Legal rulings clarify privacy and data protection rights in Switzerland and Germany

Legal rulings in Switzerland and Germany have addressed the boundaries of privacy and data protection regarding media reporting and public registers.

The Swiss Federal Supreme Court ruled that the accuracy of a press release must be judged based on the information available at the time of publication, rather than through an ex post perspective. This principle applies to online articles concerning criminal proceedings, provided the publication date is clearly identifiable. Additionally, the court noted that the requirement to anonymize reports on ongoing criminal proceedings is not absolute for persons of relative public interest, who may have their identities disclosed in the context of extraordinary events.

In Germany, the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision (BayLDA) addressed a complaint regarding the right to erasure in the commercial register. Following a dispute where a former managing director sought to remove a shareholder resolution detailing his dismissal, the BayLDA noted that the right to erasure under Article 17 of the GDPR does not apply to register systems due to their continuous transparency and evidentiary functions. Instead, corrections are typically handled via official notations rather than deletion.