Swiss court bars Bern from storing no-hit vehicle scan data

Switzerland’s Federal Supreme Court has ruled that the canton of Bern may not store data from automated vehicle checks when scanned licence plates do not match any database entry, SRF reported.

Bernese police scan the licence plates of passing vehicles and compare them automatically with databases. Under the revised police law, data from vehicles producing no match was stored for 60 days. The court found that practice unconstitutional, requiring the canton to remove the relevant provision from the law.

The court did not consider a challenge to the canton’s authority to order video surveillance at crime hotspots, including against the wishes of municipalities. It said the complainants were not directly affected. If anyone should have filed a complaint, the court said, it would have been the cities of Bern or Biel.

The revised law also regulates police body cameras. Several left-wing parties, human rights organisations and the Bern Association of Democratic Lawyers had challenged the provisions on automated vehicle checks, body cameras and compulsory hotspot surveillance.

Bern’s Grand Council approved the partial revision of the police law by a large majority in November 2023. After the Federal Supreme Court rejected a request to suspend the law, it came into force on August 1, 2024.