In response to the Rechsteiner Motion Commission of Experts on the Future of Data Processing and Data Security (13.3841) of 26 September 2013, the Federal Department of Finance set up the Future of Data Processing and Data Security expert group on 27 August 2015 for a period of three years under the chairmanship of former National Councillor Brigitta Gadient.

At its meeting of 5 September 2018, the Federal Council took note of the final report of the expert group. The Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC), in collaboration with all the departments concerned, was instructed to examine, by the end of the first half of 2019, the 51 recommendations made by the group of experts and to submit the corresponding follow-up work to the Federal Council.

Recommendation No. 20 of the expert group’s final report reads as follows: “The Confederation is examining the creation of a compulsory licensing system with regard to access to non-personal data.” Compulsory licences are a well-known legal system in the field of intellectual property, and the issue of data ownership has been a recurring theme in the literature on immaterial assets in recent years. DETEC therefore asked the IPI to assess the relevance and necessity of a report in this field. By mutual agreement, it was proposed to the Federal Council to examine this question, broadening the scope of the investigation to include more than just the question of compulsory licences.

On 30 October 2019, the Federal Council defined the follow-up to the recommendations to be given to the expert group. According to the Council, additional measures are needed, particularly in the area of access to non-personal data. The IPI is entrusted with examining this issue.