Nineteen Swiss and European civil-society organisations—including Amnesty International Switzerland and EDRi—published an open letter on 4 February urging Bern to abandon proposed changes to the Ordinance on the Surveillance of Post and Telecommunications Traffic (VÜPF).
The draft would oblige VPN providers, messaging apps and social-media platforms operating in Switzerland to store user metadata for up to six months and make it available to law-enforcement agencies. Privacy advocates argue the measure is disproportionate and breaches European Court of Human Rights case-law on blanket data retention.
Although the bill is framed as a counter-terror and cybercrime tool, mobility specialists note a practical implication: remote employees and assignees who rely on Swiss-hosted privacy services such as Proton Mail or Threema could see their connection data logged and shared with authorities in other jurisdictions. Companies that route global traffic through Swiss data centres for GDPR reasons may have to reassess their risk posture.
![Swiss NGOs fight planned metadata retention law, warn of impact on cross-border communications]()
VisaHQ’s Swiss team can help businesses and assignees understand how shifts in data-governance rules intersect with visa, work-permit and document-legalisation requirements. Its online platform (https://www.visahq.com/switzerland/) provides up-to-date guidance on Swiss immigration procedures, ensuring HR departments remain compliant when privacy regulations impact remote-work or cross-border assignment strategies.
Tech firms Proton and NymVPN have threatened to relocate part of their infrastructure abroad, echoing last year’s warning by secure-messaging start-up PrivadoVPN. If enacted, the law could erode Switzerland’s reputation as a safe data harbour—an important factor for multinational HQs and expatriates choosing the country.
The Federal Parliament has paused the amendment pending an independent impact study, but the Justice Ministry insists that “targeted retention” remains on the table. Mobility managers should stay alert: changes to Swiss data-governance rules can affect everything from remote-work compliance monitoring to the confidentiality of immigration files shared with outside counsel.
The draft would oblige VPN providers, messaging apps and social-media platforms operating in Switzerland to store user metadata for up to six months and make it available to law-enforcement agencies. Privacy advocates argue the measure is disproportionate and breaches European Court of Human Rights case-law on blanket data retention.
Although the bill is framed as a counter-terror and cybercrime tool, mobility specialists note a practical implication: remote employees and assignees who rely on Swiss-hosted privacy services such as Proton Mail or Threema could see their connection data logged and shared with authorities in other jurisdictions. Companies that route global traffic through Swiss data centres for GDPR reasons may have to reassess their risk posture.
VisaHQ’s Swiss team can help businesses and assignees understand how shifts in data-governance rules intersect with visa, work-permit and document-legalisation requirements. Its online platform (https://www.visahq.com/switzerland/) provides up-to-date guidance on Swiss immigration procedures, ensuring HR departments remain compliant when privacy regulations impact remote-work or cross-border assignment strategies.
Tech firms Proton and NymVPN have threatened to relocate part of their infrastructure abroad, echoing last year’s warning by secure-messaging start-up PrivadoVPN. If enacted, the law could erode Switzerland’s reputation as a safe data harbour—an important factor for multinational HQs and expatriates choosing the country.
The Federal Parliament has paused the amendment pending an independent impact study, but the Justice Ministry insists that “targeted retention” remains on the table. Mobility managers should stay alert: changes to Swiss data-governance rules can affect everything from remote-work compliance monitoring to the confidentiality of immigration files shared with outside counsel.
