AI regulation: Federal Council to ratify Council of Europe Convention

KI-Regulierung: Bundesrat will Konvention des Europarats ratifizieren

Record CH-01

Issued by: Swiss Federal Council
Jurisdiction: Switzerland
Level · region: National · Europe
Published / adopted: 2025-02-12
Language: German, French, Italian, English

Summary

Federal Council decision setting Switzerland's approach to regulating AI. Switzerland is to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Artificial Intelligence, which will apply primarily to state actors, and amend Swiss law accordingly. Legislative changes are to be as sector-specific as possible, with cross-sectoral rules only in key areas relevant to fundamental rights such as data protection, and non-binding measures such as self-disclosure agreements or industry solutions are to support implementation. The aims are innovation, the protection of fundamental rights and public trust in AI.

Safety topics

international cooperationaccountability & liabilitytransparency & labelling

Status notes

Next steps set by the decision: the FDJP, with DETEC and the FDFA, is to draft a bill for consultation by the end of 2026 implementing the Convention, in particular on transparency, data protection, non-discrimination and supervision, and DETEC, with the FDJP, the FDFA and the EAER, is to draw up a plan for further non-binding measures by the end of 2026, taking into account compatibility with the approach of Switzerland's main trading partners. The decision rests on an overview of possible regulatory approaches to AI that the Federal Council commissioned from DETEC and the FDFA in November 2023, comprising a baseline legal analysis, a sectoral analysis and an analysis of 20 countries. The Federal Office of Justice set up an accompanying group of experts from inside and outside the federal administration to prepare the consultation bill and held a participatory workshop with about 60 stakeholder representatives on 27 October 2025. As of October 2026 its page describes the bill as being prepared and says Switzerland has no AI-specific legislation.

Sources

Open the official source https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start/documentation/media-releases.msg-id-104110.html

Secondary source: https://www.admin.ch/gov/de/start/dokumentation/medienmitteilungen.msg-id-104110.html

Local copy

Archived. The secondary source returned a bot-check or empty page this time (The page is a JavaScript application shell; the saved copy holds only the site's navigation, not the document); the earlier copy is kept. Saved with a headless browser because the plain download looked incomplete. A source changed since the previous snapshot; both versions are kept. Last attempt 2026-10-18 06:48:39 UTC

Official source (third-party copy, not published) archive/CH-01/2026-10-17/official.html

Retrieved 2026-10-17 20:41:59 UTC

SHA-256 85082c050696ef65c92e87c5f627dc1fca4b631dcabeea3d7b361ac077f90ee1

Warning: The page is a JavaScript application shell; the saved copy holds only the site's navigation, not the document

Official source, rendered in a browser (third-party copy, not published) archive/CH-01/2026-10-17/official-rendered.html

Retrieved 2026-10-17 19:20:34 UTC

SHA-256 b3e9576c8b4eb893f11b4540ae20dd1fd0e5528d9d9d91af0823b21646c16857

Official source, printed to PDF by a browser (third-party copy, not published) archive/CH-01/2026-10-18/official-print-2.pdf

Retrieved 2026-10-18 06:49:08 UTC

SHA-256 51f39df239b6aec100c1f1f4874d14214536e72b0d8145e9c1a22166adad9e01

Secondary source (third-party copy, not published) archive/CH-01/2026-10-11/secondary.html

Retrieved 2026-10-11 14:02:58 UTC

SHA-256 cce73c53de0b4ea9a43ce0700b45f029a716c0d2e36340e785ed63ec79d5251c

Verification

Another official source, such as an announcement by the issuer, confirms the title, date and status. checked 2026-10-18 · alternative-official-url-fetched

Stored and read: the Federal Council's English media release of 12 February 2025 on admin.ch, rendered in a browser and printed to PDF on 18 Oct 2026 (its text is the same as the print of 17 Oct 2026), which gives the title, the date, the decision's parameters and its next steps; the plain download of the same page (17 Oct 2026, title and lead only); the German release stored on 11 Oct 2026 (title and lead only; the page now loads as a JavaScript shell, so the earlier copy is kept); and, stored in this run, the Federal Office of Justice's page on AI (bj.admin.ch, printed to PDF on 18 Oct 2026; the archiver flagged it for review because it does not repeat the record's title, and it is the office's page on the follow-up to the decision), which describes the work on the consultation bill. The media release is an announcement of the Federal Council's decision, and no separate text of the decision was found, so the title, date and status rest on another official source (level B). No stored source shows that the consultation has opened.

Second check: Independent check by Claude Code (claude-sonnet-5-5), 2026-10-18: 6 field(s) supported.

History

2026-10-18verification.level: A → B — level computed from the evidence by tools/pipeline.py2026-10-18-refresh-level-rule-1 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
2026-10-17notes: Based on an AI regulation overview prepared by DETEC/OFCOM (Nov 2023 mandate). W → Next steps set by the decision: the FDJP, with DETEC and the FDFA, is to draft a — the next steps, including the FDJP's consultation draft by the end of 2026, are in the stored English release; the Federal Office of Justice's page adds the expert group, the workshop of 27 Oct 2025 and the state of the bill; version 1 called the overview 'prepared by DETEC/OFCOM', but the release says the Federal Council mandated DETEC and the FDFA; process remarks removed2026-10-17-recheck-europe-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
2026-10-17summary: Federal Council decision setting Switzerland's approach to AI regulation: ratify → Federal Council decision setting Switzerland's approach to regulating AI. Switze — version 1's 'rather than adopting an EU-style horizontal AI act' is not in the release; rewritten from its stated parameters (Convention applying primarily to state actors, sector-specific changes, cross-sectoral rules only for fundamental-rights areas, non-binding measures, the three objectives)2026-10-17-recheck-europe-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)

Related records

CoE AI Convention Council of Europe · Adopted, not yet in force

Citation

Swiss Federal Council. AI regulation: Federal Council to ratify Council of Europe Convention. 2025-02-12. https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start/documentation/media-releases.msg-id-104110.html. Status: Published (non-binding, current); verified 2026-10-18 (level B). Local copy archive/CH-01/2026-10-17/official.html retrieved 2026-10-17 20:41:59 UTC, SHA-256 85082c050696ef65c92e87c5f627dc1fca4b631dcabeea3d7b361ac077f90ee1. Every AI Policy Ever, version 1.18 (snapshot 2026-10-18), record CH-01.

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