«The FADP applies to AI — already today»
While Europe argues about the deadlines of its AI Act, the situation in Switzerland has been settled for years: as soon as personal data is involved, the Data Protection Act applies. With no transition period.
For international Data Protection Day on 28 January 2026, the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) invited participants to a conference at the University of Lausanne — on the use of generative AI and the challenges it poses for data protection: FDPIC: Data Protection Day 2026.
The position restated there is remarkably undramatic — and for Swiss businesses the more important news of the month.
The position in two sentences
Artificial intelligence as such is subject neither to the Data Protection Act nor to the remit of the FDPIC. But as soon as personal data is processed, the revised FADP applies directly — it is worded in a technology-neutral way and does not ask whether a human or a machine processes the data.
You do not need an AI law for a law to apply to AI.
Transparency is emphasised in particular: those affected must be able to recognise what happens to their data.
An assessment that is often got wrong
Many summaries say that the FDPIC «declared» in January 2026 that the FADP applies to AI. That is not quite right. He recalled it. The clarification itself is considerably older: it dates from 8 May 2025, and it was first stated as far back as 9 November 2023: FDPIC: Current data protection legislation is directly applicable to AI (8.5.2025).
The difference is not hair-splitting. Anyone who believes the rule is new thinks they are dealing with it in good time. In fact it has applied for over two years.
What that means in practice
- No transition period: unlike the EU regulation, there is no date from which things get serious. They already are.
- Transparency first: anyone applying AI to personal data must be able to disclose it — to the people affected and to the supervisory authority.
- Responsibility stays with the business: it cannot be passed on to the provider of the model.
For companies that also supply the EU, the AI Act comes on top — with its own deadlines and its own logic. Swiss law does not replace it and is not replaced by it. Both apply alongside each other.
Sources
This is how our system does it