¹ The C-VIS con­tains the visa data from all the states to which Reg­u­la­tion (EC) No. 767/2008³⁹¹ ap­plies.³⁹²

² The fol­low­ing au­thor­it­ies may con­sult C-VIS data on­line:

a.³⁹³

SEM, Swiss rep­res­ent­a­tions abroad and mis­sions, the can­ton­al mi­gra­tion au­thor­it­ies re­spons­ible for the visa and the com­mun­al au­thor­it­ies to which the can­tons have del­eg­ated these re­spons­ib­il­it­ies, the State Sec­ret­ari­at and the Dir­ect­or­ate of Polit­ic­al Af­fairs of the FD­FA, the Bor­der Guard and the bor­der posts of the can­ton­al po­lice au­thor­it­ies: in the course of the visa pro­ced­ure;

b.³⁹⁴

SEM: to de­term­ine the state re­spons­ible for as­sess­ing an asylum ap­plic­a­tion un­der Reg­u­la­tion (EC) No. 604/2013³⁹⁵ and in the course of as­sess­ing an asylum ap­plic­a­tion if Switzer­land is re­spons­ible for its pro­cessing;

c.

the Bor­der Guard and the can­ton­al po­lice au­thor­it­ies re­spons­ible for checks at the Schen­gen ex­tern­al bor­ders: to con­duct checks at the ex­tern­al bor­der cross­ing points and on Swiss sov­er­eign ter­rit­ory;

d.³⁹⁶

the Bor­der Guard and the can­ton­al and com­mun­al po­lice au­thor­it­ies that con­duct checks on per­sons: to identi­fy per­sons who do not or who no longer ful­fil the re­quire­ments for entry in­to Swiss sov­er­eign ter­rit­ory or for a stay in Switzer­land.

³ The fol­low­ing au­thor­it­ies may re­quest spe­cif­ic C-VIS data from the cent­ral ac­cess point un­der para­graph 5 in ap­plic­a­tion of De­cision 2008/633/JI³⁹⁷ in or­der to pre­vent de­tect or in­vest­ig­ate ter­ror­ist of­fences or oth­er ser­i­ous crim­in­al of­fences:³⁹⁸

a.

fed­pol;

b.

FIS;

c.

the Of­fice of the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al of Switzer­land;

d.

the can­ton­al po­lice and pro­sec­u­tion au­thor­it­ies and the po­lice au­thor­it­ies of the cit­ies of Zurich, Win­ter­thur, Lausanne, Chi­asso and Lugano.

⁴ …³⁹⁹

⁵ The cent­ral ac­cess point in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 3 para­graph 3 of De­cision 2008/633/JI is the fed­pol op­er­a­tions centre.⁴⁰⁰

¹ SEM shall op­er­ate a na­tion­al visa sys­tem. The sys­tem serves the re­gis­tra­tion of visa ap­plic­a­tions and the is­sue of visas gran­ted by Switzer­land. In par­tic­u­lar, it con­tains the data trans­mit­ted via the na­tion­al in­ter­face (N-VIS) to the C-VIS.

² The na­tion­al visa sys­tem con­tains the fol­low­ing cat­egor­ies of data on visa ap­plic­ants:

a.

al­pha­nu­mer­ic­al data on the ap­plic­ant and on the visa that has been ap­plied for, gran­ted, denied, can­celled, re­voked or ex­ten­ded;

b.

the ap­plic­ants' pho­to­graphs and fin­ger­prints;

c.

the links between cer­tain visa ap­plic­a­tions;

d.⁴⁰²

the data from RI­POL and from the ASF-SLTD to which the visa au­thor­it­ies have ac­cess;

e.⁴⁰³

the data from SIS to which the visa au­thor­it­ies have ac­cess, provided an alert has been is­sued un­der Reg­u­la­tion (EU) 2018/1861⁴⁰⁴ or Reg­u­la­tion (EU) 2018/1860⁴⁰⁵.

^2bis The na­tion­al visa sys­tem also con­tains a sub­sys­tem with the files on the visa ap­plic­ants in elec­tron­ic form.⁴⁰⁶

³ SEM, Swiss rep­res­ent­a­tions abroad and mis­sions, can­ton­al mi­gra­tion au­thor­it­ies re­spons­ible for visas and the com­mun­al au­thor­it­ies to which the can­tons have del­eg­ated these re­spons­ib­il­it­ies, the State Sec­ret­ari­at and the Dir­ect­or­ate of Polit­ic­al Af­fairs of the FD­FA and the Bor­der Guard and the bor­der posts of the can­ton­al po­lice au­thor­it­ies that is­sue ex­cep­tion­al visas may enter, modi­fy and de­lete data in the na­tion­al visa sys­tem in or­der to ful­fil their du­ties un­der the visa pro­ced­ure.⁴⁰⁷ They must enter and pro­cess the data trans­mit­ted to the C‑VIS in ac­cord­ance with Reg­u­la­tion (EC) No 767/2008⁴⁰⁸.

SEM may grant the fol­low­ing au­thor­it­ies on­line ac­cess to the data in the na­tion­al visa sys­tem:

a.

the Bor­der Guard and the bor­der posts of the can­ton­al po­lice au­thor­it­ies: to carry out checks on per­sons and to is­sue ex­cep­tion­al visas;

b.

the Swiss rep­res­ent­a­tions abroad and the Swiss Mis­sions: to veri­fy visa ap­plic­a­tions;

c.

the State Sec­ret­ari­at and the Dir­ect­or­ate of Polit­ic­al Af­fairs of the FD­FA: to veri­fy visa ap­plic­a­tions for which the FD­FA is re­spons­ible;

d.

the Cent­ral Com­pens­a­tion Of­fice: to as­sess ap­plic­a­tions for be­ne­fits and to al­loc­ate and check OASI in­sur­ance num­bers;

e.⁴¹⁰

the can­ton­al and com­mun­al mi­gra­tion au­thor­it­ies and the can­ton­al and com­mun­al po­lice au­thor­it­ies: to ful­fil their du­ties in the field of im­mig­ra­tion;

f.

