Act on Registries of Inhabitants and Other Registries of Persons and Objects (Inhabitants Registry Act, ERG) (Einwohnerregistergesetz, ERG) - Purpose (ERG)

1. This law serves the execution of the Federal Law on the Harmonization of Population Registers and other Official Personal Registers. It specifically regulates the management of municipal population registers as well as residence and stay.

2. It also governs the disclosure of data from municipal personal and object registers to the canton and the operation of a cantonal data platform.

1. The municipalities are responsible for the enforcement of this Act.

2. The government designates the competent cantonal authorities.

**1. Definitions in this Law**

The meaning of the terms in this law is determined by the definitions in the Register Harmonization Act and the associated implementing regulations. In particular, they mean

a) **Place of Residence Municipality:** A municipality where a person stays with the intention of permanent residence, establishing the center of their life there, which must be recognizable to third parties;

b) **Temporary Residence Municipality:** A municipality where a person stays for a specific purpose without the intention of permanent residence for at least 90 consecutive days or 90 days within a year;

c) **Collective Household:** Retirement and nursing homes; residential and educational homes for children and adolescents; boarding schools and dormitories for students, apprentices, and trainees; institutions for people with disabilities; hospitals, sanatoriums, and similar institutions in the health sector; institutions for the execution of penal sentences and measures; communal accommodations for asylum seekers; monasteries and other accommodations of religious associations;

d) **Industrial Works:** Private law or public law operators of infrastructure for water and energy supply within the territory of a municipality.

1. Notifications, Provision of Information, and Supply of Data according to this Act shall be provided free of charge, unless otherwise prescribed.

1. The Municipality Maintains

a) A residents' register of all persons with residency or presence in the municipality, containing the required attributes;

b) A current property register with the necessary attributes of the Federal Buildings and Dwellings Register (GWR) to reliably assign the Federal Housing Identifier (EWID) to the persons listed in the residents' register.

2. The municipality maintains the registers electronically.

1. The minimum features to be maintained in the population registers are determined by superior law.

1. The government may specify additional characteristics to be maintained in the population register, provided that there is a legal basis for doing so.

1. The municipality may establish additional attributes to be maintained in the population register for the fulfillment of its statutory duties.

2. The government may restrict the selection of optional attributes.

1. As a basis for recording the characteristics, the entries in the civil status register (Infostar) are primarily used, followed secondly by those in the Central Migration Information System (ZEMIS).

2. The municipality may require the individual concerned to present their official and non-official documents and provide information to ensure accurate recording of the characteristics.

3. If the information from Infostar, ZEMIS, and the individual concerned is insufficient, the municipality may request information about the characteristics from their employer.

4. In municipalities that have introduced an official apartment number, the individual concerned must report the administrative or physical apartment number.

5. The person obliged to provide notification and information must provide truthful information.

1. For the maintenance of the Object Register, the municipality must continually rectify and update the relevant data from the GWR.

2. In maintaining the Object Register, rectifying and updating the GWR, as well as determining and updating the EWID, the municipality may use data from the following authorities and institutions

a) * Office of Real Estate Appraisal;

b) Land Registry Offices;

c) Industrial Works.

3. The data must be transmitted to the municipality upon request. Data access may occur through a retrieval process.

1. The municipality may, in individual cases, request information from the owners or property management about the apartments, residents, and users to ensure the accuracy of the property register and the GWR, as well as for the secure assignment of the EWID.

1. The residence is located in the municipality of establishment (primary residence, establishment).

2. A person can have one or more municipalities of stay in addition to the municipality of establishment (secondary residence, residence).

1. Anyone who moves to a municipality for the purpose of settlement or residence must register with the municipality within 14 days.

2. Anyone who moves within the municipality must report this to the municipality within 14 days. This reporting obligation also applies in cases of relocation or change of residence within the same building.

3. Anyone who gives up settlement or residence must deregister in advance with the relevant municipality.

4. Anyone who relocates or gives up settlement must notify all municipalities where they reside within 14 days.

5. Anyone who establishes or gives up residence in a municipality must notify the settlement municipality within 14 days.

1. Heads of collective households must report new residents to the municipality where the household is located, as well as to the municipality where the persons are domiciled, within 14 days. This applies to individuals staying in the household for at least 90 consecutive days or 90 days within a year.

2. Similarly, departures and deaths must be reported.

1. Property managers, landlords, and other lodging providers must report to the municipality the tenants and lodgers who will settle or stay for at least 90 consecutive days or 90 days within a year, within 14 days of their arrival.

2. Departures and relocations must also be reported. This also applies to relocations within the same property.

3. The government may impose the same reporting obligations on employers regarding their employees.

1. Anyone who opens or ceases to operate a business conducted in a commercial manner within a municipality must report this to the municipality within 14 days.

1. Anyone who registers in a municipality for the purpose of establishment must deposit the certificate of origin.

2. Anyone who registers in a municipality for the purpose of residence must deposit the certificate of residence.

3. Anyone who moves away from a municipality is entitled, subject to criminal procedural provisions, to the reimbursement of the deposited documents.

1. The municipality may provide for the introduction of an official apartment number for certain or all buildings in its territory to determine and update the EWID.

2. The numbering of apartments can be carried out administratively or physically.

3. The municipality shall bear the costs of the numbering, unless otherwise specified in this law or the associated regulation.

1. The administrative or physical apartment number shall be maintained as a characteristic in the GWR and in the municipality's property register.

