nonetheless, there is no legal right to access the data (Art. 10 al. 7 EMOTA)]

Conditions for accessing data None

Exceptions and limitations Administrative units are not required to publish data they collected or produced before 1 January 2024 (see Art. 19 para. 2 and 20 para. 2 EMOTA). Certain data is not published, in particular personal data and data concerning companies / legal entities, data whose publication is not authorised by virtue of a legal provision and data which it would require significant resources to provide.

Time component Dynamic data; static data

Format Machine-readable form and open format

Plateform opendata.swiss

Compilation and Disclaimer

This index was prepared on behalf of the IPI by the law firm id est avocats Sàrl (for the section on Swiss law) and the law firm Pierstone (for the section on European law). 

This index does not constitute legal advice, and no guarantee is given regarding its completeness. 

Neither id est avocats Sàrl, nor Pierstone, nor the IPI or the FDJP can be held liable for any decisions or actions taken on the basis of this index.