the com­pet­ent fed­er­al au­thor­it­ies in the field of in­tern­al se­cur­ity, in­ter­na­tion­al mu­tu­al leg­al as­sist­ance and poli­cing:

1.

in or­der to identi­fy per­sons in con­nec­tion with the ex­change of po­lice in­tel­li­gence, se­cur­ity and crim­in­al po­lice du­ties, ex­tra­di­tion pro­ceed­ings, ad­min­is­trat­ive and mu­tu­al leg­al as­sist­ance, law en­force­ment and the en­force­ment of pen­al­ties on be­half of oth­ers, com­bat­ing money laun­der­ing, drug traf­fick­ing and or­gan­ised crime, check­ing iden­tity doc­u­ments, tra­cing miss­ing per­sons and check­ing entries in the com­pu­ter­ised po­lice search sys­tem un­der the Fed­er­al Act of 13 June 2008⁴¹¹ on the Fed­er­al Po­lice In­form­a­tion Sys­tems,

2.

in or­der to check meas­ures ban­ning entry in or­der to safe­guard Switzer­land's in­tern­al and ex­tern­al se­cur­ity un­der the Fed­er­al Act of 21 March 1997⁴¹² on Meas­ures to Safe­guard In­tern­al Se­cur­ity;

g.

the Fed­er­al Ap­pel­late Au­thor­it­ies: for the pre­par­at­ory brief­ing pro­ced­ure for ap­peals;

h.

the civil re­gister of­fices and their su­per­vis­ory au­thor­it­ies: to identi­fy per­sons in con­nec­tion with changes in civil status, to pre­pare for a mar­riage ce­re­mony or the re­gis­tra­tion of a same-sex part­ner­ship, and to pre­vent cir­cum­ven­tion of the law on for­eign na­tion­als in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 97a para­graph 1 CC⁴¹³ and Art­icle 6 para­graph 2 of the Same-Sex Part­ner­ship Act of 18 June 2004⁴¹⁴.

Mem­ber states of the EU to which Reg­u­la­tion (EC) No. 767/2008⁴¹⁶ not yet ap­plies may send their re­quests for in­form­a­tion to the au­thor­it­ies un­der Art­icle 109a para­graph 3.

The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall reg­u­late:

a.

the ad­min­is­trat­ive units un­der Art­icle 109a para­graphs 2 and 3 and 109b para­graph 3 to which the powers men­tioned therein ap­ply;

b.

the pro­ced­ure by which au­thor­it­ies ob­tain C-VIS data un­der Art­icle 109a para­graph 3;

c.

the ex­tent of on­line ac­cess to the C-VIS and auf the na­tion­al visa sys­tem;

d.

the pro­ced­ure for ex­chan­ging in­form­a­tion un­der Art­icle 109d;

f.

the stor­age of the data and pro­ced­ure for its de­le­tion;

g.

the mod­al­it­ies re­lat­ing to data se­cur­ity;

h.

co­oper­a­tion with the can­tons;

i.

re­spons­ib­il­ity for data pro­cessing;

j.

the list of of­fences un­der Art­icle 109a para­graph 3.

¹ SEM shall op­er­ate an in­form­a­tion sys­tem in or­der to ful­fil its tasks in con­nec­tion with the en­force­ment of re­mov­al, ex­pul­sion un­der this Act or ju­di­cial ex­pul­sion un­der Art­icle 66aor 66a^bis SCC⁴¹⁹ or Art­icle 49aor 49a^bis MCC⁴²⁰ as well as vol­un­tary re­turn, in­clud­ing the re­turn as­sist­ance and coun­selling (eRe­tour Sys­tem).

² The in­form­a­tion sys­tem as­sists with:

a.

the pro­cessing of per­son­al data per­tain­ing to for­eign na­tion­als in con­nec­tion with the en­force­ment of the re­turn de­cisions, ex­pul­sion or­ders or ju­di­cial ex­pul­sion or­ders, vol­un­tary re­turn or re­turn as­sist­ance or coun­selling, in­clud­ing the pro­cessing of sens­it­ive per­son­al data;

b.

the ad­min­is­tra­tion and su­per­vi­sion of the vari­ous phases of the re­turn, ex­pul­sion or ju­di­cial ex­pul­sion pro­ced­ure and the tasks re­lated to re­turn, in­clud­ing re­turn as­sist­ance and coun­selling and the fin­an­cial pay­ments as­so­ci­ated with re­turn;

c.

the pro­duc­tion of stat­ist­ics;

d.⁴²¹

the trans­mis­sion of stat­ist­ics and of per­son­al data in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 105 para­graph 2 to the European Uni­on agency re­spons­ible for the sur­veil­lance of the Schen­gen ex­tern­al bor­ders based on Reg­u­la­tion (EU) 2019/1896⁴²².

¹ The in­form­a­tion sys­tem con­tains data on for­eign na­tion­als:

a.

whose re­mov­al, ex­pul­sion or ju­di­cial ex­pul­sion is to be en­forced;

b.

who leave Switzer­land vol­un­tar­ily;

c.

who have re­ques­ted coun­selling on re­turn or have re­ceived re­turn as­sist­ance.

² It con­tains the fol­low­ing cat­egor­ies of data:

a.

the sur­name and first name(s), date of birth and ad­dress (ba­sic data), sex, place of birth, na­tion­al­ity, eth­ni­city, re­li­gion, moth­er tongue and civil status of the for­eign na­tion­al and the names of his or her par­ents;

b.

the bio­met­ric data;

c.

the part of the elec­tron­ic file re­lat­ing to re­turn un­der Art­icle 4 para­graph 1 let­ter d of the Fed­er­al Act of 20 June 2003⁴²³ on the In­form­a­tion Sys­tem on Mat­ters re­lat­ing to For­eign Na­tion­als and Asylum;

d.

the form of re­mov­al or vol­un­tary re­turn, the travel doc­u­ment used and the fin­an­cial pay­ments dis­bursed on de­par­ture;

e.

the data on coun­selling on re­turn and the grant­ing of re­turn as­sist­ance;

f.

