Future location: Digital Switzerland

Everyone is talking about digitization. But when it comes to processes between citizens and authorities, i.e. e-government, Switzerland is still lagging behind other countries. This has implications for the business location. In the 21st century, people want to work with government institutions efficiently, transparently, simply and, above all, electronically. The study published in June has now identified the politically and technologically relevant prerequisites for the implementation of the e-citizen dossier. This "eBürgerdossier" is an electronic platform for every person living in Switzerland. They can voluntarily store and change relevant data there and authorize other actors to access this data. This is intended to facilitate the exchange of data between individuals, companies and government bodies.

Digital official channels

In particular, it should be possible in the future for frequently performed administrative procedures, such as registration and deregistration when changing residence, to be handled more and more fully electronically. "SMEs should also be able to obtain permits online on a Saturday," said Martin Pletscher of economiesuisse, citing another possible requirement for e-government. Pletscher was on the discussion panel with National Councilor Kathy Riklin, Prof. Dr. Matthias Finger - who conducted the aforementioned study scientifically - and Renato Gunc, President of the eGov Switzerland association. The basic tenor on November 1 seemed unanimous: the focus of e-government should deliberately be on the digitization of everyday administrative processes. More far-reaching implementations, such as electronic voting, are not yet practicable at the moment.

900 million francs could be saved

If Martin Pletscher has his way, "digitization" does not simply mean moving the analog world to the Internet. When developing an electronic citizen's dossier, it must also be a matter of questioning existing regulations so that they can be dismantled if necessary. Prof. Finger also agreed: "The benefits of e-government lie in its efficiency and economic benefits. And digitization must be consistent: "You can't just leave an analog switch open at the same time," said Martin Pletscher, who warned against costly duplication in this context. In terms of costs, the study under discussion estimates the one-off implementation costs at around 300 million francs, while the annual savings amount to around 900 million. In return, "public services and political processes could be improved and the implementation of state policies facilitated," the study states.

"Don't farm fears"

In principle, the technological prerequisites would all be in place. But according to the eGov study, there are other main criteria that Renato Gunc also mentioned during the panel discussion:

• "The citizen is in the middle": citizens must remain owners of their data and information.
• "Transparency and trust": The state or a trusted partner must provide the e-citizen dossier. The information and sources as well as access to the data must be transparent.
• "Security": operators must be able to ensure data and information security.
• "Decentralized, but complete": The data can be managed decentrally and is only compiled during an application or query. All official and important administrative tasks should be able to be handled with the e-citizen dossier.

In addition, responsibility for the e-citizen dossier in the federal government must be assigned to a single department. After all, it is precisely Switzerland's federalist structure that makes the introduction of e-government difficult. Many communal and cantonal systems have emerged that are not compatible with each other. National Councilor Kathy Riklin called for an end to "cantonalism" during the discussion. And she appealed that the opportunities should be seen above all. "There is still too much simple management of fears," she noted.

Text: Thomas Berner / pd

More information on e-government and electronic citizen dossier: www.egov-schweiz.ch