In the Spring Session 2023, various IT law topics will be debated again. With the amendment of the Information Security Act (ISG) and the discussion of various initiatives on internet pedophilia, this time, the focus will be on cyber topics.

Various IT law topics will again be dealt with in the 2022 winter session. We provide an overview. The focus is on various digitalisation initiatives. Particularly noteworthy is the consultation on the Federal Act on Digitalisation in the Notary's Offices.

The Federal Parliament will discuss various IT law topics during its 2022 Autumn session. Digitalisation continues to be a major topic. On the one hand, the Federal Act on the Use of Electronic Means for the Performance of Public Authority Tasks will be discussed, and on the other hand, the National Council will vote on several motions calling for the Federal government to provide financial aid for digitalisation projects in the private sector.

The City of Zurich will allow its organisational units to use cloud services in the future. The City Council has based its corresponding decision of 13 July 2022 primarily on a legal opinion by LAUX LAWYERS AG on the legality of cloud use. LAUX LAWYERS has written the legal opinion on behalf of the Organisation and Information Technology Department of the City of Zurich (OIZ). The legal opinion addresses various legal aspects of the use of public cloud services, including internal authorisations, official secrecy, data protection and lawful access to data. The legal opinion places a particular focus on the US CLOUD Act. We hereby publish the legal opinion by arrangement with the OIZ.

In his article for the WEKA Data Protection Newsletter, Yves Gogniat discusses the decisions of the French and Austrian data protection authorities regarding the use of Google Analytics, which led to many discussions and uncertainty at the beginning of 2022.

Article by Yves Gogniat concerning National Councillor Daniela Schneeberger's motion, which is heading in the wrong direction. If you read the Accounting Ordinance carefully, you will realise that a digital signature already isn't necessary to keep the accounts electronically. Much would already be possible today. Rather, there is a lack of uniform practice.

Alexander Hofmann's practice note (for Thomson Reuters) regarding the Swiss banking secrecy law has received its annual update (first published in February 2018).

Our Advisor Yves Gogniat has summarized the changes regarding international data transfer in the current issue of the it-business magazine (4/2021). In the wake of the Schrems II ruling, the EU has introduced new standard contractual clauses. Subsequently, the FDPIC has also adapted its guidelines, which is why most Swiss companies should review their transfers too.

In the 2021 winter session, the two chambers of the Swiss parliament will once again be dealing with various IT law topics. We provide an overview. The IT infrastructure of MeteoSwiss is to be expanded so that the entire application landscape is transferred to cloud providers. It will be discussed whether more competences are needed at federal level to defend against the dangers of cyber-attacks (ransomware attacks, etc.).