the data on meas­ures to ob­tain travel doc­u­ments;

g.

the data re­quired for the ad­min­is­tra­tion and su­per­vi­sion of the vari­ous phases of de­par­ture from Switzer­land;

h.

the med­ic­al data re­quired to as­sess the per­son’s fit­ness to travel;

i.

the res­ult of searches in RI­POL and the SIS;

j.

the loc­a­tion, dur­a­tion and form of de­ten­tion;

k.

the per­son’s be­ha­vi­our­al char­ac­ter­ist­ics and the com­puls­ory meas­ures that may be or have been ordered dur­ing the flight;

l.

de­tails of the flight tick­ets and the it­in­er­ary;

m.

data on the per­sons en­trus­ted with ac­com­pa­ny­ing the per­son con­cerned for med­ic­al, so­cial or poli­cing reas­ons;

n.

the data re­quired to pre­pare cost state­ments and make pay­ments in con­nec­tion with the re­turn.

³ The per­son­al data un­der para­graph 2 let­ters a–c and j are copied auto­mat­ic­ally from ZEMIS. If these data are mod­i­fied in the in­form­a­tion sys­tem, the up­dated data are auto­mat­ic­ally copied in­to ZEMIS.

⁴ SEM shall in­form per­sons whose data is re­cor­ded in the sys­tem of the reas­on for pro­cessing these data, the data cat­egor­ies and the data re­cip­i­ent.

Provided it is ne­ces­sary for them to carry out their tasks, the fol­low­ing per­sons and agen­cies shall have ac­cess to the in­form­a­tion sys­tem, but lim­ited to the date men­tioned in brack­ets:

a.

SEM em­ploy­ees:

1.

to ob­tain travel doc­u­ments for the re­turn, to or­gan­ise de­par­ture and to grant re­turn as­sist­ance (data un­der Art. 109g para. 2),

2.

to pre­pare the cost state­ment (ba­sic data un­der Art. 109g para. 2 let. a and data un­der Art. 109g para. 2 let. c–h and j–n);

b.

the can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies en­trus­ted with car­ry­ing out the re­turn pro­ced­ure in or­der to re­port cases that re­quire sup­port from SEM un­der Art­icle 71 (data un­der Art. 109g para. 2);

c.

the can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies re­spons­ible for re­turn as­sist­ance (data un­der Art. 109g para. 2 let. a–h and k–n);

d.

the can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies re­spons­ible for cost state­ment (ba­sic data un­der Art. 109g para. 2 let. a and data un­der Art. 109g para. 2 let. c–g, j and l–n);

e.

the can­ton­al po­lice au­thor­it­ies for ac­com­pa­ny­ing per­sons be­ing re­moved or ex­pelled (ba­sic data un­der Art. 109g para. 2 let. a and data un­der Art 109g para. 2 let. b, d, g and i–n);

f.

the can­ton­al po­lice au­thor­it­ies at the air­ports and the Bor­der Guard for tasks re­lated to checks on de­par­ture (ba­sic data un­der Art. 109g para. 2 let. a and data un­der Art. 109g para. 2 let. b, d, g and i–n);

g.

third parties del­eg­ated tasks un­der Art­icle 109i.

¹ SEM and the can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies en­trus­ted with car­ry­ing out the re­turn pro­ced­ure may in provid­ing re­turn as­sist­ance del­eg­ate spe­cif­ic tasks to the re­turn coun­selling agen­cies (Art. 93 para. 1 let. a AsylA⁴²⁴) and in­ter­na­tion­al or­gan­isa­tions (Art. 93 para. 3 AsylA). They may del­eg­ate tasks to oth­er third parties in con­nec­tion with or­gan­ising the re­turn un­der Art­icle 71 let­ter b of this Act.

² SEM may grant third parties that have been del­eg­ated tasks ac­cess to the data in the In­form­a­tion Sys­tem that they re­quire to ful­fil their man­date:

a.

for tasks in con­nec­tion with re­turn as­sist­ance and coun­selling;

b.

for tasks re­lated to pre­par­ing for de­par­ture at the air­port;

c.

for as­sess­ing the fit­ness of the per­son con­cerned to travel and for de­cid­ing on any med­ic­al as­sist­ance re­quired.

³ SEM shall en­sure that the third parties com­ply with the reg­u­la­tions on data pro­tec­tion and on in­form­a­tion tech­no­logy se­cur­ity.

⁴ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall de­cide which cat­egor­ies per­son­al data in the in­form­a­tion sys­tem may be pro­cessed by the third parties that have been del­eg­ated tasks men­tioned in para­graph 1 above.

¹ SEM is re­spons­ible for the se­cur­ity of the In­form­a­tion Sys­tem and the leg­al­ity of the pro­cessing of per­son­al data.

² The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall reg­u­late:

a.

the or­gan­isa­tion and op­er­a­tion of the sys­tem;

b.

the cata­logue of data for the sys­tems and the ex­tent of ac­cess rights gran­ted to the au­thor­it­ies men­tioned in Art­icle 109h;

c.

the tech­nic­al and or­gan­isa­tion­al as­pects of meas­ures to pre­vent un­au­thor­ised pro­cessing;

d.

the re­ten­tion peri­od for and the de­struc­tion of the data.

SEM in co­oper­a­tion with the Fed­er­al Ad­min­is­trat­ive Court and the com­pet­ent can­ton­al au­thor­it­ies shall main­tain an auto­mated per­son­al file and doc­u­ment­a­tion sys­tem.

¹ The dis­clos­ure of per­son­al data to the com­pet­ent au­thor­it­ies of states that are bound by one of the Schen­gen As­so­ci­ation Agree­ments is re­garded as equi­val­ent to the dis­clos­ure of per­son­al data between fed­er­al bod­ies.

