What Counts As Personal Data Under The Federal Act On Data Protection (FADP)?

Part 2 of our series on data protection law in Switzerland

In this second part of our series on data protection in Switzerland, we analyse the definition of personal data under the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) and elaborate why context matters when determining whether data is identifiable.

Definition of personal data

Under Art. 5(a) FADP, personal data is defined as "any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person".

While the term "identified" is in general unambiguous, the "relative approach" is maintained regarding identifiability. According to the Federal Council Dispatch on the Federal Act on the complete revision of the Federal Act on Data Protection and the modification of other federal enactments¹, the mere theoretical possibility to identify a person is, as under current law, not sufficient to presume that a person is identifiable. The Federal Council already stipulated in its Dispatch to the FADP of 1988² tha