By accessing Alertswiss, users confirm that they have understood and agree to the following terms of use and legal information in relation to Alertswiss (and the elements contained therein). Users who disagree with these terms and conditions are kindly asked to refrain from using Alertswiss.

Alertswiss aims to provide information on the precautionary measures that members of the public can take in respect to disasters and emergencies, and to support the authorities in respect of alerting the public and incident communication.

While the federal authorities take the utmost care to ensure the correctness of all information published, they may not be held liable for the correctness, accuracy, up-to-date nature, reliability and comprehensiveness of this content. The federal authorities expressly reserve the right to completely or partially modify, delete or temporarily not publish content at any time and without prior notice. The federal authorities may not be held liable for material or immaterial damage that results from the access, use or non-use of the published information, as well as the abuse of the internet connection or technical faults.

Users fully recognise that all forms of incident communication (“information”, “warning”, “alerting”) which appear on the AlertSwiss website are released by the competent agency concerned (cantonal command and control/cantonal police; National Emergency Operations Centre), and are automatically transmitted to and published on the AlertSwiss website. Despite the adoption of best practices in terms of security and data integrity protection, the Federal Office for Civil Protection (FOCP) may not be held responsible for this content and its correctness. Any action taken on the basis of the information published on the Alertswiss website shall be at the users’ own risk.

This service may contain translations powered by Google. Google disclaims all warranties related to the translations, express or implied, including any warranties of accuracy, reliability, and any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement.

The Federal Office for Civil Protection assumes no responsibility, and does not offer any guarantee that the feature and functions of Alertswiss will be available on a permanent and uninterrupted basis and will be free of errors, that errors will be rectified, or that the website’s server shall be free of viruses or harmful components.

References and links to websites of third parties are not the responsibility of the federal authorities. Users access and use such websites at their own risk. The federal authorities expressly state that they have no influence whatever on the design and content of linked websites, or on the services offered on them. Responsibility for the information and services of linked websites rests entirely with the third party concerned.

No responsibility whatsoever shall be accepted for such websites.

On the basis of Article 13 of the Swiss Federal Constitution and the Confederation’s legal provisions pertaining to data protection, everyone is entitled to the protection of their privacy and from abuse of their personal data. The federal authorities observe these provisions. All personal data is treated with the utmost confidentiality, and shall be neither sold nor disclosed to third parties.

We work closely with our hosting providers to ensure that our databases are protected as best as possible from unauthorized access, loss, abuse or falsification.

It is possible that personal data is collected on the Alertswiss website, namely the information which users enter into the emergency plan. This data shall be stored locally, i.e. solely on the user’s device, unless the user knowingly transmits this information to a third party.

Users can register to receive push notifications via the Alertswiss app. As a result, the user’s device “subscribes”, by means of an anonymous token from Apple or Google, to the corresponding channel. Users can configure the subscription by selecting the cantons for which they wish to receive these notifications and their current location (cf. following section); this information is then stored on the Alertswiss server. Subscriptions are only possible if the user explicitly consents to receive push notifications via the Alertswiss app. Should the user consent, the notification services of Apple and Google shall be informed each time a report on one of the user’s selected cantons or current location is released. The push notification service requires the cloud messaging Services of Apple and Google to process personal data.

Users can consent to the use of location services via the Alertswiss app. In doing so, they will be able to receive messages and reports about their current location. In order to achieve this, the mobile telephone is registered in a geographical area of approx. 30 km radius. The mobile telephone system actively detects if the device is no longer in that area. In such instances, the system reconfigures the subscription settings in order to register with the new location. The precise positioning data remains exclusively on the device and is not disclosed to Alertswiss.

The Federal Office for Civil Protection has no access to the personal data of Alertswiss users.

The following data is saved as log files when the Alertswiss website is accessed: IP address, date, time, browser enquiry and general information transmitted regarding the operating system or browser. Such user data forms the basis for anonymous statistical evaluations so that trends can be recognized, which in turn enable the federal authorities to improve their services correspondingly. According to the Federal Act on the Surveillance of Postal and Telecommunications Traffic (SPTA) operators are obliged to save connection data for six months. If you contact us voluntarily, your e-mail address is added to a separate database which is not linked to the anonymous log files. You may cancel your registration whenever you wish to.

Copyright of the federal authorities of the Swiss Confederation.

The information published on the federal authorities’ websites is made accessible to the general public. No rights regarding the contents are granted by downloading or copying data, pictures, photographs or other files.

Copyrights and other rights pertaining to contents, pictures, photographs or other files published on the federal authorities’ websites remain the exclusive property of the current legal owners. Written consent of the copyright owners is required for the reproduction of any element.

Content may be shared with third parties, but only in excerpt form, free of charge and with minimal reference to the source ‘Source: www.alertswiss.ch’. The presentation of this website in third-party frames is only permissible with written consent. The content is licensed under a Swiss creative commons license.

 License:  Designation – non-commercial sharing under equal conditions 2.5 Switzerland (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5)  (in German only)

By transmitting unrequested texts and pictures (manuscripts, reader’s letters, storage media, blog posts, photographs etc.), the authors concerned consent to their publication on the www.alertswiss.ch website. The FOCP reserves the right to shorten or modify submitted texts.

The FOCP provides no guarantee for the correctness, accuracy, up-to-date nature, reliability and comprehensiveness of published texts and pictures. Unsolicited texts and pictures shall not be paid for even if they are published on the www.alertswiss.ch website. All submitted material will neither be returned nor kept.

Topical, factual remarks that are phrased in a friendly manner are welcome. Alertswiss.ch does not accept any responsibility for trackbacks or links contained in the comments section. We delete comments that advertise, are offensive or illegal.

Alertswiss uses the Matomo software solution as standard for web analysis not related to specific persons. The purpose of this procedure is to aid the further development and improvement of our services. Matomo is hosted by the federal authorities and their service providers. The use of Matomo means that data does not flow to third parties but remains entirely in the possession of the federal authorities.

In order to improve the Alertswiss app, anonymous data about technical errors are collected and sent to a third party (Google Analytics and Google Analytics for Firebase).

By accessing Alertswiss, users declare that they have read and agree to the present terms of use and privacy policy.