² SEM shall trans­mit per­son­al data in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 105 para­graph 2 to the European Uni­on agency re­spons­ible for the sur­veil­lance of the Schen­gen ex­tern­al bor­ders, provided these data are re­quired to ful­fil the tasks spe­cified in Art­icle 87 para­graph 1 let­ter b of Reg­u­la­tion (EU) 2019/1896⁴³¹. This form of dis­clos­ure is re­garded as equi­val­ent to the dis­clos­ure of per­son­al data between fed­er­al bod­ies.⁴³²

¹ SEM is the cent­ral au­thor­ity for con­sulta­tions in con­nec­tion with visa ap­plic­a­tions un­der the Schen­gen As­so­ci­ation Agree­ments.

² In this ca­pa­city, it may use auto­mated pro­ced­ures to dis­close and re­trieve in par­tic­u­lar the fol­low­ing cat­egor­ies of data:

a.

the dip­lo­mat­ic or con­su­lar rep­res­ent­a­tion to which a visa ap­plic­a­tion was sub­mit­ted;

b.

the iden­tity of the per­son con­cerned (name, first names, date of birth, place of birth, na­tion­al­ity, place of res­id­ence, oc­cu­pa­tion and em­ploy­er) as well as, if ne­ces­sary, the iden­tity of their next of kin;

c.

in­form­a­tion about the iden­tity doc­u­ments;

d.

in­form­a­tion about the places of stay and routes trav­elled.

³ The Swiss for­eign rep­res­ent­a­tions may ex­change data re­quired at their loc­a­tion for con­su­lar co­oper­a­tion with their part­ners from states that are bound by a Schen­gen As­so­ci­ation Agree­ment, and in par­tic­u­lar in­form­a­tion about the use of forged or fals­i­fied doc­u­ments and about hu­man smug­gling net­works as well as data of the cat­egor­ies men­tioned in para­graph 2.

⁴ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil may ad­apt the cat­egor­ies of per­son­al data men­tioned in para­graph 2 to the latest de­vel­op­ments of the Schen­gen Ac­quis. For this pur­pose, it shall con­sult the Fed­er­al Data Pro­tec­tion and In­form­a­tion Com­mis­sion­er (FD­PIC)⁴³³.

¹ The bor­der con­trol au­thor­it­ies and the trans­port com­pan­ies may ex­change the per­son­al data re­quired in terms of the duty of care un­der Art­icle 92 and the ob­lig­a­tion to provide as­sist­ance un­der Art­icle 93.

² For this pur­pose, they may in par­tic­u­lar dis­close and re­trieve the per­son­al data in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 111b para­graph 2 let­ters b–d.

³ Art­icles 111a, 111dand 111f ap­ply mu­tatis mutandis.⁴³⁴

¹ Per­son­al data may only be dis­closed to third coun­tries if they guar­an­tee an ad­equate level of data pro­tec­tion in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 16 para­graph 1 FADP⁴³⁵.⁴³⁶

² If a third coun­try fails to guar­an­tee an ad­equate level of data pro­tec­tion, per­son­al data may be dis­closed to this coun­try in the fol­low­ing cases:

a.

the per­son con­cerned has giv­en their con­sent in accordance with Article 6 paragraph 6 and if applicable paragraph 7 FADP;

b.

dis­clos­ure is re­quired to pro­tect the life or phys­ic­al in­teg­rity of the per­son con­cerned and it is not pos­sible to ob­tain con­sent with­in a reas­on­able time; or

c.

dis­clos­ure is re­quired to safe­guard over­rid­ing pub­lic in­terests or to es­tab­lish, ex­er­cise or en­force leg­al rights in a court or be­fore an­oth­er com­pet­ent for­eign au­thor­ity.⁴³⁷

³ In ad­di­tion to the cases men­tioned in para­graph 2, per­son­al data may also be dis­closed if in spe­cif­ic cases ad­equate guar­an­tees en­sure ap­pro­pri­ate pro­tec­tion of the per­son con­cerned.

⁴ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall de­term­ine the ex­tent of the guar­an­tees re­quired and the mod­al­it­ies for provid­ing the guar­an­tees.

⁵ The data ob­tained from the Eurodac data­base may not be trans­mit­ted un­der any cir­cum­stances to:

a.

a state that is not bound by any of the Dub­lin as­so­ci­ation agree­ments;

b.

in­ter­na­tion­al or­gan­isa­tions;

c.

private en­tit­ies.⁴³⁸

The right to in­form­a­tion is gov­erned by the fed­er­al or can­ton­al data pro­tec­tion pro­vi­sions⁴⁴⁰. …⁴⁴¹

¹ The can­ton­al data pro­tec­tion au­thor­it­ies and the FD­PIC shall work to­geth­er with­in the scope of their re­spect­ive re­spons­ib­il­it­ies.

² The FD­PIC shall su­per­vise the pro­cessing of per­son­al data re­lated to Schen­gen co­oper­a­tion. It shall co­ordin­ate its su­per­vis­ory activ­it­ies with the can­ton­al data pro­tec­tion au­thor­it­ies.

³ It shall work with the European Data Pro­tec­tion Su­per­visor in car­ry­ing out its du­ties; it is the na­tion­al su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity in this re­spect.

¹ The bor­der posts and the po­lice au­thor­it­ies in the can­tons and com­munes shall im­me­di­ately ob­tain a full set of fin­ger­prints from any for­eign na­tion­al who is over the age of 14, if the per­son con­cerned, has entered Switzer­land il­leg­ally and has not been re­turned.

a.

enters Switzer­land il­leg­ally from a state that is not bound by any of the Dub­lin As­so­ci­ation Agree­ments;

b.

has not been re­turned or has with a view to de­port­a­tion been un­der ar­rest or in de­ten­tion for the en­tire peri­od between their ap­pre­hen­sion and their re­mov­al.

² In ad­di­tion to the fin­ger­prints, the fol­low­ing data shall be ob­tained:

a.

the place and date of ap­pre­hen­sion in Switzer­land;

b.

the sex of the ap­pre­hen­ded per­son;

c.

the date on which the fin­ger­prints were taken;

d.

the Swiss code num­ber for the fin­ger­prints;

e.

the date on which the data was trans­mit­ted to the Cent­ral Unit.

f.

the user pass­word.

