Switzerland

The regulatory authorities supervising the requirements discussed above relating to data protection are the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (the Commission-er) and Data Protection Commissioners on the Cantonal level (e.g. state level). The Commis-sioner has (limited) supervisory powers in the public sector (Article 27 DPA) as well as certain powers with regard to the private sector (Article 29 DPA).
As to the public sector, the Commissioner is tasked with supervising whether federal bodies comply with federal data protection regulations (Article 27 DPA). The Commissioner investi-gates cases at the request of third parties or on its own initiative. The Commissioner may request records and/or information, or that the processing of data be presented to it by the subject of the investigation. Federal bodies are required to assist the Commissioner in de-termining the facts of the case. If the investigation reveals that data protection regulations were breached the Commissioner issues a recommendation to the relevant federal body asking the latter to change or cease the method of data processing in question. If a recom-mendation is not complied with (or rejected) the Commissioner may refer the matter to the relevant federal department or to the Federal Chancellery for a decision. That decision is communicated to the affected data subjects in a ruling.

In the private sector, the Commissioner may conduct investigations (based on the request of a third party or on its own initiative) if methods of data processing are capable of breaching the privacy of a larger number of persons (system errors) and in certain other cases (Article 29 DPA). As in the public sector, the Commissioner has authority to request records and/or information, or that the processing of data be presented to it by the subject of the investiga-tion. Based on the investigation, the Commissioner may issue a recommendation asking to change or cease the processing of data in question. If such recommendation is not complied with or is rejected, the Commissioner may refer the case to the Federal Administrative Court for judgment.
Notably, the Commissioner does not have the authority to impose fines.