The Confederation’s projects in the digital field underestimate the importance of the protection of personality, the principle of transparency and the rule of law, according to the federal official. This leads to delays for the affected projects.
This review appears in the Activity Report of the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Transparency (PFPDT), Adrian Lobsiger, published on Tuesday.
To illustrate his criticism, the official cites the register of beneficial owners of legal entities for the purposes of combating crime. He emphasizes having asked “in vain” the administration to clearly explain in the message to Parliament the merits of the attacks on the personality of the people appearing in the register.
Potentially delayed projects
The justifications being “poorly detailed”, the project risks falling behind during parliamentary debates, the official argues in a press release.
The latter also deplores a lack of information in the project to interconnect cantonal police systems through a platform managed in partnership with the Confederation. Here too, the project risks being delayed due to incomplete information.
“Bureaucratic obstacles”
The Confederation also has potential for improvement in the application of the transparency law, which is the subject of ever more requests. The official calls on the authorities to ensure that documents “are accessible through simple computerized processing and, where appropriate, that their content is automatically anonymized.”
The official further notes that “certain parts of the federal administration” are still dragging their feet when it comes to the application of this text. They “always make efforts to totally or partially exclude certain of their activities from the scope of the law,” regrets the official. He mentions “bureaucratic obstacles” complicating access to information requested by the public or the media.
ats/kkub
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