³ The data re­cor­ded un­der para­graphs 1 and 2 shall be trans­mit­ted to the Cent­ral Unit with­in 72 hours of the per­son con­cerned be­ing ap­pre­hen­ded. If the per­son con­cerned is held in de­ten­tion for longer than 72 hours, the data must be trans­mit­ted be­fore they are re­leased.

⁴ If the con­di­tion of the fin­gers of the per­son con­cerned do not al­low fin­ger­prints to be taken, the fin­ger­prints must be trans­mit­ted to the Cent­ral Unit with­in 48 hours of fin­ger­prints of ac­cept­able qual­ity be­ing taken. If it is im­possible to take fin­ger­prints due to the state of health of the per­son con­cerned or due to pub­lic health meas­ures, the fin­ger­prints must be trans­mit­ted to the Cent­ral Unit with­in 48 hours of the im­ped­i­ment ceas­ing to ap­ply.

⁵ If the trans­mis­sion of data is pre­ven­ted by ser­i­ous tech­nic­al prob­lems, an ad­di­tion­al peri­od of 48 hours shall be al­lowed in or­der to take the meas­ures re­quired to en­sure that the sys­tem op­er­ates cor­rectly again.

⁶ The bor­der posts and the im­mig­ra­tion and po­lice au­thor­it­ies in the can­tons and com­munes may ob­tain a full set of fin­ger­prints from any for­eign na­tion­al who is over the age of 14 and who is resid­ing il­leg­ally in Switzer­land in or­der to es­tab­lish wheth­er they have already made an ap­plic­a­tion for asylum in an­oth­er state that is bound by any of the Dub­lin As­so­ci­ation Agree­ments.

⁷ The data ob­tained in ac­cord­ance with para­graphs 1, 2 and 6 shall be trans­mit­ted to SEM for passing on to the Cent­ral Unit.

⁸ The data trans­mit­ted in ac­cord­ance with para­graphs 1 and 2 shall be stored by the Cent­ral Unit in the Eurodac data­base and shall be auto­mat­ic­ally erased 18 months after the fin­ger­prints are taken. SEM shall im­me­di­ately re­quest the Cent­ral Unit to erase the data be­fore this date as soon as it is no­ti­fied that the for­eign na­tion­al con­cerned:

a.

has been gran­ted a res­id­ence per­mit in Switzer­land;

b.

has left the sov­er­eign ter­rit­ory of the states that are bound by any of the Dub­lin As­so­ci­ation Agree­ments;

c.

has been gran­ted cit­izen­ship of a state that is bound by any of the Dub­lin As­so­ci­ation Agree­ments.

⁹ Art­icles 102b–102g AsylA⁴⁴⁶ ap­ply to the pro­ced­ures un­der para­graphs 1–8.

¹ The pro­ced­ure of the fed­er­al au­thor­it­ies is gov­erned by the gen­er­al pro­vi­sions of the ad­min­is­tra­tion of fed­er­al justice.

² The pro­vi­sions on time lim­its do not ap­ply to the pro­ced­ures in ac­cord­ance with Art­icles 65 and 76 para­graph 1 let­ter b num­ber 5.

¹ Any per­son who:

a.

vi­ol­ates the entry reg­u­la­tions con­tained in Art­icle 5;

b.

stays un­law­fully in Switzer­land, in par­tic­u­lar after the ex­piry of a peri­od of stay for which a per­mit was gran­ted or which does not re­quire a per­mit;

c.

works without au­thor­isa­tion;

d.

fails to enter or leave the coun­try through an au­thor­ised bor­der cross­ing point (Art. 7),

is li­able on con­vic­tion to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing one year or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

² The same pen­alty ap­plies if, after leav­ing Switzer­land or the in­ter­na­tion­al trans­it zone of the air­ports, the for­eign na­tion­al enters or makes pre­par­a­tions to enter the sov­er­eign ter­rit­ory of an­oth­er state in vi­ol­a­tion of the entry pro­vi­sions ap­plic­able there.⁴⁵⁰

³ If the of­fence is com­mit­ted through neg­li­gence, the pen­alty is a fine.

⁴ If re­turn or ex­pul­sion pro­ceed­ings are pending, crim­in­al pro­ceed­ings that have been com­menced solely in re­spect of an of­fence un­der para­graph 1 let­ters a, b or d shall be ad­journed un­til the re­turn or ex­pul­sion pro­ceed­ings have reached a leg­ally bind­ing con­clu­sion. If re­turn or ex­pul­sion pro­ceed­ings are an­ti­cip­ated, the crim­in­al pro­ceed­ings may be ad­journed.⁴⁵¹

⁵ If a sen­tence is ex­pec­ted for an of­fence un­der para­graph 1 let­ters a, b or d the im­pos­i­tion or ex­e­cu­tion of which would pre­clude the im­min­ent en­force­ment of a leg­ally bind­ing re­turn de­cision or ex­pul­sion or­der, the com­pet­ent au­thor­ity shall re­frain from any pro­sec­u­tion, com­mit­tal to court or the im­pos­i­tion of pen­al­ties.⁴⁵²

⁶ Para­graphs 4 and 5 do not ap­ply if the per­son con­cerned has re-entered Switzer­land in dis­reg­ard of a ban on entry or if it has not been pos­sible to en­force a re­turn de­cision or ex­pul­sion or­der be­cause of the per­son’s con­duct.⁴⁵³

¹ Any per­son who:

a.

in Switzer­land or abroad, fa­cil­it­ates the un­law­ful entry or de­par­ture or the un­law­ful peri­od of stay in Switzer­land of a for­eign na­tion­al or as­sists a for­eign na­tion­al to pre­pare for the same;

a^bis.⁴⁵⁴

from with­in Switzer­land fa­cil­it­ates the un­law­ful entry or de­par­ture or the un­law­ful peri­od of stay in a Schen­gen State of a for­eign na­tion­al or as­sists a for­eign na­tion­al to pre­pare for the same;

b.

finds em­ploy­ment for a for­eign na­tion­al in Switzer­land without the re­quired per­mit;

c.⁴⁵⁵

fa­cil­it­ates the entry of a for­eign na­tion­al who has left Switzer­land or the in­ter­na­tion­al trans­it zone of the air­ports in­to the sov­er­eign ter­rit­ory of an­oth­er state in vi­ol­a­tion of the entry pro­vi­sions ap­plic­able there or as­sists that for­eign na­tion­al in pre­par­ing for such entry.

is li­able on con­vic­tion to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing one year or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

² …⁴⁵⁶

³ The pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing five years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty if the of­fend­er:⁴⁵⁷

a.

acts in­ten­tion­ally for their own or an­oth­er's un­law­ful fin­an­cial gain; or

b.

acts for an as­so­ci­ation or group that was formed for the pur­pose of the con­tin­ued per­pet­ra­tion of this of­fence.

