On Tuesday, the office shared a position paper on the annual assessment of the Swiss-US Privacy Shield: a mutual agreement that includes stricter data protection for participating companies. This ensures that certified American companies respect Swiss data protection legislation and vice versa. It also addresses the processing of data of non-US citizens for anti-terrorism and national security purposes.
In his latest assessment of the Shield, the data protection commissioner concluded that “although it guarantees special protection rights for persons in Switzerland, it does not provide an adequate level of protection for data transfer from Switzerland to the US pursuant to the Federal Act on Data Protection”.
Unlike the European Union – and countries like Canada, New Zealand, Uruguay and Argentina – the US was never on the Swiss list of countries whose legislation could be considered to provide adequate data protection. However, to help simplify data transfer between the two countries the US was placed on a list of those with “Adequate protection under certain circumstances”. On Tuesday, the Swiss authorities announced that they were removing the US from this list.
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None of the 15 major Swiss retail banks is meeting international climate and biodiversity targets, according to a ranking by WWF Switzerland.
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Nestlé's new CEO Laurent Freixe, has presented plans for the future of the world's largest food company, after his first few weeks in office.
Swiss foreign minister calls on Moscow to end Ukraine war
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It's high time Moscow ended its war against Ukraine, Swiss foreign minister Ignazio Cassis tells the UN Security Council.
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The only alternative to the UN Palestinian agency’s work in Gaza is to allow Israel to run services there, Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, told reporters in Geneva on Monday.
Study reveals food culture differences between Switzerland and neighbours
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Three-quarters of Swiss people consider eating to be a pleasurable, social activity, a new survey reveals. Healthy eating, however, plays a much less important role, it found.
Precious archaeological vases and coins returned to Italian museum
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The Italian authorities have recovered over 2,500 precious ancient coins, vases and small sculptures that had been illegally dug up and sold in Switzerland, Eurojust announced on Monday.
PrimeEnergy Cleantech declared bankrupt by Swiss authorities
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PrimeEnergy Cleantech has been officially declared bankrupt, the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce (SOGC) reported on Monday.
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The consumption of antibiotics has risen in Switzerland since the Covid-19 pandemic. However, compared to other European countries the Alpine country has one of the lowest levels of antibiotic usage.
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Swiss create ‘shield’ to protect US-bound data
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The Swiss cabinet has established a new framework for transferring personal data from Switzerland to companies based in the United States.
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Switzerland is an attractive target for industrial espionage. For the first time, a study shows the extent of the problem.
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The Swiss Supreme Court has already issued a ruling that bans the indiscriminate disclosure of people’s names without forewarning the individuals involved. This applies even when Switzerland has a treaty to automatically exchange tax information with other countries, as it does with 30 nations including the US. These treaties were signed following a US criminal…
Snowden’s memoir: Key takeaways on his time in Geneva
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Former US spy Edward Snowden has published his memoir. We take a closer look at the chapter on the two years he spent in Geneva.
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.