Internet

The applicable law does not always give a clear indication of the criminal responsibility of internet providers. According to the recommendation of an expert commission which was put out for consultation by the Federal Council, such responsibility should be explicitly regulated in the Criminal Code and in the Military Criminal Code. At the end of February 2008, however, the Federal Council decided against new provisions as the existing general regulation of criminal responsibility is sufficient for internet communication issues.

Since 1 January 2021, the open internet in Switzerland has been regulated by Article 12e of the Telecommunications Act (TCA).

- Internet domain names - Net neutrality - Combating cybercrime - Criminal responsibility of internet service providers - Swiss IGF - Internet of Things (IoT) - Voice over IP - Testing internet quality

The technical management of the .ch domain in relation to the global internet domain name system has been delegated to Switch until the end of 2026. A survey conducted in March 2025 by the OFCOM shows that stakeholders in the Swiss domain name market are very satisfied with the services provided by Switch. Switch also provides the service for accessing the registration data for .ch domain names (RDDS, formerly WHOIS). However, with the entry into force of the revision of the Ordinance on Internet Domains (ODI) on 1 January 2021, the personal information of holders of .ch domain names is no longer accessible via this service.

Among other things, domain names make it possible to assign a unique address to every website. These names, such as ofcom.ch, are currently used very often, primarily for accessing websites or sending e-mails. Traditional extensions, such as .ch or .com, will be augmented by new top level domain names related to brands or geographic names. In this context, the Confederation has set a strategy which seeks to protect the country’s public interest in relation to the management of domain names. Furthermore, it has acquired the extension .swiss from ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). The registration of .swiss domain names is possible since autumn 2015.

The new .swiss internet domain is available to the Swiss community since September 2015. For this purpose, the Confederation has signed a contract with ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the corporation which manages internet addresses. To promote competition and diversity in the domain name system, new extensions for domain names are gradually being made available. The 22 traditional generic extensions (e.g. .com, .org or .info) are joined by thematic (e.g. .hotel, .bank), geographical (e.g. .berlin, .florida) or brand-related extensions. This new feature is the result of a decision by ICANN.

Under certain conditions, the registries for the “.ch” and “.swiss” domain are required to block domain names suspected of being used for phishing, for the distribution of harmful software ("malware") or to support such activities.

To promote competition and diversity in the domain name system, ICANN is launching another program to create new extensions for domain names. Since the 2012 program, more than 1,200 thematic (e.g., .hotels, .bank), geographic (e.g., .zuerich, .berlin) and brand-related extensions have been added to the 22 traditional generic extensions (e.g., .com, .org, or .info).