¹ Any per­son who as an em­ploy­er wil­fully em­ploys for­eign na­tion­als who are not en­titled to work in Switzer­land, or any per­son who ob­tains a cross-bor­der ser­vice in Switzer­land for which the ser­vice pro­vider has no per­mit is li­able on con­vic­tion to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing one year or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty. In ser­i­ous cases, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty. …⁴⁵⁸

² Any per­son who has a leg­ally bind­ing con­vic­tion un­der para­graph 1 and again com­mits of­fences un­der para­graph 1 with­in five years is li­able on con­vic­tion to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty. …⁴⁵⁹

³ If the of­fence is com­mit­ted through neg­li­gence, the pen­alty is a fine not ex­ceed­ing 20,000 francs.⁴⁶⁰

¹ Any per­son who wil­fully breaches the ob­lig­a­tion to give no­tice of va­cant po­s­i­tions (Art. 21a para. 3) or the ob­lig­a­tion to con­duct an in­ter­view or an aptitude test (Art. 21apara. 4) is li­able to a fine not ex­ceed­ing 40 000 francs.

² If the of­fence is com­mit­ted through neg­li­gence, the pen­alty is a fine not ex­ceed­ing 20 000 francs.

¹ Any per­son who de­ceives the au­thor­it­ies re­spons­ible for the im­ple­ment­a­tion of this Act by provid­ing false in­form­a­tion or with­hold­ing es­sen­tial in­form­a­tion and thereby fraud­u­lently se­cures the grant of a per­mit for them­selves or an­oth­er or pre­vents the with­draw­al of a per­mit is li­able on con­vic­tion to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

² Any per­son who, with the in­ten­tion of cir­cum­vent­ing the reg­u­la­tions on the ad­mis­sion and stay of for­eign na­tion­als, mar­ries a for­eign na­tion­al or ar­ranges, en­cour­ages or fa­cil­it­ates such a mar­riage is li­able on con­vic­tion to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

³ The pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing five years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty if the of­fend­er:⁴⁶²

a.

acts in­ten­tion­ally for their own or an­oth­er's un­law­ful fin­an­cial gain; or

b.

acts for an as­so­ci­ation or group that was formed for the pur­pose of the con­tin­ued per­pet­ra­tion of this of­fence.

¹ Any per­son who fails to com­ply with a re­stric­tion or ex­clu­sion or­der (Art. 74) is li­able on con­vic­tion to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

² Pro­sec­u­tion, the com­mit­tal to court or pen­al­ties may be dis­pensed with if the per­son con­cerned:

a.

can be de­por­ted im­me­di­ately;

b.

is in de­ten­tion in pre­par­a­tion for de­par­ture or pending de­port­a­tion.

¹ Any per­son who wil­fully or through neg­li­gence:

a.

vi­ol­ates the re­quire­ments to re­gister and give no­tice of de­par­ture (Art. 10–16);

b.

changes jobs without the re­quired per­mit or changes from salar­ied to self-em­ploy­ment (Art. 38);

c.

moves their place of res­id­ence to an­oth­er can­ton without the re­quired per­mit (Art. 37);

d.

fails to com­ply with the con­di­tions of the per­mit (Art. 32, 33 and 35);

e.

fails to com­ply with the ob­lig­a­tion to co­oper­ate in ob­tain­ing iden­tity doc­u­ments (Art. 90 let. c);

f.⁴⁶³

fails to com­ply with the ob­lig­a­tion to give no­tice un­der Art­icle 85apara­graphs 2 and 3^bisor fails to com­ply with the con­di­tions re­lat­ing to giv­ing no­tice (Art. 85aparas 2 and 3^bis);

g.⁴⁶⁴

re­fuses to al­low or oth­er­wise pre­vents veri­fic­a­tion by a su­per­vis­ory body un­der Art­icle 85apara. 4,

is li­able on con­vic­tion to a fine.

² In the case of of­fences against the im­ple­ment­ing pro­vi­sions of this Act, the Fed­er­al Coun­cil may provide for fines not ex­ceed­ing 5000 francs.

¹ Each com­pet­ent au­thor­ity shall en­sure that the pro­cessing of per­son­al data in the SEM in­form­a­tion sys­tems is pro­por­tion­ate to the ob­ject­ives pur­sued and only takes place if it is re­quired to ful­fil the du­ties of the au­thor­ity con­cerned.

² The pen­alty shall be a fine for any per­son who:

a.

pro­cesses per­son­al data in the na­tion­al visa sys­tem or the C-VIS for pur­poses oth­er than those spe­cified in Art­icles 109a–109d;

b.

pro­cesses per­son­al data in the EES for pur­poses oth­er than those spe­cified in Art­icle 103c.

¹ The pro­sec­u­tion and tri­al of of­fences un­der Art­icles 115–120 and 120d is the re­spons­ib­il­ity of the can­tons. If an of­fence has been com­mit­ted in more than one can­ton, then the can­ton that ini­ti­ates the pro­sec­u­tion has jur­is­dic­tion.

² ...⁴⁶⁸

¹ Forged and fals­i­fied travel doc­u­ments and iden­tity pa­pers, and genu­ine travel doc­u­ments and iden­tity pa­pers where there is spe­cif­ic evid­ence that they are be­ing used un­law­fully may, as dir­ec­ted by of SEM, be for­feited to au­thor­it­ies or of­fices or seized for re­turn to their right­ful own­ers.

