Federal Council adopts report on Switzerland's digital sovereignty
Bern, 26.11.2025 — At its meeting on 26 November 2025, the Federal Council approved the report in response to postulate 22.4411 Z'graggen ‘Switzerland's Digital Sovereignty’. The report defines digital sovereignty for Switzerland, explains how it must be structured to enable the state to fulfil its tasks in the digital space, and proposes measures to further strengthen digital sovereignty. The Federal Council is establishing an interdepartmental working group in order to anticipate security and foreign policy developments and their impact on digital resources. The group will also continuously update the overview contained in the report and coordinate measures.
Digitalisation and technological change are advancing rapidly around the world, with private-sector providers and technologically dominant nations gaining increasing influence. These geopolitical and technological developments raise questions about Switzerland's sovereignty in the digital space.
In the report in response to postulate 22.4411 Z'graggen ‘Switzerland's Digital Sovereignty Strategy’, the Federal Council defines digital sovereignty for Switzerland as the state possessing the capacity to act in the digital space and the ability to monitor it, thereby ensuring it can fulfil its tasks. This definition takes account of the constitutional principles of personal responsibility and economic freedom.
The Federal Council's conclusion is that the Federal Administration has a good overview of the digital resources it uses and provides. Risks to digital resources are identified through established risk and continuity management processes and minimised in accordance with information security law. In addition, Switzerland already has measures in place to strengthen its digital sovereignty through the promotion of open source software, the ‘hybrid multi-cloud’ strategy, and the establishment of trustworthy infrastructures such as e-ID or data spaces in strategically relevant areas.
The Federal Council sees a need for action in the analysis and assessment of security and foreign policy developments for digital resources. The Federal Council has instructed the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (via the State Secretariat for Security Policy) to set up an interdepartmental working group on digital sovereignty in cooperation with the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (through its Directorate of International Law). The working group is to continue updating the report's overview of digital sovereignty work and ensure the individual measures are coordinated. Against the backdrop of a rapidly developing geopolitical situation, measures will also be examined and proposed to further strengthen the availability and confidentiality of digital resources in the Federal Administration. In addition to technical measures, this also includes instruments under international law to ensure the inviolability and protection of official data from access by other states.