New regulations for information from the population register
New Federal Registration Act from 1 November 2015
The registration authorities provide information from the register of residents to private individuals on the basis of the applicable provisions of registration law. Stricter regulations will apply here in future.
Advertising and address trading
From 1 November 2015, information from the population register to private individuals for the purposes of advertising and/or address trading will only be permitted if the data subjects have expressly consented to the transfer of their registration data for these purposes in advance.
Previously, an objection to the transfer of data for the purposes of advertising and address trading (right to informational self-determination) had to be lodged with the registration authority. This option to object is no longer available and has been replaced by the explicit consent solution. This represents a significant improvement in data protection.
The legislator has provided a corresponding form in the Reporting Register Information Ordinance (MRAV). The registration authority may only provide information from the population register for advertising and address trading purposes if this form is available. Consent can also be given directly to the registration authority from 1 November 2015.
This consent remains in place until it is revoked and does not have to be given again after a move.
Information for commercial purposes
In future, the commercial purpose must also be stated when requesting simple information from the population register for commercial purposes. The data obtained as part of the information may then only be used for these purposes (earmarking of population register information). In addition, data that has been collected for the purpose of commercial address research by means of information from the population register may not be reused by the data recipient (prohibition of data pooling).
Issuing automated information from the population register
Due to the improvements to the protection of personal data when providing information from the population register to private individuals, the possibility of objecting to the provision of automated population register information to private individuals, which was previously provided for in registration law, will no longer apply from 1 November 2015.