² The for­feit­ure or re­turn un­der para­graph 1 is also pos­sible if there is spe­cif­ic evid­ence that genu­ine travel doc­u­ments and iden­tity pa­pers are in­ten­ded for per­sons who are stay­ing un­law­fully in Switzer­land.

³ Iden­tity pa­pers un­der para­graph 1 in­clude iden­tity cards and oth­er doc­u­ments that in­dic­ate the iden­tity of a for­eign na­tion­al.

¹ If an em­ploy­er re­peatedly vi­ol­ates the pro­vi­sions of this Act, the com­pet­ent au­thor­ity may re­fuse or only par­tially au­thor­ise the em­ploy­er’s re­quests for the ad­mis­sion of for­eign em­ploy­ees who are not en­titled to be gran­ted a per­mit.

² The com­pet­ent au­thor­ity may also is­sue a warn­ing that pen­al­ties may be im­posed.

³ An em­ploy­er who has em­ployed or sought to em­ploy for­eign em­ploy­ees who are not en­titled to work shall as­sume any un­covered costs in­curred by the com­munity for sub­sist­ence, any ac­ci­dent or ill­ness, and the re­turn jour­ney of the per­sons con­cerned.

¹ Any air car­ri­er that vi­ol­ates its duty of care un­der Art­icle 92 para­graph 1 shall be re­quired to pay 4000 francs for each per­son car­ried who is not in pos­ses­sion of the re­quired travel doc­u­ments, visa or res­id­ence doc­u­ments. In ser­i­ous cases, the pen­alty is 16 000 francs per per­son. In minor cases, pro­ceed­ings may be waived.

² A vi­ol­a­tion of the duty of care is pre­sumed if the air car­ri­er car­ries per­sons who are not in pos­ses­sion of the travel doc­u­ments, visas, or res­id­ence doc­u­ments re­quired for entry to the Schen­gen area or for trans­it through the in­ter­na­tion­al trans­it zones of the air­ports and who are re­fused entry.

³ There is no vi­ol­a­tion of the duty of care where:

a.

the air car­ri­er proves that:

1.

the for­gery or falsi­fic­a­tion of a travel doc­u­ment, visa or res­id­ence doc­u­ment was not clearly re­cog­nis­able,

2.

it was not clearly re­cog­nis­able that a travel doc­u­ment, visa or res­id­ence doc­u­ment did not per­tain to the per­son car­ried,

3.

it was not im­me­di­ately pos­sible to as­cer­tain the au­thor­ised term of stay or points of entry on the basis of the stamps on the travel doc­u­ment,

4.

it took all the or­gan­isa­tion­al meas­ures that can reas­on­ably be re­quired to pre­vent it from car­ry­ing per­sons that do not pos­sess the travel doc­u­ments, visas and res­id­ence doc­u­ments re­quired for entry to the Schen­gen area or for trans­it through the in­ter­na­tion­al trans­it zones of the air­ports;

b.

the air car­ri­er provides cred­ible evid­ence that it was co­erced in­to car­ry­ing a per­son.

⁴ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil may provide for ex­emp­tions from the pen­alty un­der para­graph 1, in par­tic­u­lar in situ­ations of war or nat­ur­al dis­aster.

¹ Any air car­ri­er shall be charged 4000 francs for each flight in re­spect of which it vi­ol­ates its duty to provide data. In ser­i­ous cases the pen­alty is 12 000 francs per flight. In minor cases, pro­ceed­ings may be waived.

² A vi­ol­a­tion of the duty to provide data is pre­sumed if the air car­ri­er fails to provide the data in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 104 para­graph 3 on time, or if the data provided is in­com­plete or in­ac­cur­ate.

³ There is no vi­ol­a­tion of the duty to provide data where the air car­ri­er proves that:

a.

it was im­possible to provide the data in the case con­cerned for tech­nic­al reas­ons for which the car­ri­er was not re­spons­ible; or

b.

it took all the or­gan­isa­tion­al meas­ures that can reas­on­ably be re­quired to pre­vent any vi­ol­a­tion of the duty to provide data.

¹ Art­icles 122a and 122b ap­ply ir­re­spect­ive of wheth­er the duty of care or duty to provide data was vi­ol­ated in Switzer­land or abroad.

² SEM is re­spons­ible for im­pos­ing pen­al­ties for in­fringe­ments un­der Art­icles 122a and 122b.

³ Pro­ceed­ings are gov­erned by the Ad­min­is­trat­ive Pro­ced­ure Act of 20 Decem­ber 1968⁴⁷⁵. They must be opened:

a.

in cases of a vi­ol­a­tion of the duty of care: two years at the latest after the re­fus­al of entry in ques­tion;

b.

in cases of a vi­ol­a­tion of the duty to provide data: two years at the latest after the date on which the data should have been provided in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 104 para­graph 1.

¹ A fee may be charged for rul­ings and of­fi­cial acts in ac­cord­ance with this Act. Cash out­lays in con­nec­tion with pro­ced­ures in ac­cord­ance with this Act may be billed sep­ar­ately.

² The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall de­term­ine the fees of the Con­fed­er­a­tion as well as the lim­its for the can­ton­al fees.

³ Claims for money made un­der this Act may be made without any form­al pro­ced­ure. The per­son con­cerned may re­quest that a de­cision be is­sued.

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall su­per­vise the im­ple­ment­a­tion of this Act.

² The can­tons shall is­sue the re­quired pro­vi­sions for the im­ple­ment­a­tion of this Act.

Dir­ect­ive 2008/115/EC⁴⁷⁷ does not ap­ply to or­der­ing and en­for­cing an or­der for ex­pul­sion from Switzer­land in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 66a or 66a^bis SCC⁴⁷⁸ or Art­icle 49a or 49a^bis MCC⁴⁷⁹.

The re­peal and the amend­ment of cur­rent le­gis­la­tion are reg­u­lated in the An­nex.

¹ The pre­vi­ous le­gis­la­tion re­mains ap­plic­able to re­quests that were filed be­fore com­mence­ment of this Act.

