FDPIC — Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner
Overview
The Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) is Switzerland’s independent data protection authority, responsible for supervising compliance with the Federal Act on Data Protection (revFADP), which entered into force in September 2023 and substantially aligns with the GDPR in structure and scope. For neuroscience research, the FDPIC’s jurisdiction is relevant to Swiss institutions contributing to EU-funded research infrastructure, most notably EPFL’s co-leadership of the EBRAINS platform and participation in Horizon Europe neuroscience projects. Switzerland holds an EU adequacy decision, meaning personal data transfers between the EU and Switzerland are permitted without additional safeguards, which facilitates cross-border collaborative neuroscience research involving both EU and Swiss institutions.
Connections
- relatedTo: GDPR (Switzerland’s revFADP is structurally aligned with GDPR; Switzerland holds EU adequacy decision status facilitating EU-Swiss data transfers)
- relatedTo: EBRAINS (EPFL co-leads EBRAINS; Swiss researchers contributing to EBRAINS and Horizon Europe neuroscience projects operate under FDPIC jurisdiction)