Federal Act on Electronic Identification Services (E-ID Act)

More and more is being transacted via the internet. This concerns not only chat rooms and other social media, but also services in the area of goods traffic or in the area of financial transactions. Even government services can now be obtained via the internet. Especially in the latter two areas, the identification of the service recipient is becoming increasingly important. In view of this, the Federal Council, together with Parliament, has drafted the E-ID Act. This law will now be put to the people in a referendum on 7 March.

According to the federal government, the E-ID law is intended to simplify proof of identity on the internet. This will make it possible to create a more efficient security system for online transactions and e-government applications. Control and supervision of the E-ID will remain with the state. With the E-ID Act, the Confederation retains its sovereign tasks. It will ensure that the identity of the person is verified and confirmed on the basis of its internal register. In the technical aspect, the Confederation will leave the operation of the E-ID to third-party providers, who will, however, be subject to a state authorisation requirement. In addition, they would be continuously monitored. In addition to companies, providers of the E-ID can also be the municipality or the canton. If no provider meets the legal requirements for offering the E-ID, the state can offer its own E-ID. However, the Confederation hopes to outsource for reasons of efficiency in order to ensure continuous adaptation to digitalisation.

The supervision of the security and data protection of the E-ID will be taken over by the Commission. Under this, the E-ID Act continues to ensure that an E-ID is not required for smaller transactions on the internet. In the area of data protection, the E-ID law is more far-reaching than the Swiss data protection law and thus offers more security than the conventional logins known up to now. Another security feature is that the E-ID data must be stored in Switzerland.

The E-ID law should thus lead to a more practical handling of internet transactions and represents a key for further digitisation steps in Switzerland. According to the federal government, this should also promote Switzerland as a location for innovation and business in the longer term.