² The pro­ced­ure is gov­erned by the new le­gis­la­tion.

³ The time lim­its in terms of Art­icle 47 para­graph 1 be­gin with the com­mence­ment of this Act if entry took place or the fam­ily ties ori­gin­ated be­fore this time.

⁴ The crim­in­al pro­vi­sions of this Act ap­ply to of­fences com­mit­ted be­fore the com­mence­ment of this Act provided they are not as severe for the of­fend­ers.

⁵ Art­icle 107 ap­plies only to read­mis­sion and trans­it agree­ments con­cluded after 1 March 1999.

⁶ On the com­mence­ment of the Fed­er­al Act of 20 June 2003⁴⁸⁰ on the In­form­a­tion Sys­tem for For­eign Na­tion­als and Asylum Mat­ters, Art­icles 108 and 109 shall be re­pealed.

¹ If there is a reas­on to is­sue an in­ter­me­di­ate or fi­nal ac­count in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 87 of the AsylA in the ver­sion of 26 June 1998⁴⁸³, be­fore the com­mence­ment the amend­ment of 16 Decem­ber 2005 of the AsylA, the in­ter­me­di­ate or fi­nal ac­count and the net­ting of the ac­count are ef­fected in ac­cord­ance with the pre­vi­ous le­gis­la­tion.

² The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall reg­u­late the ac­count­ing pro­ced­ure as well as the ex­tent and the dur­a­tion the spe­cial charge and the con­fis­ca­tion of as­sets of tem­por­ar­ily ad­mit­ted per­sons who were in em­ploy­ment be­fore the com­mence­ment of the Amend­ment of 16 Decem­ber 2005 to the AsylA and for whom there was no reas­on to is­sue a fi­nal ac­count in ac­cord­ance with para­graph 1 at the time of the amend­ment of 16 Decem­ber 2005 of the AsylA.

³ The new le­gis­la­tion sub­ject to para­graphs 1 and 2 of these trans­ition­al pro­vi­sions ap­plies to the pro­ced­ures in ac­cord­ance with Art­icles 85–87 of the AsylA in its ver­sion of 26 June 1998 that were pending at the time of the com­mence­ment the Amend­ment of 16 Decem­ber 2005 to the AsylA.

⁴ Sub­ject to the para­graphs 5–7, the new le­gis­la­tion ap­plies to per­sons who were tem­por­ar­ily ad­mit­ted at the time of the com­mence­ment of the Amend­ment of 16 Decem­ber 2005 to the AsylA as well as of this Act. If tem­por­ary ad­mis­sion was ordered on the basis of Art­icle 44 para­graph 3 of the AsylA, it con­tin­ues to ap­ply.

⁵ For per­sons who were ad­mit­ted at the time of the com­mence­ment of the Amend­ment of 16 Decem­ber 2005, the Con­fed­er­a­tion shall pay the can­tons flat-rate pay­ments in ac­cord­ance with Art­icles 88 para­graphs 1 and 2 and 89 of the AsylA for the dur­a­tion of tem­por­ary ad­mis­sion, but for a max­im­um of sev­en years from the date of entry. In ad­di­tion, the Con­fed­er­a­tion shall pay the can­tons to a one-time con­tri­bu­tion for per­sons who were tem­por­ar­ily ad­mit­ted at the time of the com­mence­ment of the Amend­ment of 16 Decem­ber 2005 to the AsylA with the in­ten­tion in par­tic­u­lar of fa­cil­it­at­ing pro­fes­sion­al in­teg­ra­tion. The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall de­term­ine the amount.

⁶ The cur­rent le­gis­la­tion ap­plies to pro­ced­ures in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 20 para­graph 1 let­ter b of the Fed­er­al Act of 26 March 1931 on the Res­id­ence and Set­tle­ment of For­eign Na­tion­als (ANAG) in its ver­sion of 19 Decem­ber 2003⁴⁸⁴ that are pending at the time of the com­mence­ment of the Amend­ment of 16 Decem­ber 2005 to the AsylA.

⁷ If tem­por­ary ad­mis­sion was re­voked in a leg­ally bind­ing de­cision be­fore the com­mence­ment of the Amend­ment of 16 Decem­ber 2005 to the AsylA, the Con­fed­er­a­tion shall pay the can­tons a one-time flat-rate pay­ment of 15 000 francs, provided the per­sons con­cerned have not yet left Switzer­land.

Un­til the na­tion­al visa sys­tem comes in­to force, Art­icles 109c and 120d are worded as fol­lows:

...⁴⁸⁶

Ad­min­is­trat­ive crim­in­al pro­ceed­ings re­lat­ing to a vi­ol­a­tion of the duty of care or duty to provide data that are pending when the Amend­ment of 20 June 2014 to this Act comes in­to force shall be con­tin­ued un­der the pre­vi­ous law.

¹ The pre­vi­ous law ap­plies for no longer than two years to asylum seekers whose ap­plic­a­tion for asylum can­not be pro­cessed in the fed­er­al centres.

² In pending pro­ceed­ings un­der Art­icles 76 para­graph 1 let­ter b num­ber 5 and 76a para­graph 3, Art­icle 80 para­graph 1 third sen­tence and para­graph 2^bis, Art­icle 80a para­graphs 1 and 2 of this Act and Art­icle 108 para­graph 4, 109 para­graph 3, 110 para­graph 4 let­ter b, 111 let­ter d AsylA⁴⁸⁹ ap­ply in their pre­vi­ous ver­sion.

The new law ap­plies to ap­plic­a­tions un­der Art­icle 50 that are filed be­fore the Amend­ment of 14 June 2024 comes in­to force.

With the com­mence­ment the Schen­gen As­so­ci­ation Agree­ments, this Act shall be amended as fol­lows:

...⁴⁹²

¹ This Act is sub­ject to an op­tion­al ref­er­en­dum.

² The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall de­term­ine the com­mence­ment date.

Com­mence­ment date: 1 Janu­ary 2008⁴⁹³
Art­icles 92–95, and 127: 12 Decem­ber 2008⁴⁹⁴