The Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) has published its 2025/26 Activity Report, highlighting increasing concerns over the governance of large-scale digitalisation projects, the growing use of artificial intelligence and a gradual erosion of the principle of government transparency. The report also reviews the first years of enforcement under the revised Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP).

During the reporting period, the FDPIC received more than 2,000 notifications of potential personal data breaches, intervened in 156 cases and conducted 22 preliminary assessments and nine formal investigations. A significant milestone was the first final court judgment confirming the FDPIC’s enforcement practice under the revised FADP. The authority also filed its first criminal complaint against a private company for failing to comply with its statutory duty to cooperate.

Beyond enforcement statistics, the report focuses on the systemic privacy risks arising from increasingly interconnected public-sector data ecosystems. While federal authorities generally address information security risks, the FDPIC criticises a lack of transparency regarding broader risks associated with large-scale data aggregation, surveillance potential and loss of individual autonomy. Artificial intelligence is identified as another key area requiring robust governance and privacy safeguards.

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The report also emphasises the twentieth anniversary of Switzerland’s Federal Act on Freedom of Information in the Administration. Although access to official documents has become well established, the FDPIC expresses concern that an increasing number of legislative projects seek to exempt additional categories of official documents from public access, potentially weakening the transparency regime.