Switzerland has outlined its interpretation of digital sovereignty, positioning itself closer to China’s state-centric definition than Germany’s relatively more citizen-oriented approach
The Swiss Government has published a report setting out how and where it should exercise control within the digital ecosystem
On 26 November 2025, the Swiss Federal Council published a report on digital sovereignty, an issue that has been a key focus of its Digital Switzerland Strategy since 2023. The report includes a definition of the term, an assessment of the state of digital sovereignty in Switzerland and a strategy for the Government’s future approach to it. According to the Federal Council, “digital sovereignty means that a state has the necessary control and ability to act in the digital space to ensure the fulfilment of its state responsibilities”. As stated in the report, this definition varies from other countries that have also set out their interpretations of the issue. In Germany, for example, digital sovereignty is defined as “the capabilities and opportunities of individuals and institutions to exercise their role(s) in the digital world independently, autonomously and securely”, whereas China takes a more control-oriented approach, in which the state holds supreme authority in the digital ecosystem.
The report assesses Switzerland’s current state of digital sovereignty against four key goals, urging progress on two of them
The report reviews how well the Swiss Government is currently able to exercise control and to act in the digital ecosystem, arguing that in recent years, more has been done to strengthen its capabilities. In particular, the report highlights a list of ongoing measures, including the promotion of open-source software to reduce vendor lock-in for the Swiss Government's digital services, a hybrid cloud strategy to better protect the most sensitive data, and an expected new provision in the Telecommunications Act to restrict so-called high-risk equipment from fixed and mobile networks. The report also assesses the current state of digital sovereignty in Switzerland against the following four goals:
Awareness of the use of digital resources;
Awareness of the relevance of digital resources;
Awareness of control and agency decisions regarding targeted strengthening; and
Implementation of targeted measures.
The Federal Council’s analysis states that action is needed in relation to goals three and four, arguing that progress against the former may require the creation of a specific government agency that is focused on the targeted strengthening of policies related to governing the digital ecosystem. Meanwhile, goal four is deemed to not have been met due to the Government lacking an adequate catalogue of measures to bolster its digital sovereignty.
The Government is set to establish a new interdepartmental digital sovereignty working group
The Federal Council’s report also sets out a strategy to further strengthen Switzerland's digital sovereignty, including mandating the creation of a new interdepartmental working group. The group would be subject to a number of obligations, such as:
Submitting a report to the Federal Council once a year until 2027;
Continuously updating the Government’s records of the work being done across departments to strengthen digital sovereignty;
Identifying foreign policy and security risks to the Government’s digital resources; and
Providing recommendations for measures to ensure confidentiality in the development of the Government’s digital resources and to analyse international approaches to digital sovereignty that could be applied in Switzerland.
