Two models of regulating artificial intelligence: Bern and Brussels

The Swiss approach

Switzerland has no general law on artificial intelligence. On 12 February 2025 the Federal Council decided on its approach after reviewing an overview of possible regulatory models that the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications had prepared at its request. Switzerland intends to ratify the Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and to make the amendments to Swiss law that ratification requires. Work will also continue on the regulation of artificial intelligence in specific sectors such as healthcare and transport.¹ The Federal Council's stated objectives were to strengthen Switzerland as a location for innovation, to protect fundamental rights, including economic freedom, and to increase public trust in artificial intelligence. Where the law must be amended, the amendments are to be sector-specific wherever possible, while general cross-sectoral regulation is to be limited to central areas relevant to fundamental rights, such as data protection. Legally binding measures are to be complemented by non-binding measures such as self-declarations and industry solutions. The Federal Department of Justice and Police was instructed to prepare by the end of 2026, together with the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications and the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, a consultation draft that implements the Convention through the legislative measures needed in the areas of transparency, data protection, non-discrimination and supervision.²

The Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law was adopted on 17 May 2024 and opened for signature on 5 September 2024 in Vilnius. It is the first binding international treaty on artificial intelligence. Federal Councillor Albert Rösti signed it on behalf of Switzerland in Strasbourg on 27 March 2025.³ The Convention requires its parties to ensure that activities within the life cycle of artificial intelligence systems are consistent with human rights, democracy and the rule of law. It applies to public authorities and to private actors acting on their behalf. For other private actors each party may choose whether to apply the Convention's obligations directly or to address the risks by other appropriate measures. The Swiss approach of sectoral rules combined with general data protection and non-discrimination law reflects this flexibility.

For the financial sector the Swiss approach means that the existing framework continues to apply. FINMA supervises the use of artificial intelligence through its guidance, its circulars and its supervisory practice, on the basis of the technologyneutral provisions of the financial market laws. FINMA describes its own approach with the formula "same business, same risks, same rules" and supervises the use of artificial intelligence on a technology-neutral basis, which presupposes that the principle-based Swiss financial market law can address the new risks without a separate statute for the sector.⁴ Whether this assessment will change as a result of the implementation of the Convention, or under the pressure of the European Union's regulation, is one of the open questions of the coming years.

Notes

1. Federal Council, "AI regulation: Federal Council to ratify Council of Europe Convention" (media release, 12 February 2025), https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start/documentation/media-releases.msg-id-104110.html. ↩
2. Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM/BAKOM), "Künstliche Intelligenz", https://www.bakom.admin.ch/de/kuenstliche-intelligenz (objectives, sector-specific amendments, non-binding measures; "Bis Ende 2026 soll das EJPD zusammen mit dem UVEK und dem EDA eine Vernehmlassungsvorlage erstellen"), with the Auslegeordnung zur Regulierung von künstlicher Intelligenz (11 February 2025) linked there; Federal Council media release of 12 February 2025 (above), German version https://www.admin.ch/gov/de/start/dokumentation/medienmitteilungen.msg-id-104110.html. ↩
3. Council of Europe, "Council of Europe adopts first international treaty on artificial intelligence" (17 May 2024), https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/council-of-europe-adopts-first-international-treaty-on-artificial-intelligence (adoption by the Committee of Ministers in Strasbourg, opening for signature in Vilnius on 5 September); Council of Europe, "The Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence", https://www.coe.int/en/web/artificial-intelligence/the-framework-convention-on-artificial-intelligence (CETS No. 225; options for the private sector); Federal Council, "Switzerland signs Council of Europe Convention on Artificial Intelligence" (media release, 26 March 2025), https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start/documentation/media-releases.msg-id-104646.html ("On 27 March Federal Councillor Albert Rösti will sign … in Strasbourg on Switzerland's behalf"). ↩
4. FINMA survey (April 2025, above) ("same business, same risks, same rules"; technology-neutral supervision); FINMA, Guidance 08/2024 (above) ("a technology-neutral, proportional and standardised approach across all sectors"). ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of August 2025.