Swiss Review 6/2019

Swiss Review / November 2019 / No.6 35 news.admin.ch Convenient access to e-government services E-government provides the Swiss Abroad with easy access to government services – regardless of time zone or the geographical distance from Switzerland. In 2020, Switzerland’s federal gov- ernment, cantons andmunicipalities will adopt a new e-government strat- egy that will see the country’s public authorities provide information and services primarily online (digital first). Embracing a digital future However, many digital services will only work if users can access them properly and securely. In view of this, Switzerland is preparing to intro- duce a government-recognised elec- tronic identity (e-ID) scheme that will enable private individuals to identify themselves on the internet, manage their online business more easily and use e-government appli- cations. A year ago, the Federal Coun- cil submitted its dispatch on the Fed- eral Act on Electronic Identification Services (E-ID Act) to parliament. In its 2019 spring and summer sessions, parliament approved the division of responsibilities between public and private service providers as specified in the E-ID Act. Its final vote in fa- vour came in the autumn session. The E-ID Act will become effective in 2021 at the earliest. As a result of e-IDs, public authorities will be able to offer digital services on an end-to- end basis. Consequently, we will no longer have to print out and sign the forms that we customarily fill out online and send by post along with the usual enclosures. Some individ- ual cantons, for example, already of- fer the option of doing tax returns completely online. In the longer term, online tax returns will be pos- sible in all cantons as well as at fed- eral level. Considerable confidence in e-government services According to the 2019 National E-Gov- ernment Study, around 66 per cent of the population and just under 75 per cent of businesses trust online govern- ment services with regard to personal privacy and data protection. However, demand for online government ser- vices generally outstrips supply at fed- eral, cantonal andmunicipal level. For example, 68 per cent of those sur- veyed believe that e-voting should be made available to everyone, despite the fact that only two per cent of vot- ers have been able to take advantage of e-voting so far. E-voting currently unavailable Until recently, cantons that wanted to offer e-voting could either use the Swiss Post platform or the e-voting solution developed by the canton of Geneva. However, Geneva decided to discontinue its system with immedi- ate effect in June 2019, while Swiss Post announced in July 2019 that it would pull its existing system and focus in- stead on developing a new one. Swit- zerland is therefore currently bereftof e-voting (see also “Swiss Review” 5/2019). The Federal Council, for its part, decided in June 2019 to provi- sionally forgo introducing electronic voting as the third regular voting channel. It has postponed the partial revision that was scheduled for the Po- litical Rights Act. The federal govern- ment expects the e-voting testing pro- cess to be reoriented by the end of 2020 in consultationwith the cantons. Meanwhile, a cross-party committee is currently collecting signatures for an initiative calling for an e-voting moratorium. As part of the E-Government Swit- zerland strategic plan, the Confedera- tion, cantons and municipalities re- main committed to e-voting andwant to continue expanding e-government infrastructure to take our country into the digital future. This means making interaction with public au- thorities easier and less time-consum- ing for people living both in and out- side Switzerland. eGOVERNMENT SWITZERLAND According to the 2019 National E-Government Study, e-voting is one of Switzerland’s most in-demand online government services. Representing the Confederation, cantons and municipalities, E-Government Switzerland is a body that is working to expand e-government services. It manages, plans and coordinates joint e-government activities at the three government levels. www.egovernment.swiss