Switzerland – ICT

2 National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights 2020-23

2.1 Pillar 1: state duty to protect

 

2.1.2 Operational principles: legislative and information policy measures

Guiding Principles 1 to 3

Measure 1: Rules on the export of war material and technologies for internet surveillance

The export or brokerage of technologies for internet and mobile communication surveillance is governed by the Ordonnance sur l’exportation et le courtage de biens destinés à la surveillance d’Internet et des communications mobiles (Ordinance on the export and brokerage of technologies for internet and mobile communications surveillance). A licence to export or to broker such goods must be refused if there is reason to believe that the exported or brokered good will be used by the final recipient as a means of repression.

Objective	Indicator	Responsibility
Implement legal provisions on the transfer of controlled goods with a view to ensuring that international law and, in particular, human rights are respected.	Report on Federal Council activities to the parliamentary Control Committees detailing exports of war material, and the foreign economic policy report that includes an appendix listing all goods exported under the Goods Control Act.	EAER [Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research]

 

Guiding Principle 10

Measure 21: Support for UN bodies in charge of promoting the UN Guiding Principles

The federal government will continue to lend political and financial support to the UN Working Group, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the annual UN Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva. It will work with these bodies on several projects that:

– establish authoritative guidelines on the application of UN Guiding Principles to fundamental issues in connection with the development, use and governance of digital technologies;