29.11.2023 - At its meeting of 29 November 2023, the Federal Council approved the new 2024-2027 master plan for Open Government Data (OGD) in Switzerland. It follows on from the 2019-2023 strategy for open access data in Switzerland. This master plan defines activities in this field up to 2027 and goes hand in hand with the entry into force of the Federal Act on the Use of Electronic Means to Conduct Official Tasks (EMOTA).
The 2024-2027 Open Government Data master plan, drawn up by the Federal Statistical Office, pursues the objective of making public administration data freely available in order to increase transparency, participation and innovation in all areas of society. The plan sets out the desired principles, goals and measures for the 2024-2027 period and defines implementation priorities for the federal administration (including decentralised units). The document also serves as an important reference for the cantons, communes and state-related enterprises encouraged to promote the open publication of official data.
A master plan with five practical principles
To support the administrative units in implementing Art. 10 of the EMOTA, which enshrines the principle of open access by default (open by default) in law, the master plan defines five principles for open access data: availability, quality of (meta)data, infrastructure, synergies with other fields and exchanges between OGD providers and users in Switzerland. These principles have been translated into objectives, measures and indicators, aimed at helping the federal administrative units to familiarise themselves with the main principles of OGD and to exploit the potential of official data within the framework of legal, organisational, technical and semantic requirements. The implementation of the 2024-2027 OGD master plan also strives to help Switzerland maintain its compatibility and remain competitive in the field of OGD at international level. The OGD Office, attached to the FSO, is also strengthening its role as an information centre for official open access data.
Open Government Data: Open access to government data
Open Government Data (OGD) refers to government data made available to the public free of charge, in a timely manner, in machine-readable form and in an open format. This includes all kinds of data, such as Switzerland's communal boundaries, population statistics, current meteorological data, historical documents or publications from the Swiss administration.