1. For the initial assignment, maintenance, and updating of official housing numbers, the municipality may use data from the following authorities and institutions

a) * Office for Real Estate Valuation;

b) Land Registry Offices;

c) Industrial Works.

2. Data access may be carried out via a retrieval procedure.

3. Property owners and property management companies are obligated to submit lists of apartments and residents upon the municipality's request.

4. If the aforementioned data sources and an on-site inspection are insufficient, the residents of the properties are also obliged to provide information about the apartments and residents of the respective property.

1. The individuals tasked with numbering are permitted to enter the buildings up to the entrance door of each individual apartment for the purpose of on-site inspection, as well as to affix the physical apartment number on the apartment or on the mailbox.

1. The owners and tenants are required to tolerate the physical apartment number.

2. In case of damage, detachment, or illegibility of the number, they must inform the municipality.

1. The municipality shall communicate the official apartment numbers to the following persons and authorities in an appropriate manner and, where feasible, electronically

a) the owners;

b) the property management companies;

c) the Office for Property Assessment;

d) the land registry offices;

e) the industrial works.

2. The municipality shall publish the introduction of the apartment numbering in the official gazette.

3. Once the communications and the publication have been made, the apartment numbering is deemed to be introduced.

1. From the introduction of apartment numbering, landlords are required to include the apartment number in newly concluded and amended rental agreements or to communicate it to the tenants in another appropriate form.

1. Upon the introduction of apartment numbering, the developer is obliged, at their own expense, in the case of new constructions and renovations to

a) number the apartments according to the system specified by the municipality on the documents for the building application;

b) report any changes to this numbering after the building application;

c) assign new official apartment numbers to all affected apartments and report these in the event of apartment divisions or amalgamations.

2. If the municipality requires physical numbering, the developer must, at their own expense, for new constructions and renovations, attach the number plates provided free of charge by the municipality visibly and according to the specified system to the dwelling units of their property as soon as the apartments are ready for occupancy.

1. The municipality may require the industrial enterprises within its territory to use the official housing number.

1. The data delivery to and the data exchange with the federal government pursuant to superior law are conducted electronically via the federal government's central information and communication platform (Sedex).

1. In the case of relocations, moves, and arrivals of persons with residence or stay, the municipalities exchange the corresponding data between their resident registers directly via Sedex.

1. The municipality provides the canton with the data from its personal and object registers. The government regulates the form and periodicity, as well as the compensation for data deliveries that exceed those to the federal government.

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1. The municipality may disclose data to the industrial plants, to the extent that this serves the operation of the infrastructure within its municipal area. This may be done through a retrieval process and for a fee.

1. The canton may operate a data platform, which consists in particular of a central personal register and a central object register.

2. The central personal register contains data from municipal resident registers as well as other municipal, cantonal, and federal personal registers.

3. The central object register contains data from municipal, cantonal, and federal object registers.

4. The data from the central personal and object registers can be linked with each other.

1. The data from the central register of persons and objects serves the canton and municipalities in fulfilling their statutory duties and for statistical evaluations.

2. The offices of the canton shall have access to the data they require to fulfill their statutory duties.

3. The government shall designate the public law institutions of the canton that shall have access to the data they need to fulfill their statutory duties.

4. The government shall grant municipal authorities access to the data concerning their area which they require to fulfill their statutory duties.

5. Access as per paragraphs 2, 3, and 4 can be accomplished through a retrieval process.

6. The government shall regulate the extent of access for authorized entities and authorities as well as the compensation. It shall revoke access rights in cases of abusive data usage.

1. Data must be anonymized as soon as the purpose of processing permits.

2. Access to personal data must be logged and reviewed.

3. The government regulates the details regarding technical standards, minimum organizational requirements, and the cooperation obligations of authorized entities and authorities.

1. The government may provide for an increase in data collection by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) for statistical analyses if the data collection from population registers is insufficient. Additionally, it can mandate its own data collections.

2. If the government orders such data collections, the individuals surveyed are obligated to provide information.

1. Upon request, the municipality provides information about the name, birth year, and address of individual persons listed in the resident register. If these data are used exclusively for non-commercial purposes and not disclosed to third parties, they may be released in list form.

2. Additional information about individuals listed in the resident register can be provided by the municipality if a legitimate interest is credibly demonstrated.

3. The right to object to the disclosure of personal data according to the Cantonal Data Protection Act is reserved.

4. The systematic dissemination of data for economic advertising purposes is prohibited.

5. Any resident or temporary resident, respectively, may request information about all data concerning him or her from the municipality.

6. The municipality regulates the details of data processing, particularly regarding data usage, access rights, the correction procedure, data retention and deletion, data dissemination, and the information procedure.

7. The municipality may charge a fee for information from the resident register.

1. The government designates which collective households establish a statistical residence for their inhabitants.

2. The provisions of this section apply concerning the statistical residence.

1. The government regulates the registration and deregistration obligations for individuals with statistical residence.

1. The government regulates the collection of statistical residency by the municipality in consideration of the minimum requirements of the FSO.

1. The government regulates the reporting obligations of the heads of collective households, which establish the statistical residency of their residents.

1. The government regulates the delivery of data concerning persons with a statistical residence, taking into consideration the minimum requirements of the BFS.

1. Anyone who violates the provisions of this law shall be fined up to 2000 Swiss Francs by the municipality.

2. In minor cases, a warning may be issued or prosecution may be waived.

1. Upon the entry into force of this law, the Act on the Establishment of the Swiss dated May 20, 1984, is repealed.

1. This law is subject to an optional referendum.

2. The government determines the date of entry into force of this law.